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Yankee Express RestoMod Project

Welded the trim holes closed on the left door and primed with epoxy and now have filler on it to even out the low spots from my quenching the welds.

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Third pass with filler. Made a really long sanding block. Drilled out the window crank head rivets. Made the first effort to straighten out the shmushed end of one of the wheel well trim pieces. Knocked out the bends and brought the edge back to the correct curve. Filed down 70% of the deep scratches. Getting there..

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Found the door hinges from the 86 Ram Truck. The tops are different and the bottoms are the same. So, I will be using those bottoms and the '67 tops.

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Today I finished sanding the bottom panel of the door and then went to work with a 6" wire wheel. Cleaned up the door frame and jambs. Got the other door out and took it apart and made the changes that I worked out on the first door.

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Today the right side door got some attention. Started the wire wheel clean up. Welded in a small piece to position the handle unit in the right place for the wood piece to line up correctly. Welded in the mount strap for that.

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I'm going to have to reinstall the Audi dash so I can create the end piece shapes to mate up from the door to the dash end. Now that I have changed the position and angle of the handle/speaker/power lock switch unit. The circled portion in the picture. keep in mind that I no longer have the grey plastic panel. Just the wood insert and the handle unit that curves in towards the dash.
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Installed the dash and the drivers door so I could see what I'm up against. Also so I could verify that the accent pieces line up between the dash and the door. Checked the new placement of the door pull/armrest unit for interference with the front face of the lower half of the dash. I was worried that I moved it too far forward. So now I have an idea of what the piece I need to make will be shaped like. I have to decide what material to use. How it will be fastened to the door. How it will be painted/covered. Sigh, time to break out the cardboard for templates. Before I make anything I will need to close up the door gap to the quarter just a smidgen. Also need to get the door bottom level with the rocker. Tighten up the dash to get it adjusted into perfect placement, and THEN get to making something to finish the door.

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Here's what the 2001 Audi A4 B5 Avant 2.7T Quattro Door/ dash mating surfaces look like from the factory. This will give an idea of what I need to create.

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Well, I have the dash bolted up in place. Found out I was missing two bolts that secure the body of the dash to the aluminum frame of the dash. It seems much more solid now. lol. Anyway, it's in 100% tight and in the correct position left to right so that bastard is NOT coming back out. I'll cover it with plastic and tape it off.
I made some drawings with different angles of view for the piece I need to make. Took measurements and decided on a final overall shape. Whatever material I use I'll need a wedge shape 5" thick at the big end and 3" at the smaller end, 18" long and 10" high x 2.
 
Today I got the drivers door correctly gapped and aligned. Installed the wing window and checked the window swing clearance. Not ideal, but I can live with it. Opens about 1/3rd of the way and runs into the dash end. If I open the door a bit and swing the wing wide open, the vent window is trapped in front of the dash end when the door is closed. Oh well. I did decide to do only the minimum needed to encase the door handle unit. I made a loose cardboard template of the basic idea.

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Fran Blacker said:
Nice. Better you than me, it's a hell of a job to tackle.
Click to expand...
I have sat in the drivers seat and contemplated quite a bit. Came up with several versions. the main issues are keeping the door top panel section separate from the door card section. Missing the wing window point when open. Lining up the two elements of the door handle unit and the dash vent indentation. Anything that satisfies those criteria is on the table. I'm trying to stop myself from needlessly making it more complicated. I'm also toying with gluing down new material on the dash body and on the door top panel from the chrome door card topper upwards to the window channel under the felts. So what ever I make needs to be coverable as well.
 
This mocked up section would be covering the yellow outline section of the dash end. It's the simplest version.
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The thought and attention to detail in this build is nothing short of amazing
 
Another option is to procure a couple of door panels and cut them down along the top to just above the parting line of the top of the handle/ lock. speaker unit, leaving a 1/2" or so to attach fiberglass to, that will simply roll over to a flat surface going out to the window channel, that gives me the entire sculpted section to mate to the dash when the door is closed. I'll still have to decide if i'm going to leave the wing windows inoperable and have the upper portion of the dash fully mated with the door, or cut it down to what I was looking at "up thread" here...The lower part of the door can also be trimmed and fiber glassed to fit the big rectangular Coronet door. This will also solve the mounting of the unit to the Coronet door because it's captured in it's own molded plastic contoured bed already. All of that can be recovered with leather or whatever...Drawbacks to this route include less cabin space left to right as the panels stick out from the door about 2-3 inches at the top and the CD player/ storage bin along the bottom about 4-5 1/2 inches. The big bucket seats I have leave about 2" pf space between the switches on the lower left of the seat and that big assed CD unit when it's lined up centered behind the steering wheel. Leaves about 2" to the armrest/ console on the other side. lol. tight fit. The yellow squiggly sections represent the big Coronet door outline, showing how small the Audi panel is on it...

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Oh, and I would need to fill the door lock button hole in the Audi panel and relocate it to the rear where the Coronet one pops up. With the Audi power locks it would only need a longer rod from the handle to the actuator. The more I think on this the more I like the idea...lol.
 
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