67 door considerations

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

I have just about decided to replace my rusty 67 GMC doors with any solid 68 - 71 model ones that I find. I want to avoid the 72 ones due to the different-regulator issue.
But 67 ones have their own stand-alone features too as we all know. The inner door handle senders are slightly different length, the vent windows are different, the arm rest screws are angled differently, and the door handles are slightly different. With all of this in mind I hope to be able to use my 67 vent windows in some 68 - 71 doors that I will buy later. These vents should fit these year doors, correct? I am tired of trying to find EVERYTHING 1967 for my doors, so a different year door should be the solution as long as I get to keep the 67 vent windows.

[Grumpy old man]

The vents fit .the only difference is the 67 only glass/ latch.

[68Gold/white]

How bad are your 67 doors???

Just a thought...you could buy 2 usable doors, have your originals repaired...there's a bunch a patch panels available... go by a body shop ask for a ball park estimate to repair your old doors with patch panels...

I found an excellent 67 drivers side door at a pull-a-part yard a few years ago. I pinched myself, could not believe it!!! Finding a GOOD drivers is nearly impossible, and then finding a good 67 door. Good pass side doors are all over...

[ga-stepside]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

The vents fit .the only difference is the 67 only glass/ latch.

Are you saying that 68-72 complete vent window parts will fit and work in a '67 door?

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

How bad are your 67 doors???

Just a thought...you could buy 2 usable doors, have your originals repaired...there's a bunch a patch panels available... go by a body shop ask for a ball park estimate to repair your old doors with patch panels...

I found an excellent 67 drivers side door at a pull-a-part yard a few years ago. I pinched myself, could not believe it!!! Finding a GOOD drivers is nearly impossible, and then finding a good 67 door. Good pass side doors are all over...

They are dinged up and have rust holes toward the bottom. I know someone who is selling me two very solid doors for $100 apiece. This is cheaper than fixing these with expensive body work.

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by ga-stepside

Are you saying that 68-72 complete vent window parts will fit and work in a '67 door?

Yes , I can double check I have a bunch of both . I'll get a few pictures . There are no aftermaket 67 vent windows sold ,you either use the 68-72 or restore your 67's

[ga-stepside]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Yes , I can double check I have a bunch of both . I'll get a few pictures . There are no aftermaket 67 vent windows sold ,you either use the 68-72 or restore your 67's

Thanks. Mine will not even open, afraid to force them. Price on new 68-72 vent assemblies is crazy expensive. One piece kits are only a bit more, but the work to install them looks a bit intimidating!

[Grumpy old man]

I'm using the 68-72 for parts to restore a couple of my 67's where the lower shaft was frozen and someone forced them and they have been broken , I cut the shaft off the 68 ^ glass frame and tig weld them on to the 67 vent glass frame to repair them .Once they come back from chrome their perfect . I'm using a nice set of 69 GMC doors with the chrome "custom" emblem over the door handle on one of my 67's using 67 vents

[68Gold/white]

Originally Posted by HIGHWAY BY THE SEA

They are dinged up and have rust holes toward the bottom. I know someone who is selling me two very solid doors for $100 apiece. This is cheaper than fixing these with expensive body work.

THAT is a deal!!! If it was my vehicle, I'd install the new doors and not look back.

[special-K]

But don't scrap the doors you take off. Someone can fix these. Even if you sell for $25 you are ahead and so is the buyer.

[Grumpy old man]

I save them all ,They can all be repaired with some work .

[AussieinNC]

That looks like my stack of doors!

[special-K]

Gotta have those doors

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by special-K

But don't scrap the doors you take off. Someone can fix these. Even if you sell for $25 you are ahead and so is the buyer.

I agree.
I have a Lot of doors saved up for my project.
They will not go to Scrap.
They will go to swap meets.

[dmjlambert]

Originally Posted by ga-stepside

Thanks. Mine will not even open, afraid to force them. Price on new 68-72 vent assemblies is crazy expensive. One piece kits are only a bit more, but the work to install them looks a bit intimidating!

I would rather not have a classic truck if it didn't have the vent windows, so I can't imagine going with the 1 piece glass. The vent windows are what makes it a classic.

I don't remember it being very hard to remove the side glass and channels and remove the vent window assembly. There are videos on youtube and right here on the forum are how-to guides that I found. Then I just did it.

Once I had the assembly out and could inspect it and deal with it, it was not bad.
I bought the door weatherstrip kit from GMC Pauls and worked on it, got it done. The chrome parts shine up with steel wool. The rest of it amounts to cleaning up, and giving a shot of spray paint for rust protection. Then put it all back together with new rubber. The only hard part is setting the rivets, and for that it really helps to have 4 hands, so a helper is needed to hold things steady. The rivets I got from GMC Pauls did not have the center hole drilled deep enough, so I drilled them a little deeper, to make them set nice and tight.

Here is a video I used
https://youtu.be/WiZOiHmcb_w

The only deviation I did is I left the top hinge connected to the glass holder and drilled out the 2 rivets that hold the hinge to the frame instead.

I shut the vent windows and latched them before installing in the truck, and I left them alone and latched for 2 weeks. After that, the first few weeks I used the windows they were difficult to latch. After several months passed, they work great and are easy to use. For some reason on my driver-side vent window, the rubber at the bottom of the vent window popped out of the channel when I opened the window, and that was annoying. But after a couple months that stopped happening. It probably helped that I kept the vent windows closed and latched when I was not driving the truck.

I believe there are forum members here that offer a rebuild on these vent window assemblies.

[Grumpy old man]

Early Chevy air conditioning ,

2 vent windows open all the way going 60 miles an hour !