How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

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juvius
Posts: 1090
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:57 pm
Your car is a: 79 spider
Location: Plymouth, OH

How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby juvius » Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:14 pm

From what I gather, the door latch and striker location changed in 74. What I can say for sure is that doors from a 70 do not work on a later car. There is about an inch or so difference in the latch and striker locations. I wanted to use my early doors because of the handles and because they are in really nice shape. The donor doors were were all beat up with rust holes everywhere. Here's how I got by it:

First, Here's a couple pictures of the differences:
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stripped the door that i'm using down to the shell:
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For the pattern, i just cut some poster board in a shape that I thought would be an easy cut. I also made sure it would cover the latch location, and screw holes on both doors. Once i had it the way i wanted it, i outlined it on both doors:
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Here are some pictures of the measurements I made to make sure i put the patch in the right spot:
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Here is the patch cut out of the donor door. I cleaned it up in the blast cabinet, filled the holes from where i removed the spot weld where the bracket were in the donor door. (the earlier doors didn't have that bracket). then I sprayed some weld through primer on the inside part of the patch to keep it from rusting until i coat the inside of the door.
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Then i set it in place of the early door and took some measure measurements to make sure it looked good then i cut it out and cleaned the edges for welding
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After I was sure it looked good, i set the patch in place, tacked it in, took some more measurements, then welded and grinded the welds down.
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Then i put the latch in and remeasured to make sure it was in the right position. Turned out perfect... (you can scroll up and check the original measurements):
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SoFlaFiat
Posts: 1480
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 71 1608 77 1800 81 2000
Location: South West Florida

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby SoFlaFiat » Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:38 pm

Well done Steve!!!
Looks great!!
1971 124BS1 with 1608, since October 2014
1977 124CS1 with 1800, since June 1993
1981 124CS0 with built 2 liter under construction since April 2013...
Here is the link to my build blog:
http://www.miscuglio777881.com

juvius
Posts: 1090
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:57 pm
Your car is a: 79 spider
Location: Plymouth, OH

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby juvius » Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:53 pm

thanks.... went pretty smooth considering the only other time i did something like this was on the front frame section....

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SoFlaFiat
Posts: 1480
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 71 1608 77 1800 81 2000
Location: South West Florida

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby SoFlaFiat » Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:56 pm

I'm sure it was smoother going than chopping up the skin like I did :roll:
1971 124BS1 with 1608, since October 2014
1977 124CS1 with 1800, since June 1993
1981 124CS0 with built 2 liter under construction since April 2013...
Here is the link to my build blog:
http://www.miscuglio777881.com

juvius
Posts: 1090
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:57 pm
Your car is a: 79 spider
Location: Plymouth, OH

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby juvius » Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:11 pm

yes... i still think you're nuts.. lol

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SoFlaFiat
Posts: 1480
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 71 1608 77 1800 81 2000
Location: South West Florida

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby SoFlaFiat » Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:20 pm

I'm sure I'm nuts! But I have a lot of fun being that way :lol:
1971 124BS1 with 1608, since October 2014
1977 124CS1 with 1800, since June 1993
1981 124CS0 with built 2 liter under construction since April 2013...
Here is the link to my build blog:
http://www.miscuglio777881.com

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Ptoneill
Posts: 606
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:28 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider 2000
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby Ptoneill » Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:01 am

Nice job....sure wish I knew how to weld!!!
Stay Safe,

Pat
79spider
HAVE FUN!! It's a FIAT!!
ptoneill@msn.com
http://s1121.photobucket.com/albums/l504/ptoneill/

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Exit98
Posts: 1470
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:16 pm
Your car is a: 76 Yellow 124 Spider
Location: Wall Township, NJ

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby Exit98 » Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:41 am

Steve when I see what some of you guys can do I just shake my head.

Amazing.
Doug
76 Yellow Spider at the Jersey Shore

juvius
Posts: 1090
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:57 pm
Your car is a: 79 spider
Location: Plymouth, OH

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby juvius » Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:38 pm

Ptoneill wrote:Nice job....sure wish I knew how to weld!!!


lol... i fake it... all i did was got on craigslist, bought a welder and watch a bunch of youtube videos.

juvius
Posts: 1090
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:57 pm
Your car is a: 79 spider
Location: Plymouth, OH

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby juvius » Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:40 pm

Exit98 wrote:Steve when I see what some of you guys can do I just shake my head.

Amazing.


thanks for the complement. i "practiced" on that yellow 71 i had. it wasn't supposed to be practice though, i was trying to restore that car until i saw behind the rockers...

rebar1111
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Your car is a: 1979 124Spider
Location: Mentor, Ohio 44060
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Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby rebar1111 » Fri Apr 04, 2014 6:17 am

Nice!

Akgriffith
Posts: 103
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:05 pm
Your car is a: 1977 and 1970 Spider

Re: How I put pre 74 doors on my 82 body

Postby Akgriffith » Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:47 pm

I don't mean to resurrect an old post, but I just wanted to tell you guys that I just found out my donor car (1970) door doesn't line up on the latch side of my 77. This post just saved me a bunch of time! Thanks for posting it!
Alex Griffith
1977 124 Spider - Slowly coming together


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