I am shaving my doors handles on my restomod 91 Z28. I had the locks shaved off 10 years ago and am in the middle of doing a full rebuild on the doors. I noticed that the guy that shaved the locks didn't cut out the lock depressions, he just welded a plate over. I am guessing that is less than ideal. Right?

For the door handles, it would be ideal to have a donor door to get curved metal from, but I don't have that. I figured I would cut the depression out, form some sheet metal the best I can and tack it in place. Then skim it over with filler.

Any advice on this approach?

 

Wrong kind of car for shaved door handles.
'Looks best on '40s & '50s cars...

 

@soloc4 did custom door handles on his car. They look really clean. But then, so does the whole rest of his car too!

 

I remember seeing soloc4's car a while back. Super nice. Plan on my build being quite a bit like that.
He used Kindigit door handles. I like those too. But not the "shaved" look I am going for.
I also shaved my antenna, and fender marker lights, over 10 years ago.
Gas door as well.

Really just looking for any advice from anyone that has shaved anything on any car really.
I have read articles of it being done in magazines, and it doesn't seem too bad. (Especially compared to bigger jobs that I have done like my minitub or shaved firewall).

 

dude, you are really opinionated on what other people do to their own property.
you might not like it, but you dont need to tell people that.
your car sucks, its not the best. And from what i have read, you suck too.
get over yourself.


sorry about the above post.
I run a custom shop and have shaved hundreds of items through out the years. In fact i have a car in the paint booth right now that i shaved the mirrors off of.
There is no reason to remove the pockets or indentions from the back side. you can if you want, but that usually leads to much more warpage in the adjacent panel. leaving the pocket/or dimple keeps the body panel sturdy while you do your welding.
In the end, only you knows it is there.
Almost everyone of my vehicles have shaved parts, handles, roll pans ect.

here is my Isuzu Hombre with a few parts shaved on it.

 

That's a pretty opinionated thing for you to say. And who are you?? Oh yeah, that's right, absolutely NOBODY important.
So again, KICK ROCKS, you self-important, hypocritical P.O.S. ...

 

I cut out the recessed areas because I was installing the Kindigit handles in the location of the original handles. If you want to do a flush panel you could leave the indentations as bk2life mentioned simply weld patches over them. This would help minimize any warping, much like bead rolls stiffen a flat panel. Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks bk2life. You took the words right out of my mouth. I typed up a much more heated post yesterday after seeing T.L.'s and then deleted it, telling myself that people that post replies that have zero added value are best ignored. I think any objectively decent person understands your point. People can do whatever they want with their stuff. Period.

I didn't say I was looking for opinions of if I should...

Anyways, back on topic.
Thanks for the advice bk2life! I will leave the dimples in place and weld panels over them. Then apply some rust encapsulator behind the work in that little pocket left over.
That truck is pretty amazing looking. Model isn't bad either!
Now that I know you have shaved so many things. Do you have any tips on poppers, and actuators?

I have Dakota Digital electronics to control the solenoids. I have some old ebay 50lbs solenoids, but I don't think I will use them. I will stick with the Dakota Digital ecosystem and buy theirs. As well as their door poppers. Do you have any images of how you set up your solenoids and poppers? Really interested where the poppers tend to be placed. Or is it really different from application to application?

Sorry for all the questions, but one last one. Do you have a button over ride, for if the battery in the remote dies? I was thinking of hiding a waterproof button under the car someplace.
Thanks for the advice you have given and any more that you can give.

soloc4: Realy admire the attention to detail and work that has gone into your Camaro. Can't wait for mine to be in a similar shape someday.

 

You literally asked for opinions. Don't get butt-hurt because you didn't like the opinion. Discussion forums are for EXPRESSING OPINIONS.
Nobody ever tried to force you embrace my opinions.
Some people get triggered for the most ridiculous reasons. Maybe you need a pillow & a coloring book...

 

T.L. please scroll up and look for the word "opinion". I can't find it.

 

Really? So you weren' asking for anyone to comment on your thread, huh? You just posted to tell everyone what you were planning to do to your car. Riiiiight...

 

I gave you my "advice".
You and your buddy didn't like it.
Nothing to get triggered about.
But don't act like you never asked for an opinion...

 

looks like the dennis was asking for input on how to accomplish shaving the door handles and not whether that would or wouldn't look good - which would be a pointless exercise because aesthetics are so subjective.
i have the same Kindigit handles as soloc4 and installed them the same way he did. the entire cup had to be removed to install them.
i would recommend leaving that area and welding a plate over it since that seems to be the easiest way to do it. i think you'll also want a hidden release in case the battery dies. or you can add remote battery terminal posts somewhere so you can connect a jump box and use the remote to open the door. i added remote terminals below the rear bumper since i relocated my battery to the PS spare tire area.

 

battmann - You are correct on what my intentions were with this thread. Thank you.

Remote battery terminals are a great idea. I too have my battery located just behind my PS wheel well.

My C7 vette has door buttons and if the battery dies they don't work of course.
The key fob has a physical key inside of it, and the car has a hidden lock next to the backup camera.
This allows access to the trunk. Once there, there is a pull cord sort of hidden in the carpet that opens the driver side door.
Battery is also in the trunk under some carpet.

I may go that route. Just copy what GM did on the C7.

 

yes, ill chime in later im in the booth laying out some grphics on a scout ive been building.
you know, since im a " absolutely NOBODY important, self-important, hypocritical P.O.S." helping others by building their dreams
Im not just into 3rd gens, i have several other vehicles.
here is a few pics of the scout in the booth, and a couple others

-have a great day

 

Are you the one laying down all the paint on all these cars?
They look AMAZING. So much detail.
I can't imagine how much prep work there is for all these colors and effects. Very impressive.

That Chevelle is insane, love it.

I finished stripping my second door of components last night. Second hinge was a pain to break down.
I found a shop that can sand blast the jams for me down to metal. I can do the flat surfaces with a surface conditioning tool, then I will weld the panels in over the depressions.
Next is to figure out what solenoids and poppers to use.

 

Yessir.
and thank you.
At my shop we do everything but axle and transmission work. We send those smelly things out for work.
The chevelle has fiberglass front end, stretched rear wheel wells. I have reshaped both and made them fit and work. The hood was cut, lifted, and rebuilt to cover the split dominators. That car is covered in a satin blue.
The details take time. Yes.
I also have my twin turbo scout I'm building on the side. Lots of custom parts, fabrication and just normal you know absolutely NOBODY important, hypocritical P.O.S. type of work going on nearly daily.

But, if you need more in-depth help, either keep this thread going, or message me. I can send you my IG/Facebook and shop number if you need to talk.

 

Very cool Scout project. Can't get over the insane graphics on that slammed truck.
So many layers.
Huge, huge fan of over the top custom work.
Really why I am into cars. I have zero motivation to restore things to stock.

Not on topic, but for cars that are all one color, do you paint them assembled or in pieces? Or is it case by case?
When my car gets to that stage I will make a thread field advice, but was just curious since you posted all these great pics.

 

this is very much on topic.

and yes it is a case by case basis. If the customer wants a $2500 paint job, doors aren't coming off.
for instance we have a mach 1 in the shop that we have removed the front end, but not the doors. The car will be 'jambed' and then reassembled.
I personally do not like taking the car apart for paint and then reassembling. Toooooooo many chances for damaging the new paint.
With the jambs all painted, and a quality masking job, it makes no difference if it was assembled, or blown apart.

Oh and i use dakota digital door poppers and their remote kit. Quality parts and they stand behind them if a warranty is needed.

The picture will be abit hard to understand, but this is an S10 door shell with the door skin cut off. So you are looking through the door to the rear section where the latch is internally mounted. The popper is mounted low in the door jamb, the window does not interfere with it. The cable is connected to the popper and the other end has a hole drill into the latch mechanism and attached there. You should be able to do this same set up to a 3rd gen door with no interference with the window. I also suggest running the power and ground to the popper through the door jamb and mounting the ground inside the actual car. Some mount the ground to the door and then you are hoping for a good ground through the door hinges. I dont and never have trusted that. Now the fun part, i have a seperate down button on my keychain for each popper and each window.

So lets say your poppers are finicky and door wont open, roll down the window and open from inside. Then, as a fail safe you have the same for the passenger door.

Lastly if you have a dead battery, put a lug somewhere like show above.

Shaved doors are sweet, and are not a hassle if you plan correclty for them. I have been locked out of one of my vehicles but was totally my fault. I was changing into my uniform at work, had the radio going, truck running, and door shut. no shoes, truck running, door shut, it sucked. I broke the drivers window, cuase theyre like $15 at the junk yard. Still was funny though

 

​​​​​Thanks for the post. Great info!

My car is already blown apart and on a rotisserie, and this is my first time painting a car. I figured it would be easier to get everything coated if I paint it apart.
But maybe that is a bad idea since I could damage stuff getting it back together. I have herd it is critical if the paint has flake since you want it to lay the same from panel to panel.
Mine is just going to be pure white. One up side is that I have herd that is an easy color for beginners to paint. But who knows.
Since I am working on my project slowly I have been doing custom sheet metal work, then sanding and priming with Eastwood 2k epoxy primer, 2 coats.
Entire underbody is done and interior too. Once these doors are set I was planning on priming them and then putting them back in the basement for a few months so I can do the front suspension work to get the bags into the k-member and A-arms. After that I need to do some hatch work (was leaking years ago, need to solve that mystery). Then the body work is done and it is time to paint and order the motor/trans.

I will for sure opt for the Dakota Digital solenoids and poppers. Do you use the "super poppers" or just the standard ones? Do you have any pics of where you installed them on cars?
Again, I googled this, but it is hard for me to imagine where these would go. Obviously different on every car.

I will for sure be running my ground back inside the car. I don't trust the hinge to be a good ground. I am wiring the car from the ground up with a new harness, no old wiring in this build. Don't want any gremlins acting up when the build is done.

 

i posted a picture and a description above of where the popper is mounted inside an S10 door

 

My bad. I meant the thing that pops the door ajar slightly so you can grab the edge and open it up all the way.

Dakota Digital calls these door poppers on their website.


And they call these solenoids.


I have seen both terms used for the solenoids around on the web. Just wondering how you find the right spot to put the things in the first image.
Or if you have used the ones shown.
They have a cheaper version too

 

i have neve used 'poppers' on any vheicle i have built. Only solenoids.
the door will 'pop' open when the solenoids are activated.

 

Ah got it. Interesting. I would love to not have to buy and install them.

So when you pop the solenoid the door just opens a tiny bit due to the latch letting go and sorta pushing the door open a tiny bit?
If you have never used them and you have done all kinds of applications, I think I am fine skipping them too.

I will order my Dakota Digital solenoids today and move on. Thanks for the advice.

 

latch, door seals will push it out. after a few weeks of driving, youll never notice it.
meaning youll walk up to the car, hit the button and grab the door in once swift move.
its easy, and works fine

 

Ah. Never thought of the door seals pushing out too.
Makes perfect sense. Really happy I don't have to install those spring loaded push out devices.

This car will just be going to shows and home 99% of its life. Maybe to work (7 min drive from home) just for fun sometimes.
Next I need to find time to get the stripped down doors to the sand blaster to blast the jams. Can't wait to see these blasted and in primer with new/rebuilt hinges and no handle depressions.

 

Any updates?

 

Things have been slow going with it being so cold and the holidays taking up time. Only 12 degrees here this morning and 26 right now.
Garage isn't much warmer.

That being said, I decided to not bother taking the doors to a media blaster.
I tried two different places and neither seems interested in the job.

Actually fine with me, I like doing all my own work. So I bought a soda blaster gun and some media. Will be blasting the hinges area and any other hard to reach place myself.

Tonight I was planning on using my garage heater and stripping the paint off the door pockets to prep them for filler panels.

Not much of an update, but in the next month or so they should be all stripped and in primer.

 

I get "rusty bottom" doors all the time. If the bottoms rot out, they are essentially worthless. Nobody wants to replace rusty doors, with rusty doors. That being said... If you need a cutout from a door, so that you can match the curved material, let me know and I would be happy to chop up a door for you. I believe I currently have a set of rusty doors on a parts car that would be good candidates for it.

 

100% would love to have some metal from a donor door. That curve has been worrying me.

I am in RI, what wouod it take to tet some panel material in the mail? (Enough for both doors, of course)

 

Send me an image showing how much material you would need and we can work something out. I have cut sheetmetal for plenty of other members.

 

Think a peice from the door handle height are of the door that is 7" x 3" would do the trick.

 

Make it a low rider too.

 

I can do that. I can probably get a cutout done on thursday, and get it shipped out by Friday.

 

what is a low rider?

 

Ssomeone who walks around with pants hanging down over their butt. LOL

 

not sure why you would need this.
just grab a piece of sheetmetal from your stash and use it.
the 'curve' of the door is easily obtainable by using your hands to bend it.
Also, you dont need a piece that big, you only need the ovalish shape of the door handle pocket.

grind the area you are going to weld, and leave the rest of the paint alone for rust protection.

This is an hour job each door tops. (yes i know it will be a bit longer for you, but, you get the idea)

 

curved corners are easier to weld and will shrink more evenly.

 

I cut in excess, but here are the panels you need. Pm me and I can ship out tomorrow.

 

Hey guys, sorry for the delay in my response. I wasn't getting emails that posts were being made on this thread.

I don't plan to cut out that huge area. I will be doing a simple oval of the depressed area. I was oversizing in the pic to make my fellow TGO memebers cuts easier.

Random low rider comment was strange. Moving on.

I will PM my address so we can work out what I will send you to cover shipping. Thanks for the help!

 

Can see the layers here. Thicker coat of filler than I was expecting. Think once the welding is done, the entire door will need a skim coat and a lot of blocking to get it smooth.

Cut out the base of the handle depression so I can paint the backside with rust encapsulator after the welding is complete.

Test fitting filler panel.

Seems to be laying flat enough, right?

Does this look flat enough to tack in place?
Thinking I might grind a tiny bit more off before welding. Not sure though.

 

looks great weld it already...lol

also i wouldnt have removed all that paint. just prepo the area you need to weld.
now all that bare metal has the chanve to rust.
i kow you said you were going to spry something in there, but it was all nice and painted before it didnt
need all what you have done.
but live and learn and move on.

on my ta im going to use different handles and shave the door lock hole.
i love shaved handles, but i dont think itll look right on my build.

 

I hear ya on the not removing all the paint, but I needed to cut the access hole and when welding I didn't want to be smelling burning primer/paint and guessing how far the heat effect was.

On top of that I also got the car painted 15 years ago by some tiny shop that is gone now. I don't have high confidence in the paint that is on there. Always seemed fragile, super easy to chip.
I want to get rid of as much of it as I can. Luckily it is 17*F outside right now so humidity in my garage is very very low. I am not worried about flash rust.

I will use the piece shown to make a copy for the PS and get it tacked up today/tomorrow. Then heat up the garage and spray some epoxy primer over the area to protect it as I figure out how to mount the door solenoid.
Since I will already have the 2K epoxy primer mixed up for the outer skin, maybe I will just brush some on the backside of the welded in patch. That stuff sticks very well and once fully cured is very hard.

 

Got around to welding in the patches last night.
Even with me trying to be as careful as possible, the panels warped. One worse than the other.
Forgot to take pictures last night, but will post in a few days when I work on the project again.

Think next steps are to strip the entire outer skin down to metal (gonna be a LOT of dust) and soda blast the hinges area then coat in 2K epoxy primer.
This will seal everything up and let me relax (no flash rust) and take stock of how I will tackle smoothing out the door metal as much as possible before skimming over with body filler.

Any thoughts/advice on this approach?

 

Post weld shrinkage happens. Typically you would hammer and dolly it, but getting a dolly in there is very difficult. Put a straight edge on the area and find out how much it has shrunk. A 2 X 4 and a mallet from the back can move a lot of metal quickly, but check progress frequently, then planish as needed. It’s not ideal, but if it’s a quarter of an inch or more short strand fiberglass filler can be used and is not porous like body filler and bonds incredibly well. From there it is just plain blocking. I will probably get a lot of hate from the true body guys over this advice, but it’s effective.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will first strip the door and then see what I am dealing with. It doesn't seem horrible.
I was welding tack welds for quite a while jumping around and from one door to the other to let the panel cool off.
I am no body guy but I will get the metal as smooth as I can before moving onto to short strand and then a skim of body filler.
I know there will be many hours of blocking in my future and that is to be expected.

Not going for SEMA show quality. This is a custom show car resto mod that I am building 100% by myself and I don't plan to build another one after this so there are of course limits to my skill and tools.
I think I can get a quality finish with some metal work, filler and patience.

I will post progress updates as I get to them. Not looking forward to stripping the entire door, but that is the next step.

Side note, I will also be changing over to some aftermarket side mirrors so I have to weld shut the mounting holes for the stock mirrors and buy/fit the new ones.

 

you ever been to sema?

 

Not yet. Once this build is done I plan to do the Power Tour and other long haul show stuff with my wife.

 

Really late to the discussion but my experience with my shaved door handles has been positive. My biggest issue is my laziness to really fiddle with the poppers and solenoid. Make sure you get a GOOD ground wire for the solenoids(10 gauge) to a good ground spot. Not getting that right initially set me up for low powered solenoids. A button somewhere on the outside of the car that is hidden is also needed incase your remote dies suddenly. Remote terminals in case the battery dies of course too. Fortunately, my Camaro uses front hood pins so I didn't need a remote terminal location! What location will you use for mounting the poppers?

 

My preliminary plan is to mount the Dakota Digital solenoids similar to how bk2life showed up on post 19.
Still playing with ideas of how I would mount it though. I want to come up with a bolt in/bolt out installation in the event of a warranty claim.
Might drill holes and weld in bolts facing inward so the door has internal studs, something like that.
Same goes for all the window regulator and lock actuator, no rivets all rivnuts and bolts.

From posts above it seems like the weatherstripping is enough to push the door open a bit to be able to grab it and open from there. So no additional spring loaded popper seems needed. Big plus.

My battery will be mounted over the right rear wheel, below my air tank for the air ride. I plan to have remote mounts under the car there.
Hidden button for the doors will be mounted into the floor pans someplace or on a bracket mounted to the SFCs I imagine.

All else fails, I can always crawl into the car via the hatch.

I have been dreading the job of stripping the doors down to metal due to how much dust it will make. Decided I will just use my full face mask and do it in the garage, put the vette outside.
Shouldn't take long with the surface conditioning tool. After that I will shoot some epoxy primer to seal the panel from rust.
Then I can metal worth the warped metal a bit to see how flat I can get it before moving onto filler to smooth out the lock and handle areas.