Yes looking for info. on fiberglass doors, does anyone know where i can purchase fiberglass doors for a 3rd generation camaro, that you can use factory glass and factory tracks, and also hinges?

Thanks,
Scooterboy.

 

I seem to remember reading a thread about this recently. Search for it and it should come up. Only thing is though, I wouldn't want to be hit in the side with fibreglass doors :nono: :nono:


RMK

 

very curious of this also !

thanks

 

http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/8292camaro.htm

Found it by using the search tool

 

some ppl have better luck than others with search feature at any given point in time,

thanks

 

If you can make it work (you know how to install them, etc) then i'd say go for it! fibreglass will be lighter than the steel doors and will never rust like a steel part will. It's just gonna suck if it gets hit, and in cold weather (winter temps) it will be more brittle than in summer weather.

 

Are you going to be doing some serious racing? 20lbs and $500 sounds pretty good, but the whole thing about getting hit bothers me. If my wife was driving and got hit and got hurt just cause I wanted to shed some pounds for street racing, I would feel pretty bad.

Brian

 

anyone want to guess at what stock doors weigh, loaded or not ?

thanks

 

I would say a door with window and no options is around 80 pounds..

As well, if you had a 6 point cage, that would help in a side-on impact.

 

everywhere i have read says that you can only use lexan windows in glass doors.

 

you can also reinfors the doors with square tubbing and it will proably end up being stronger

 

4th gens have fiberglass doors and they have real windows in them. I know that the fiberglass doors for the 1982-92 cars on that web site are geared for racing only, but it would be possible to have fiberglass door and real windows. I would think if 4th gens do it.

 

I dont have an exact weight of the doors but I'm thinking they are between 80 and 90 pounds each. By gutting my doors (only the sheetmetal and latches left) and using bolt on lexan windows I'm hoping to drop 60 pounds a door, 120 pounds total. I will be using my rollcage as the safety device for side impact.

 

I've never seen operating windows on glass doors, I think the reason is mostly structural. The other deal is that these doors are used for race cars that have a cage, there is no side impact protection whatsoever in glass doors. The dragster guys use aluminum channel and a seatbelt to raise and lower the window. They just pull it up and click the belt on the bottom of the door, release the belt and lowerer the lexan window. More recently they just build a bracket to hold the windows on permanently, and just open the doors. These doors install using 2 pins and are very light. Basically, glass doors are for race cars, not street cars.

 

my .02

I would think the reason you usually only see lexan windows with fiberglass doors is because in racing aplications the whole door is fiberglass (am i correct???I'm just guessing about this)

If just the door skin was fiberglass, wouldn't the steel inner structure still be strong enough to support the window, and mechanisms.

AS far as the impact thing goes. if you could get the fiberglass laminated on the back with some thick plastic sheet (like they do for the windshields) i wouldn't think the safety would be sacraficed too badly. The steel skins don't offer much impact protection anyways (aside from debris, shrapnel, etc etc)
With the laminate, maybe the fiberglass wouldn't shatter (shatter is kind of exagerating, but you get the idea) but would just crack and cave. This way, you'd still be protected from crash debris, and providing the inner door frame is still the original steel one, i can't see it being much worse as far as impact goes.

I think it's a neat idea, but I don't know that anyone has tested it, applied it, or will manufacture it though

 

I'm a firefighter and we recently had to do an extrication on a 4th gen. What we discoverred is that the whole freakin' door is basically fiberglass and plastic, you could just about take it apart with your bare hands, especially if the glass was already compromised. Basically, there are 2 steel hinges attaching a plate that is laminated/riveted to the glass door. From this steel plate/hinge assembly there is a (about 1-3/4 ) tube that goes down the center area of the door to the Nader-pin on the latch. That's it, the glass door just sort of hangs off of this plate/tube arrangement. It's actually very simple, you could totally remove the door in it's entirety, and you would have this hing/plate/tube/latch still in place and operable as a door.