Door Project Photo
04-10-2007, 05:12 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
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Door Project Photo
These are turning out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Door are fiberglass, but not GT Racing...rather molded right off the factory door inside and out. Got them from Rich Vizzini (thanks for lead on them Musche). They were basically in good shape and well bought, but also well used, especially the passenger side door which suffered from a bit of a racing shunt. Visited the country retreat of a Corvette Guru and learned some fiberglass magic to bring them back.
04-11-2007, 12:42 AM
#6
Originally Posted by billthe3
Awesome stuff! Do you think the door is strong enough to handle installing all the power window and other crap the stockers hold, or is this for racing?
04-11-2007, 01:05 AM
#7
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Originally Posted by MPD47
Fiberglass doors are NOT meant for street cars. They lack any crash structure and you should not be running them without a full cage.
listen to this man and you will go far
he knows his stuff
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04-11-2007, 07:49 AM
#10
Burning Brakes
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First and foremost, just for racing. Look close and you can see the Autopower cage bits behind the door. These doors weighed about 7-8 lbs when I got them. I added about 1 lb of resin in each rebonding the inner and outshells and reinforcing them in key spots....look closely right behind the A-pillar on the pictured door and you see a part of new fiberglass mat sticking down into the first oval shaped cut-out in the stamping. The passenger door was broken in that spot from the crash of the race car from which they were scavanged.
The OE door hardware I salvaged from a friend's 924S parts car...handle, striker and script handles I saved from my old 944S donor...literally weigh almost as much as the doors. I'll check, but I think they weigh about 12-13 lbs each now. I still have two lightweight factory Club Sport manual mirrors to install. They weigh about 1 lb.
FYI, I was flabbergasted at how much an OE door with glass and power mirror weighs. Took two of us to load it into my Surburban to take it home for scavaging the hardware! I'm thinking this swap saves at least 30 lbs per side.
These doors look very true to shape and were previously well mounted...but as others have shared, these are not practical parts for the street. We're going to remove my OE doors from the race car for cage installation then swap these back on when that job is done. I have the complete rubber surrounds from the doors that donated the hardware, but plan to hang the doors first, then decide whether the surround is needed for fit and vibration containment. That's all we're planning to install...making some rough fit plexi windows but they will be used for storage and transport only.
Will post a couple more shots later today. This has been a fun project, but trust me, it takes a big gulp every step of way as I devolve a really sweet, well preserved black on linen 85.5 into a pure racing tub, step by step. Can't help but wince at the thought of whacking two perfectly good doors with all working electrics and swapping them for "replica" racing parts, but the project has gone smoothly, albeit slowly, so far.
The OE door hardware I salvaged from a friend's 924S parts car...handle, striker and script handles I saved from my old 944S donor...literally weigh almost as much as the doors. I'll check, but I think they weigh about 12-13 lbs each now. I still have two lightweight factory Club Sport manual mirrors to install. They weigh about 1 lb.
FYI, I was flabbergasted at how much an OE door with glass and power mirror weighs. Took two of us to load it into my Surburban to take it home for scavaging the hardware! I'm thinking this swap saves at least 30 lbs per side.
These doors look very true to shape and were previously well mounted...but as others have shared, these are not practical parts for the street. We're going to remove my OE doors from the race car for cage installation then swap these back on when that job is done. I have the complete rubber surrounds from the doors that donated the hardware, but plan to hang the doors first, then decide whether the surround is needed for fit and vibration containment. That's all we're planning to install...making some rough fit plexi windows but they will be used for storage and transport only.
Will post a couple more shots later today. This has been a fun project, but trust me, it takes a big gulp every step of way as I devolve a really sweet, well preserved black on linen 85.5 into a pure racing tub, step by step. Can't help but wince at the thought of whacking two perfectly good doors with all working electrics and swapping them for "replica" racing parts, but the project has gone smoothly, albeit slowly, so far.
04-11-2007, 08:04 AM
#11
Burning Brakes
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One more semi-historical thought. I've got GT racing nose parts (no headight nostril header and racing Turbo fascia) and an AIR splitter on the front...but my hood has a tale just like the doors. The hood was sourced from a guy in Bear, Delaware...he reportedly got it with the inventory of a small Porsche shop being liquidated in NJ. Just like the doors in this thread, the hood is a two piece bonded assembly cast right off OE parts, right down to the repaint lines around the windshield washer nostrils
Was there some kind of Northeast cottage industry knocking out fiberglass 944 parts back in the day? Seems like quite a coincidence that I found three parts of very similar construction and not seemingly available now through commercial channels.
Was there some kind of Northeast cottage industry knocking out fiberglass 944 parts back in the day? Seems like quite a coincidence that I found three parts of very similar construction and not seemingly available now through commercial channels.
04-11-2007, 08:39 AM
#12
Nordschleife Master
Very cool parts. Are the hinge and striker plate areas reinforced at all or is it the same layout of fiberglass throughout?
The stock doors are indeed heavy as hell, i swapped the very dented ones on my friends car. Did it myself with the help of a door installer from HarborFreight...was not easy at all!
I think the only downside you will loose is the nice 'thunk' from those heavy doors closing.
The stock doors are indeed heavy as hell, i swapped the very dented ones on my friends car. Did it myself with the help of a door installer from HarborFreight...was not easy at all!
I think the only downside you will loose is the nice 'thunk' from those heavy doors closing
.
04-11-2007, 08:57 AM
#13
Burning Brakes
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Yep, thunk is going to become clunk. No reinforcements on mounting points except a couple additional layers of glass mat around the front mounting point for the exterior door handle. The stricker plate/latch are pretty solid, though as they make hard sandwich between the latch and the interior works. I replaced the OE fasteners for the interior handle and cable guide with similar threaded metric bolts and screws with large washers and nuts on the backside to replace the hard mounted threaded receivers on a steel door.
The door has suprising strength from it's two part bonded construction. Basicall nothing really flexes or flaps so far. Also, as a racer, it will not get the daily wear of regular use in and out of the car...plus, once the door is closed it wil have a three point hard mount in the door surround between the OE front hinges and the B-pillar OE latch. When closed, we're not asked the door to do anything but sit inside the steel door opening and not buzz or flap...whatever torsional rigidity is lost in the door opening is more than compensated by the six point cage mounts, I would think.
The car is already pretty raucous with it's one piece Flowmaster 40 exhaust, cone intake, removed rear interior, slightly tight timing belt and JME cam...will be interesting to see how the driving environment changes when the front carpets depart and the cage and glass doors go on.
I read the SCCA Time Trial EP Class specs I'm chasing again last night and I think I'm going to order a GT Racing fiberglass sun roof panel too. Factory one will either have to be bolted in or removed for each event.
The door has suprising strength from it's two part bonded construction. Basicall nothing really flexes or flaps so far. Also, as a racer, it will not get the daily wear of regular use in and out of the car...plus, once the door is closed it wil have a three point hard mount in the door surround between the OE front hinges and the B-pillar OE latch. When closed, we're not asked the door to do anything but sit inside the steel door opening and not buzz or flap...whatever torsional rigidity is lost in the door opening is more than compensated by the six point cage mounts, I would think.
The car is already pretty raucous with it's one piece Flowmaster 40 exhaust, cone intake, removed rear interior, slightly tight timing belt and JME cam...will be interesting to see how the driving environment changes when the front carpets depart and the cage and glass doors go on.
I read the SCCA Time Trial EP Class specs I'm chasing again last night and I think I'm going to order a GT Racing fiberglass sun roof panel too. Factory one will either have to be bolted in or removed for each event.
04-12-2007, 04:12 AM
#14
Rennlist Member
Originally Posted by TheRealLefty
I read the SCCA Time Trial EP Class specs I'm chasing again last night and I think I'm going to order a GT Racing fiberglass sun roof panel too. Factory one will either have to be bolted in or removed for each event.
Good stuff! Got any pics of the hood?
