S10 Half-doors

To begin with, you will need a door off of an S10/S15 truck or blazer.

Remove inside door cover, window crank handle and any speakers that may have the misfortune to still be in the door.

Place the door in a large wood vice with a piece of carpet on either side to help protect the paint.

Set the door where it is level so that you have a reference. On the end where the latch is mark a line 1 inch above top screw holding the latch and carry it around to the outer skin of the door. Now place a level at the mark and scribe/draw a line to the front of door (latch is on rear of door) this is what your going to follow when you brutalize it in a few minutes.

Next, draw a 45 degree angle from the window jam at the mirror mount down to the line you just finished drawing. This is your other cut line.

Next thing to do is remove the window and crank mechanism from inside the door, you no longer have a use for the window.

Now its time to get jiggy, or should I say jiggly?, with the sawzall/ jigsaw, or what ever you decided you wanted to butcher the door with. Take your time, its gonna buck and fight ya like any good loose piece of tin should do.

First off, cut the top outer window frame off at the top of the mirror mount and at the window sill on the rear of the door.

Then remove the the top portion of the door following the lines you have drawn earlier. It should look similar to this.

Next you will need to relocate the door handle so you can open your new door once you get it on the truck. I moved mine down to about where my calf hits the door like so, notice that the door handle is now located just behind where your window crank handle used to be. The position is dictated by the length of the rod connecting the latch and the handle.

Now it is time to reinforce the door. I used 1 1/2" square tubing and 1" angle and tack welded them in the gap on top as you can see here.

Before you cap everything off make sure that the door handle will work properly by placing a screwdriver in the closed catch and pulling on the handle as if you were opening the door. As well as checking to see that it will unlatch make sure it locks in place by listening for an audible click from the mechanism when you rotate the mechanism to the latched position.

For the top cover I used galvanized roof valley tin, cut to fit with a pair of tin snips and pop riveted to the top and inside of the door.

And now, using a piece of 24"x36" thin aluminum and pattern it to match the interior of the door (don't forget to cut the hole for the door handle) and screw or pop rivet it in place.

Install your new half door in the reverse order that you removed it. If you're not too picky about the color, go to your nearest hardware store and get a can of krylon© of whatever color suits you and give it several light coats till you are satisfied.

Since mine is going to be a fair weather mod for playing only I worked it over with a can of semi-gloss black.

And here is what the finished product looks like on my truck, The top edge of the new half-door sits just above my leg as you can see in the second pic below. It went back on the parts truck for storage. Not to shabby for 4 hrs and $20 worth of parts!

Here is a mock-up of my next body mod

 Writeup By fractalman