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Door beams


Seppi72

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I spent part of last weekend disassembling my doors. Once I got all the "guts" out, I was left to ponder the rust on the inside, which was not too bad. Regardless, I want to kill ALL the rust that is there and get the treated surfaces sealed to forestall any future rot.

However, I discovered in each door panel the “curiosity” that I'm calling a reinforcing beam. This part does not show up as a separate piece on the parts microfiche because it's integral to the door panel itself.

The first picture shows the side with the strips of, let’s call it, black “foam” that keep the assembly in intimate contact with the door skin. The curious part is the fact that the beam is attached by two machine screws at the front end of the door panel (second picture) and then by two spot welds at the rear end. I don't know why Datsun would have done things this way - I don’t think it's a clearance issue - but there it is. In any event, I wanted to remove this beam so both it and the entire interior of the door panel could be treated and protected.

I used increasing drill sizes to cut the spot welds, starting with a 1/8” bit and finishing off with a 1/4" bit. I note that on my early '72 (and this may be unique to each and every car), the spot welds were located very close to the bend of the beam (third picture) where it transitions into a flange that then mates up with the portion of the door panel to which the lock mechanism is attached (fourth picture). The former spot welds are the holes on the far left.

It is my intention to replace the spot welds with machine screws similar to the case at the other end of the beam and, if I can, relocate the attachment points further away from the bend so I can weld nuts to the back and give the screws adequate grip. I’ll use pan head screws unless there really are interferences, in which case I’ll use countersunk screws as is done for the lock mechanism.

· Has anyone else ever removed and then reinstalled these beams?

· If so, what technique did you use to reattach them?

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You can do a plug weld with your MIG to recreate the spot welds. An air cut off tool makes an excellent tool to do the fine grinding to make the plug welds flush. That's how I did mine.

Use some weldable primer in the immediate vicinity of the weld.

2c

Jim

Edited by JimmyZ
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