Project: Magic Doorgate

[hotwheels000]

Did you ever get an i-phone Stu

[microgoat]

Nuts to yer iPhone

Time to put some lipstick on this pig:



Put a sheet of 16-ga over the old bolt holes. Just bolted, not welded.



Put a nice deadly edge on the left-upper striker



Installed the trim plate. Tacked at the corners, folded over on the left edge and tacked out of sight. This will get a coat of filler when it's warm enough for that.



Mark it done! Although there's still some little things, like that dent still to take care of.

Next challenge:

[microgoat]

Moving on to the fuel cap. Ever since we bought the Challenger I've wanted to replace my boring fuel door with one from a Challenger. Fortunately they're all over ebay, so finding one cheap wasn't hard.

The install could have gone a couple different ways. Way one would involve traipsing around a junkyard with a cordless saw. Way two involves beating on steel with a hammer. Way two seems faster and somehow more satisfying, so that's what I did.



Started with some 22-ga sheet steel with a hole cut in it. The hole is much smaller than the minor diameter of the tapered backside of the cap.



This is the back side of the cap, so you can see the taper. I cut off the part that I won't use.



Then I cut a hole in a board, tapered to match the cap (this is called a buck), screwed the steel to it, and beat on it for a while.



Bang bang bang bang. Start from the inside, slowly stretching the steel until...



... it's flush with the surface of the buck.



The cap is retained by plastic clips, which need tabs to hold onto, so I made some of those, and primed both sides.



In a rare instance of self-preservation, I used rivets instead of welding right next to the fuel filler, which just seemed like A Bad Idea. Alternatively, I could have lifted the bed off, which seems like Work. Not shown is the drain hole I drilled so the area behind the cap doesn't fill up with water or gas. It'll just dribble down the inside of the bedside.

Photoshop:



This is what I'm going for, and close to. You can also see the rust over the wheel arch, which I've repaired twice and keeps coming back. So a big patch panel will go in there, and since I'll need to do filler and paint after that, might as well extend the work zone for a sporty fuel cap. For now it's in primer, which matches the primer all over the tailgate.



And yes, I can still put gas in it. I verified that yesterday.

[EeePee]

Hey Stu!

[microgoat]

Hey PeePee! Long time no see.

Update!

Another warm day today, almost warm enough to do filler and paint. So with a little assist from the propane heater in the shop, that's what I did:



Needs a good cure, wet sanding and compounding still (lots of overspray to get rid of), but we're getting there.

[chino63]

Not too shabby there Stu, I bet it's alot easier on the back to get your stuff in and out now, nice work.

[old man 52]

Great job buddy , I like like how the hing's turned out. Also did you french the backup lights in the bumper?

[microgoat]

Originally Posted by chino63

Not too shabby there Stu, I bet it's alot easier on the back to get your stuff in and out now, nice work.

Much easier, especially those 40-pound bags of cat litter. I hardly ever drop the gate now, door mode just makes things too easy.

Originally Posted by old man 52

Great job buddy , I like like how the hing's turned out. Also did you french the backup lights in the bumper?

Yeah, I did that a couple years ago, but I had help with the welding then. They're homemads lights stuffed into exhaust-pipe reducers.

[XSRCdesign]

I'm just glad you are alive

[62PYRO]

Glad to see you still alive and,still being creative.

[XSRCdesign]

Oh and what the hell...

[microgoat]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

I'm just glad you are alive

I ain't that old, you little tit

Got another sort-of break in the weather (40F) and decided that was good enough. Good enough to cut and buff, anyway:



Put on new pinstripes, painted the post again (had to install a drip guard to keep ice and snow out of the top hinge) and made a lower cap to neaten up the drip guard some:



It ain't perfect, but it'll serve. Good enough to stick my name on it:



Those are Stratus letters again. I just couldn't bring myself to use the chrome letters from GhettoZone.

The primer on the right-hand fender will get done in the spring, since the bumper needs to come off and there's a little sanding to do back there. I'm kicking around the idea of putting a roll pan back on it, a steel one this time. Since I've got to break out the welder for the fender patch, why not.

[XSRCdesign]

Sweet, when do we leave for scale nats?

[chino63]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Sweet, when do we leave for scale nats?

Don't forget to pick up Baller on the way. The stories from your last carpool were pretty entertaining, not to mention the rap video.

[BigBaller]

Lol, only way is if he quit smoking those eye burning Winston's.

Cows be like...Moooo bitches!

[Stormin2u]

Yeah Stu, where have you been hiding?

[XSRCdesign]

Originally Posted by BigBaller

Lol, only way is if he quit smoking those eye burning Winston's.

Cows be like...Moooo bitches!

Cows be trippin

[microgoat]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Sweet, when do we leave for scale nats?

Is there a Scale Nats anymore? I know for damn sure I ain't doing the drive in one shot again.

Originally Posted by Stormin2u

Yeah Stu, where have you been hiding?

Hiding in the garage, learning to weld and setting my pants on fire.

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Cows be trippin

Cows be tippin!

I got another couple of good weather days (notice that all the stuff I'm putting off til spring gets done when there's even a hint of warm weather?) so I put the new roll pan on:



It was a little tricky because the passenger side is 1/4 inch shorter than the driver's side (because I can't back up without hitting something) but I managed to get it in there, and the gate folds down without rubbing (much). I do have some adjustment on the right-side pin, so if I bump it up an RCH it should be out of the rub zone.



Installed some big LED's for reverse lights. They're better for indicating than illuminating, but they do cast a (faint) blue glow on what's behind me. This may or may not be the final install. I'd like to get them flush, but there's not much room behind them.



The left side of the roll pan got a massage to clear the box-thing that covers up the slot I cut for the hinge. Paint isn't quite Johnny Bench perfect, but with a little wet sanding and a buff it will be.

Also replaced the exhaust tips with some stainless quad Flowmaster tips. The big resonators stuck out even past the bumper, and almost 8 inches past the roll pan so they had to go. I like the quad tips better and they won't rust.

[XSRCdesign]

Arizona this year.

I like those tips a lot!

[microgoat]

Sweet, so I can add heatstroke to the total humiliation that's waiting for me there.