65-68 Mustang door shell grain

[slim]

I'm saying 65-68 because I'm not familiar with the later ones. 65-68 Mustang doors are stamped from sheet steel having a leather like grain. This grain has been discussed in several threads concerning sanding paint off without destroying the grain, painting without filling it in etc.

Repo door shells are availible. Sometimes a door is replaced because the lower interior has been butchered and repair is impractical because of the grain in the steel, maybe because of rust.

I hope I'm wrong but seems like I've seen repo doors that have a grain that has no similarity to original. It's not like the padded dash grain issue, this is like comparing oranges with pineapples!

Tell me I'm wrong, hope I am.


Slim

[ivygreen65]

The repro doors have a noticeably different grain pattern from the originals. Easy to spot, in my opinion.

[slim]

I posted this because: I've seen where someone replaced the whole door besause the grained part is butchered not because of rust.

So now they get a repo door with fit problems and wrong grain!?

[Laurie_S]

Yep.

[66DavesGT]

They make great boat anchors!

[datac]

Not much real alternative to a used door, hard as they are to find.

I had a hole punched through my driver's door by a forklift with defective brakes fifteen years ago. It was a $^&! finding a good, clean door then, even here in the NW where rust isn't much of a problem. I ended up finding one at a large Mustang supplier/yard up in Washington after looking at literally dozens in two states (who knew they made so many deluxe doors? )


I can't imagine how hard the job would be now.

[rodeo5530]

something else that works, not a PERFECT match mind you but its very close, and you cant tell unless you know its there and are looking for it. my grain had just worn off of my door where the driver would rest his arm on the sill. i sprayed s heavy coat of 2k high build primer, let it set up so that it was still soft but not runny (maybe a 2 minutes or so). there is a textured roller that home depot sells. roll that into the primer working your way outwards to the good grain to blend it in, then scotch brite the fuzzies off, paint and enjoy.

[slim]

Originally Posted by rodeo5530

something else that works, not a PERFECT match mind you but its very close, and you cant tell unless you know its there and are looking for it. my grain had just worn off of my door where the driver would rest his arm on the sill. i sprayed s heavy coat of 2k high build primer, let it set up so that it was still soft but not runny (maybe a 2 minutes or so). there is a textured roller that home depot sells. roll that into the primer working your way outwards to the good grain to blend it in, then scotch brite the fuzzies off, paint and enjoy.

Good idea. Thanks for posting it. Just a reminder for folks. The grain is on the sheet metal before forming/stamping in the die. The metal is somewhat stretched in high areas/corners etc. You see this especially on the door ends.

Keep in mind sweat and grime from your arm tends over the years to fill in the grain. My driver side door sill had the paint pretty worn, I found scrubbing with a stiff fiber/nylon detailing brush and detergent cleaned out the grain.

We need to understand the sheet steel is embossed by the steel mill. An auto company buying sheet steel for say 500,000 car doors can specify a special grain at a nominal charge. GE producing 1,000,000+ refrig a year can specify the grain on the frig doors.

A car door repo producer looking at selling say 2000/yr. has very little influence on the steel mill. Even if the mill still exists in spite of our fed gov working for 40 years to get rid of dirty manufacturing and they have the 40 year old Ford graining rollers they may need to meet a 100,000 foot minimum order to get them to install Ford's special grain roller!

My point is if you have a rusty original door take some time (months rather than minutes) to find a salvageabe OEM door. If your original door has that typical rust in the corners but is otherwise pretty good maybe it's worth $200 with a pro or many hours of your labor.


Slim

[shaneh]

It is highly likely that the original mill rollers which produced that grain do not exist any longer and that they used a commonly available grain.

[rarebreed]

Ok, so how would one go about patching the bottom of the door shell in the front if you cannot get the grained steel to match?

I would love to keep my originals, but they both have rust in that area up front where the doors make the curve up into the jams.

[bryancobb]

Just in the past couple of weeks, I found some VERY CLEAR pictures of the grain on the new repop doors. I have been wanting to see it for years and had not. These pictures were very good.

I'll try to remember where I saw them and put them here.
Found 'em! They are noticeably different but they really look pretty good as long as you're not looking for concours. It's really pretty close when you put OEM beside it. The blue one is my OEM.
You guys who are rest-modding, the purists would pay a premium for your OEM doors if they are nice. More than enough to get a set of Golden Legions and get them fitted.

ORIGINAL

[Dudley]

So, how much could I get for the doors on my car if I were to start parting out the car?

[bryancobb]

Originally Posted by Dudley

So, how much could I get for the doors on my car if I were to start parting out the car?

If they are nice and don't need rust repair, and the INSIDE grain is never been sanded away or no dents ON THE INSIDE grain side, $300 to $400 each?

Dents on the outside are OK. They can be easily repaired.

New repops are $283 each.

[Dudley]

chuckle, I'm not serious, read my signature, or check the pictures inside this thread on the AC topic, it includes a few pictures of detail around my car including the door shell, just scroll through the thread......Anyone considering adding OEM AC to a 68, opinon and questions...

[datac]

Weird, looks to me like the repop grain is a negative impression of the oem stuff.