fixed my sagging drivers door today

[minimike]

My drivers door on my 79 has been sagging since I bought it. I found the skin that the hinge bolts to was cracked.
I removed inner panel, inside door release, door pull, mirror escuthion and window winder. Also the phillips 'trim' screws that held the chrome horizontal strip and some screws near the bottom of the panel. I then removed the door from the hinges, undoing 6 hex bolts. Sat the door on some padding, inside facing up, on a bench. In order to get to the cracked areas with my mig welder, I had to cut back the metal skin which is drilled to access the top hinge bolts. I used a dremel tool with a
cutoff wheel and made 2 groves which I figured I could weld up later. I bent the metal back with flat plyers, and was able
to grind off the paint to reveal the cracks. My first try, I burnt a few holes, trying to make a stitch weld. I decided I would
just do a series of spots, grind them down, and go over them again. After I finished welding and grinding, I primed the
work area. What I found was a few hairline cracks invisible to my old eyes, but they showed up easily with the primer in place.

I continued to regrind the primer back to effect a clean weld. All in all it took me 2 hours to complete the welding and another
1/2 to rehang and align the door. It's helpful to have a second pair of hands to lift the door as you adjust the 6 bolts.

Job done. On to the non working handbrake, and then the horn!

[htchevyii]

Good job, make sure the lower guide is intact. Mine was busted up and I noticed that the door bounced around alot more. Mark sells heavy duty ones if needed.

[minimike]

I might add that in addition to proper eye protection when grinding and of course when welding, make sure you
have at least a paper dust mask when grinding. I did not use one this time and got a nose and throat full of
metalic painted dust. I usually use the paper masks with 2 'kleenex's layered inside to fill the void where the mask
won't seal well to my face.