I have come across this problem that is a total pain in my a$$...I've got an '85 bird and right underneath where the door skin "mounts" to the chassis of the door has rusted/rotted away...This has occurred on both doors...I am looking for some suggestions on what to do...My father is a sheet metal fabricator and says that we should be able to cut out all the rust under there...put some rust stuff on there that stops it (some products that do this would be helpful to know) and put the new pieces of sheet metal in there and then weld them onto the door...We are quite capable of doing this work if it is possible to do...It seems possible but I'm not sure of any problems that I might run into...Any information/opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated as I am attempting to put this car back together with a tight budget (damn college)...Thanx

Joe P

 

A good product to stop rust is Rust Mort it is a Marine product that contains phosphoricacid (unsure of spelling) it turns the rust black and then gets washed off after 24hrs. at that point you can put icing etc on it to fill in pitts. Hope that helps James

 

rust under the lip that holds the inner & outer door skins together is a very common problem on older cars in the "rust belt". phospohric acid or sand blasting are the most effective ways to remove whatever rust is there, but you'll have to seperate the two door skins to apply it. if corrosion is severe enough that the panels are significantly weakened, cut out the corroded metal and weld in some new sheetmetal in it's place.

considering that used thirdgen doors can often be acquired for around $100 each, it may not be worth the effort to try to fix yours. big question with used doors though is whether you can find a set that is in better shape than what you currently have on your car.