new doors?

["67"StepSide]

I've read alot of people have good luck with goodmark sheetmetal, but has anyone actually bought and put on new doors from them for a 67-72 pickup?
If so how did they fit? Cuz mine are shot and it's not easy to find rust free doors or rust free anything for that matter in the northeast. I'm tempted to buy a pair but my bodyshop guy dosen't like repop doors. Any input? thanks john

[19673ontree]

I have personally looked at two sets of the new doors on two different trucks and they are pretty good looking and fit pretty good but on both sets they were a little short and caused the gaps to be to big , other than that I thought they looked good , myself I would prefer to get the inner and outer door bottoms and fix the originals I did that several years ago with good results , if my 67 I am fixing right now needed it thats what I would do ,

[jaros44sr]

Mine seem to fit real nice. Watch out for shipping, know the price before hand.
Sure is nice dealing with all new metal!! J.





Sorry the pics are dark, but my truck hasn't seen the light of day for 4 years!!

[BarryB]

Honestly you are probably gunna get both sides of the story here. I have heard horror stories about good mark parts and I have heard praise about them. I agree with 673ontree. I would get the replacement panels,probablly have the same amount of time in repairing as getting the new doors to fit right. Most likely saving a bunch of money, especially if you do it yourself.

["67"StepSide]

Jaros44: Thanks for the pics. Ah, yes guys, herein lies my dilemma. I do all the mechanical work, but no body work. My body man happens to be a friend of mine, but still, whenever I bring up the subject of buying the skins and replacement panels to repair my original doors, he basically tells me that I will spend a fortune trying to fix them and that its just not worth the money. Then there's the option of going to Carlisle and trying to find a pair or rust free ones, which, from what I've heard, are around $500. Then there's travel cost also, and then whatever it costs to have them blasted and whatever body work they need. I guess that's why I'm seriously considering the new ones. Even though I know that nothing fits better than original. Thanks for all the input.

[c-1072]

I would just buy new . Try to find a local goodmark dealer like i did and order the parts from him the guy will work with you if he wants your buisness . I just orderd over 2k worth of panels for differnt jobs and the shipping was the same 135.00 . you get to view the parts before you have to accept them .the reason i say buy new is . i was thinking the same thing use my original doors and fix the bottoms and skins , but after doing one i am sort of wishing i just went out and got new ones . The money i would be saving would be around 180.00 per door not including my time .The metal work took a bit of time but the prep work on the door took three times as long .

[19673ontree]

you know a lot of people are just like you in the fact that they do mechanic work but not bodywork , and I will admit that mechanic work is way easier than bodywork but you would be surprised at how easy body work is to do after you learn and practice , I do everything to my vehicles myself I can't imagine not being able to do so , for me the hard part of paint and bodywork is going into a parts store and getting the material NOW THAT'S ROUGH !!

["67"StepSide]

Belive me I wish I could do my own body work but I don't have a clue!?? My buddy owns his own bodyshop and will let my help out where I can but I pretty much stay out of his way... "The enemy is rust"

[mac]

I bought a whole Goodmark front end kit including the cowl hood. I decided against new doors and went with full skins so I wouldn't have lots of time invested or have any issues with less than perfectly straight seams on the smaller filler panels. The original skins were a bear to get off but the new ones went right back on after using some rust restorer and paint inside the remainder of the doors. It also gave me a chance to get sound deadner on the new skins and the rest of the inside without any battles. I left the skins loosely crimped on the door till it gapped up good all around then set it and sealed it. The only part of the whole deal that turned into trouble was getting the hood gaps right.

My advice is get full door skins, the $80 each is a lot less than the cost of the body work to make the fillers look good. They're EDP coated and will never be a problem again.

Mac --- '67 Step, ZZ4

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by "67"StepSide

Belive me I wish I could do my own body work but I don't have a clue!?? My buddy owns his own bodyshop and will let my help out where I can but I pretty much stay out of his way... "The enemy is rust"

Let's see how this adds up:

Patch Panels- cut, fit, cut, fit, and weld. bondo and sand
Reskin-align and fit, crimp
New doors- 6 hinge bolts------PRICELESS

[alblogg]

Well you all have some good points but from a body mans point of view here is what I think and this is only my opinion. New doors do cost more BUT if your doors are in real bad shape rusted out at the bottom dings every where then simple repair is out of the question. So door skins come into the picture which some body men will not do some don't know how to do. This is a labor burning job and you have two doors so thats times two. Now he has to work the door and finish it up sand it, prep it, prime it, sand it, prime and sand it till it is as smooth as a babies bottom.All of this is times two. Or he could have took the doors out of the boxes put the hardware in them hung them lined them up and started working on the lines and any little dings he saw. One day compared to two or two and one half days labor.

[timcos]

Is there a FAQ on replacing door bottoms inside and out? I wrote ebfabman because I bought his cab repair dvds...they were worht every penny..wish I had the other bodywork dvds tht are not produced yet...or that I do not know of.

[alblogg]

Man that's what I should do make educational DVDs while I am restoring my '69.

[Bob D]

I bought 1 new door to replace one that was rusted thru in the hinge area. The new one was beautiful, but I had fit issues in the top rear of the window frame where the door was curved more than the side of the cab. I had to drill out some welds where the window pillar extends into the door, straighten it out and reweld it. I read somewhere on this board that doing this is not uncommon with the Chinese doors.

Bob

PS Where in Connecticut are you located??

[alblogg]

Originally Posted by "67"StepSide

Belive me I wish I could do my own body work but I don't have a clue!?? My buddy owns his own bodyshop and will let my help out where I can but I pretty much stay out of his way... "The enemy is rust"

The first thing you have to learn in the body shop business is how to sit around and shoot the sh** while you are waiting for your filler to dry or your primer to dry or your paint to dry or your parts to come in or your wife to get there with you something from Wendy's or the steak house. Sit, wait and drink coffee or sodas if your not a manly man.

[timcos]

Originally Posted by alblogg

Man that's what I should do make educational DVDs while I am restoring my '69.

I will buy them.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Pictures are worth 1000 words. Goodmark (or Tri-plus) doors AND fenders, stock 67 hood, stock 67 grill.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I installed everything myself and I have never done any kind of work like this before, so I'm sure a true "bodyman" could do a lot better than I did.

They do require some work though, the window frames had to be pulled out almost a 1/2" and I also enlared all of the fender mounting holes for easier adjustment. The hood and cowl gap you see was no different than when I had my stock fenders on the truck.

There's a lot more pics of the parts install on my build thread page in my signature.

I am satisfied with how everything looks and turned out. Keep in mind as well that back then from the factory the parts for these trucks had a 3/8 inch +/- tolerance for parts!!!! That's atrocious by todays standards!

["67"StepSide]

Hey BobD I'm in torrington.. 67 thanks for the pic's very nice I'm still looking around for some orignals but really starting to lean toward new goodmarks. My bodyguy said no problem repairing my old one's just open up my wallet!!!!! He's just trying send me in the most inexpensive way to go to stay on my budget HA HA!! That's funny I said BUDGET!!!!

[Boog]

I think if you are having to pay someone to do your bodywork you just might be better off to buy new doors. Time spent repairing yours and the rust issue versus new rust free metal requiring little or no bodyworking? You and your bodyman should appreciate the new metal. At my age I am alergic to rust and the less straightening and filling to be done the better.

[pickupman]

Just some thoughts guys, Doors are fitting pretty good now. The main problem I find people do not have the patience to take the time to adjust them. They think they are a direct bolt on and doors have so many ways to adjust. Also be sure they are a Tri-plus door. Goodmark is only a distributor of parts, not a manufacturer and seem to go with the cheaper parts sometimes, I ordered a set to throw in with a load of camaro parts a couple of months ago and they were some off brand and were very cheaply made. So whoever you get your doors from you might check to see what brand they are. That is just my experience. Bill

["67"StepSide]

Okay, so tri-plus is the brand that I should be looking for? That's good to know. See, I'm just trying to get as much information on this stuff as I can to help myself out when it comes to dealing w/my buddy who is going to do the truck and as far as people having patience with doing the body work on these doors as far as changing the skins, etc, you guys are absolutely right. Its not that I don't think my friend knows how to do it or can do it, because I know he does. He's been doing this sort of stuff for over 20 years, its just that I get the feeling he really doesn't want to be bothered. See, he does mostly big dollar restorations and works w/customers with DEEP POCKETS!!!! I happen to be a close friend of his from high school that has pockets with holes in them. This truck has been in my family since new, so there is that feeling from him that he feels kind of obligated to do it for me and help me out also in the price department. So, I get the feeling that the less labor on this project for him, the better. That's why I think he's hinted at new doors also. Thanks for all the input.

[alblogg]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I installed everything myself and I have never done any kind of work like this before, so I'm sure a true "bodyman" could do a lot better than I did.

They do require some work though, the window frames had to be pulled out almost a 1/2" and I also enlared all of the fender mounting holes for easier adjustment. The hood and cowl gap you see was no different than when I had my stock fenders on the truck.

There's a lot more pics of the parts install on my build thread page in my signature.

I am satisfied with how everything looks and turned out. Keep in mind as well that back then from the factory the parts for these trucks had a 3/8 inch +/- tolerance for parts!!!! That's atrocious by todays standards!

I have put on aftermarket doors,fenders,hoods and front end and I have put on the same from GM,Ford,Mopar,and some of the others. I have had to take a rubber hammer, plasma cutter and a mig welder to just as many factory as aftermarket. This day and time the companies just don't care about quality anymore. why spend $500 for a hood when I can get you one for half that paint it put it on your car and since you already had it appraised for the $500 hood after your insurance deductible sometimes you have money to put in your pocket for a change.