Convertible door brace

[Andy F.]

I will be lifting the body off my 64 convertible soon and need some ideas about building a brace for the door openings. I have looked at the archives and found some information about a turnbuckle and cable type reinforcement, but I am looking for something more rigid. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Andy

[Scott Marzahl]

Re: Convertible door brace

I just used some scrap iron I had laying around. Mine was 1X3 rectangular stock and then I welded on some .073 sheet metal plates to the end of them to bolt to the car.

You could easily get by with some 2x2 angle iron or something similar.

[Mike G.]

Re: Convertible door brace

Andy: I used perforated angle stock, 1 1/2 by 1 1/2, from any home center. Attached it to an L-bracket on one end (screwed it into the door jamb using 2 of the striker bolt holes) and bolted the other end to the top hinge. Worked great and you don't have to worry about cable stretch.

[Andy F.]

Re: Convertible door brace

Mike, Scott,
Thanks for the replies. I will check out my local Lowes for some angle stock. I was not sure if connecting to the top hinge would be a good idea or not, but I guess as long as we dont use the brace as a handle while lifting the body I should be OK.
Andy

[ken edmunds]

Re: Convertible door brace

Why do you need to brace the doors? I have had a few midyear conv and coupe bodies off the chassis for up to a year at a time with no issues at all. Most sat on a body dolly but I had a couple of bodies that just sat on sawhorses for a year. If you are worried about flex when lifting, just leave the doors on and closed.

[Andy F.]

Re: Convertible door brace

My biggest concern is the rear end of the body sagging since there is not that much rear support on the Noland Adams body dolly design. I am sure the way my project is progressing, it may be on the dolly for an extended period of time. Body flex during the lift is a concern too if we do not lift it at the same time. I dont want to add any cracks by twisting the body. As for leaving the doors on, I thought about that too. I still might do that as it will be one less thing to worry about aligning. With the doors off, it will be easier to strip the old paint.

[Kenneth S.]

Re: Convertible door brace

Here is what I used. Got all the hardware at Lowes/Home Depot.

[Kenneth S.]

Re: Convertible door brace

Picture didn't work, I'll try this again. Here is what I used. Got all the hardware at Lowes/Home Depot.

[Andy F.]

Re: Convertible door brace

Thanks for the picture Ken.