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converting a 4 door to a 2 door

superstock

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ive been looking around at some 63 belvederes for sale found a few 2 doors but the ones ive found have been full of rust to the point of no return but ive found a few 4 doors that have been super nice clean cars now i know this sort of project has been done a few times but i would like to know if anybody here has ever done this before cause iam seriously thinking of having to go forward and do it with the help of a good body person/freind i have a 63 4 speed car but the frame is messed up bad its been hit rather hard up front plus its loaded with rust in the floors but it still has the pedals and the 4 speed trans floor hump and the doors are good. we were talkin about it and swapped ideas on how to do it but its always better to have some good pics from someone that has already been there done that. so if anybody here has done this sort of project please let me know and send some pics.
 
I have not done it. But a 63 to 65 4 door sedan b body can be made in to a 2 door sedan (Savoy/ 330 Dodge) by using original or fiber glass 2 doors which are longer than the front doors on a four door car . I hope that makes sense. You must carefully remove the "b" post and relocate in to accomodate the longer doors. Then use the skins off of the rear doors to finish out the quarter panel. I have seen several of these cars and they looked great. The main difference in a 4 door car and 2 door car is the length of the front doors. The wheelbase and the roofs are the same on 2 and 4 door sedans. You are right, there are a lot of "nice" and solid 4 door cars out there.
I am sure someone can explain this better than I did.
 
i kinda understand it a little bit better thank you for the reply. anybody else out there that would like to lend some more advise on this project please feel free to send me what ever you have pics or kind words anything positive. that would be very cool if i could pull this off. :yes::yes::yes:
 
Here's you a 7 minute You Tube video of a 55 Chevy 4 door being converted to a 2 door car. It's pretty complete, and doesn't leave too many questions unanswered. Some of it's oversimplified, and his spelling leaves something to be desired, but it's a great documentation of it being done. Of course you'll have to make corrections for it being done to your car, but it's a great start. 7 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXLGxlFyzx4
 
That's a great video. A picture is worth a couple hundred of my confusing words. The main difference between a 4 door car and a 2 door car is the length of the doors. This is to allow access to the rear seat. Who said you can't learn something from a bowtie.
This video describes very well the process of making of a 2 door sedan from a 4 door. The b -body conversions I have seen were drag cars. My bucket list has a altered wheelbase 64 Savoy in it. Sled City in Grove City, Ohio sells fiberglass doors and has front fenders for altered wheelbase cars.
 
HOPE this thread takes off! Info on these swaps seems to be spotty at best!


MY take from just looking and considering a 2 door swap:

I don't think you can run a 2 dr door by simply moving the 4 dr post back.
The 2 dr post is almost vertical below the striker but the 4 dr post curves way forward to give additional support for the rear door hinges.

Now...if you can locate a 2 dr donor for your doors its a simple matter to graft the proper door post into the 4 dr body...or you could even lengthen a set of 4 dr doors and then use the rear doors and posts to frankenstein the car into a version of 2 door...but the picky people among us would say its "not correct".
Due to the forward curve of the post it would also be harder to get in and out of the rear seat.

Also, the post would need additional modification to make it work as a solid mounting for the quarter patch skin, as you don't want to just keep the rear door hinges in place...you need to make a believable, factory like seam so it doesn't look like a cobble job when the front door is opened.
Not all that difficult compared to actually lengthing the front doors and realigning the rear door edge shape to give a correct contour to the seam of the door/quarter.

Thats most likely the direction I'll be going because I'm about as "not correct" as you can get and wear the title proudly! LoL ;)

Heres a couple of pics to show the difference...2 door vertical, 4 dr big forward curve. (Not the best 4 door pic I know but its all i had...sorry.)
 

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Texas Thunder Performance has done this a few times.....and this car was recently done by them. I know many here do not care for this site plus I don't like to post links to other cars sites that much but I think in this case, it's worth going over there.....and yes, in most cases if not all, you need to use the door jamb from the 2 dr car that you use for parts....
http://www.moparstyle.com/forums/ca...59-building-texas-whale-7-year-adventure.html
 
We did this on our AWB wagon and to be honest, it seemed like no big deal compared to all of the other crazy mods we were tackling. We nailed it down in an evening. (finished body work aside) Having a 2dr donor car is critical, especially for the 2dr B-pillar. We searched forever for a 2dr donor that would never be restored and did consider lengthening our front 4rd doors with an extra set. Thankfully we found a car to give up it's bits.
Remember that almost all of our car's sheet metal is connected with spot welds, so it's just a matter of finding them and drilling them out. Then lots of careful measurements and weld them in their new position. Obviously it's slightly more than this brief description but you get the jist.
You also want the rear side windows, frames, glass and all other associated parts with your 2dr donor.

Good luck
 
I had thought that converting the B body cars from 4 to 2 doors also required that the floor be replaced, or at least, modified. Am I mistaken? Interested in this topic.

Mike
 
No.

On the early B's the floor is exactly the same on 2 door and 4 door.
 
I also thought to do this to my 4 door. However finding the donor car parts was hard. I did find them out @ Desert Valley Auto. But 3 grand for the parts needed was way too much. So I ended up finding a 2 door in good shape and am now just fixin up the 4 door to drive the kids around. Here is a web site to help you with the correct b-body that you have.
If I can say DO NOT BUTCHER IT UP! Make it correct even if it takes you extra time & $.
Best of luck!!
If you have a good work area this doesn't seem to look like a very hard job.

http://www.parderby.com/index.php?o...ne-2-door-conversion-from-4-door&catid=6:news

AL B.
 
In one of my multitude of Mopar mags, there is a guy that made a 2 dr out of a 4dr with the doors, striker post and the forward ends of the 1/4 panels of the totally rustbucket 2 dr.

When I find it (hopefully tonite), I will post it in this thread.
 
2dr wagon conversion

Here's mine that I did. Pretty straight forward honestly. If you have a 2dr and 4dr side by side without interior you can see exactly what I mean.

Making one a 2dr ht would even be easier.

I had tons of pics but lost them on my other computer.
 

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http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/zimmerman65.html
there is a link to photobucket at that bottom of the page

That's an excellent link with good pics!

One main thing to remember when converting one is that you need to remove or open up the original rear door areas upper rocker area (area where sills went) before welding in new quarter sections. This allows for drainage of water back into rockers that gets past 1/4 windows and drains out lower rocker drains. Otherwise water will sit inside new area and cause rust issues or just overflowing inside and soaking carpets and rear foot wells...self experience talking here.
 
2 door conversion

iam doing a 2 door conversion on a 63 plus altering the wheel base kinda stalled out but about to get back to it love the early b bodies :thumbsup:
 
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