International AR-110 Ute

aargh Doors......Getting the doors to fit in the first place has been a big issue on this ute. As you know asw120, there is not much in the way of adjustment when hanging these doors due to the hinge design. The passengers door has been a major pain and I think it must be off another cab because it certaintly didn't fit. I had to split the striker edge of the door and weld in a 2mm x 15mm "V" section so that the outer door skin lined up with the body. Once this was sorted the very top of the door just after the top leading edge curve was striking the door frame. With the door at the lowest point on the hinges it was still hitting the door frame so I put a cutoff blade through the leading edge of the door just before it starts to curve to horizontal and this allowed me to pull the top LH edge of the door down by 3mm which was enough to stop the top of the door hitting the door frame.
When refitting the door for the last time last night it still gave me grief and took an hour and a half to get the fit to look ok. In hindsight I should have cut a bit more from the leading edge of the door because the clearance is only a piece of paper folded in half thickness (if that makes sense) slid between the top of the door and the frame.
With the drivers door there is no way the curve lines that run down the door and body line line up. It is out of alignment by 3mm giving the impression that the door has dropped which it probably has. If you try and push the door out at the bottom to raise it the door gap disappears and the bottom of the door hits the body.

Despite all of this I am pretty happy with the results considering the age of the ute and I don't know how good the doors were lined up from the factory anyway.

This photo is not the best but if you look hard enough you will see some bits of MIG wire on the side and on the bottom which is where I welded in the "V" section to widen the door edge to the body

Sort of off topic, but when I did the resto on my 66' stang, I was having all sorts of strife lining up the panels & bumpers, after talking to a mustang restoraion shop it all became clear.
Gaps straight out of the factory were all over the joint, in fact at a concorse show you'd lose points for perfect gaps.Same deal for the truck I recon, they were good, just not perfect! But jeez yours is close, bloody credit to you.

Scratcha

Yep, know exactly what you mean Scratcha

I will confess, I made the mistake of getting a panel beating shop to repaint the ASW. It had been originally welded the old-fashioned way, with an oxy by an old-school bloke who was likely self-taught. i.e: Cut the rusty bit out as rough as you like, bash the edges in and weld a piece on top. Bash it in where it sticks up too much, or was warped and then use lots of bog.
Needless to say after several (10+) years in the weather, all the bog fell off. It came with doors and front panels "ready to fit". They didn't. The front went on OK, but the shop had to stretch the door openings to make the doors fit! (with the porta-power) They also cut 1/4" or so off the back edge of the bonnet.

Now, some information which may help with the door gaps. I have learnt with the Studes that you must shim the body mounts to get the panels to line up. With both A and B pillar mounts on the same thickness of rubber on the chassis, a Stude Hawk may need as much as 3/4" of packers in one or other mount to twist the door opening into the same shape as the door. If your door has no clearance top front and bottom rear for example, the A pillar may need packing up relative to the B pillar. The old bodies had lots of flex. I vaguely remember you had to pack one mount to fit some lines through? It's worth considering and may be what you need.

And yes, the doors fit like crap on the ASW

Jarrod.

Thanks Jarrod, I tried the shimming yonks ago and it didn't do much on this old girl.

I have fitted the passengers door, completed all of the door wiring and mounted some LED indicator type mirrors on each door. I still need to install the inside door handles and make up some armrests and am getting to the finish line slowly.

In this photo you can see both mirrors

A rear view of the mirrors

In this photo I have tried to capture the LEDS being illuminated

Quick Update
I have made the kick panels, rear shelf and nearly finished making the door trim cards out of Masonite.

I will be using a pair of armrests from a WB ute which need a bit of TLC but should look ok after they are covered to match the door trim.

Passengers door showing the general layout. The drivers door will be the same apart from a double power window switch holder.

I finished off the interior of the Cab today ready for upholstery.

Dynamat fitted to keep out the noise, heat & cold

Gave it a driveway test - It is way too low at the front and I will have to fit some heavier springs

great insight into your build Graham. very much appreciate how you are sharing this build.
was very interested in your door saga as ive just walked back in from my shed and logged on to see where you were at. my 52 l110 being a cab version which im still dealing with similar cab and door issues some caused by doing the stretch, some from lapsed factory QC and the fact the drivers side was damaged and never realigned correctly. when i hung the drivers door i reamed out the hole on the door where the hinge bolts on, giving me more adjustment, where the door window frame starts on the door i put a block of wood between it and the door frame then got a hefty mate and puched the top in until it the door aligned top and bottom. as for following the body curve through from the front to the back because of the stretch i made the centre of the cab at the back stretch an additional 20mm (approx) than the sides of the back which in doing so pulled the sides in from the back door to the back. ill put some pictures up soon on my thread so you can make sense of this. now that 2-3 mm difference in the body lines between the door and the frame back and front of the door ive built it up with lead so the body flows from the front to the back. hope you can make sense of this. lol
as for the rest of the door im also changeing mine to electric windows but im doing away with the 1/4 vent so ill have to split the window frame which you will hear me swearing from the west.
cheers tim
keep up the good work.

Yes Tim I share your frustrations and it seems that you have got it worked out nicely. These Inters are definately challenging if you want to get them straight.

I still have issues with the door dovetail striker on the drivers door which will be an easy fix when I get the ute back from the Upholsterer.

My ute was missing the 1/4 vent windows and I fitted electric windows and one piece glass. They were easy to install, the only fiddly bit was installing channel to hold the baileys channel inside the leading edge of each door which is because the channel runs very close to the hinge shaft and nut.
In the photo in my last post (above) the door windows are fitted and they go up and down nicely.
To offset the low front end I have ordered some Jag V12 springs and will fit these when they arrive in a week or so.
Cheers

The Upholstery is nearly finished, I still have to cover the armrests and Sunvisors

Carpet and Drivers kick panel

Rear parcel Shelf and part of Roof Lining

View of roof through rear window

View showing Drivers door and seat

Passengers side

The next update will be the front spring replacement

Cheers