Midway through the process of installing a load of patch panels courtesy of Brothers Trucks on the Project ’56, we came to the realization that we really needed to hang the doors in order to continue. See, once we cut the rockers away, the A-pillar started getting a bit squirrely. When that happened, we thought we’d better quit while we were ahead lest we weld up the new rocker panels and have the door opening shrink without our knowing. That would be bad. And so, it was decided that we could hang and gap the doors as close as possible at this early juncture before pressing on with the patch panel install.
The driver’s door was shot, so it took some time to find a decent replacement, but as luck would have it, Jason turned up with one after a few weeks’ search. We followed up by contacting John Lawrence at Brothers Trucks and had him send us some replacement hinges, striker plates, latch assemblies, and door hardware to replace the 50-plus year old junk that was on the truck (in some cases, permanently!). With new parts in hand and decent OEM steel to now work with, we disassembled, cleaned up, repaired, and installed both doors and their respective hardware in an afternoon, putting us in good shape to press on with the patch panel repairs next month. CCT
