Thread: I couldn't build it for $3 K either!

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I thought it was about time to get the door hung and latched. Notice I still haven't fixed the windshield.

This body was setup for a fiberglass interior unit that gets epoxied into place and stiffens the whole unit up. You're not supposed to need wood or other reinforcement. Well maybe not, but the more I fooled with it, the more I thought it could use a little added support.

One area was the door. The original setup had the hinges screwed to the fiberglass door frame and relied on the box structure formed by the interior to hold everything aligned. If the hinges ever needed serviceing, you were just out of luck. Once that interior section gets glued in, it ain't comin' back out in one piece.

I fabbed up an inner door post out of 3/4" square tube and a peice of angle iron heavy enough that it could be tapped for the hinge bolts(1 x 1 x 1/4", I think). Luckily I had room to squeeze it in between the body and interior unit. It ties into the cowl bar at the top. At the bottom, I added a bolt-on bracket to the side of the chassis and the door post bolts through the floor to that. The door hinge support is now as solid as the car frame and independent of the body for the most part. If the hinges ever need to be removed, I will still need to cut an access hole in the kick panel area, but it's not going to weaken the door support or throw it out of alignment.