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MG MGB Technical - Door skin fitting

My new door skin arrived for my dads bGT 1978 from MGOC however when I offer this up to the frame it seems a very poor fit. The bottom of the skin seems too big with there only being a small flange to fold over. It wont reach the middle of the door frame once folded? Has any one else had these issues with a door skin? I will upload a picture of the problem if it makes it easier to understand.
C Carter

Yes please attach a photo and let us have a look at it.
Iain MacKintosh

Here is a pic of the bottom of the door. The far edge of the black skin is the flange.


C Carter

And another pic


C Carter

I believe that the door skins on sale are like that. One guy who has built a couple of really top notch MGBs reckons he wouldn't even try to reskin a door.
Mike Howlett

I reskinned both doors on my roadster without problems one door with a Heritage skin and the other with a Steelcraft. Of the two the Steelcraft was a much superior panel being much more robust but without quite so defined swage lines. All I did was gradually folded down the upturned flange. I placed the skin face down on a piece of chipboard and set the frame into this then working gradually round the door in miltiple passes very slowly and bit by bit folded the flange over the frame. I then used a flathead on the face of the door and finally tapped the flange tight from the rear. Finally I used a D/A sander all round the front edge of the door to ensure that the surface was perfect. I tack welded the skin to the door at a couple of places one of which was the flange under the quarterlight the other was the rear flange at the swageline.

Your door frames should fit snugly into the skins otherwise check to see if any material hes been removed from the frame.
Iain MacKintosh

I have et the frame in the skin and the images are of the frame clamped at the top with the resulting skin overhanging at the bottom. The sides are all perfect the door frame hasnt been altered in anyway? I am at a bit of a loss with it to be honest, I have skinned my midget and a mini door all were good fits this is like 10mm out from the bottom of the door to the skin the the flap is only 5mm so it will not catch the bottom of the door.
C Carter

Even if you do bend it over it will probably be too big for the door aperture when offered up to the hinges!
Send it back and try another one or modify to suit the frame and/or shell.

MGmike
M McAndrew

Will speak to the MGOC tomorrow where I got it from. It is a steel craft so unsure why it doesnt fit. I take it the doors are all the same on the mbg, mgb gt?
C Carter

Definitely should not have a gap like this.
I've done the job in a similar way to Iain, but started with one skin similar to yours. I had bought this one from a stall at an mg show several years earlier, so no chance of replacement. I bought another from Moss and that was good.
One tip I have is not to weld the skin to the frame until you know the whole assembly fits the body as it's quite easy to lose the original alignment of the frame when the skin is removed. This gives you the opportunity to twist the door to fit whilst on its hinges, clamp and then weld. Even then I did one edge at a time before refitting to check, then repeating for the other edges.
Richard Coombs

I can agree that re-skinning doors is not as good as using new doors, but those of us with pull door handles have no choice as the door frames are not available new and the door skin needs modifying for the different door handle and rubber stop.

Did I read that Heritage bought out Steelcraft? I hope not as no competition = charge the Customers more!

Perhaps Sportcarmetalworks should be persuaded to do more MGB panels.
John Prewer

What is the general consensus? Try to re-build a door or re-skin? On youtube one can see some very skillfull individuals adding sections to doors wings etc without re-course to re-skins which it appears give awfull headaches! Mike
J.M. Doust

Hello,

I rebuilt two doors (one with a new bottom section) and two re-skinned and it was not so difficult. When a new door is unavailable you have choice. After task finished I discovered a special air tool for re-skinning which should render task a lot easier(Skin Zipper Air Hammer Driver).

Cheers,

Jean G.
Jean Guy Catford

P.S.:

Have a look there:

http://www.eastwood.com/skin-zipper-air-hammer-driver-door-skinning-tool.html
Jean Guy Catford

You dont say if you have put the skin in the opening to see if it fits the car.
If it fits and isnt too long then your door frame is the problem.
From the pictures it does look like the frame is twisted to me but put skin in car first.

Ste
Ste Brown

This thread was discussed between 29/02/2012 and 02/03/2012

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