door skins...need advice

[surf'n safari]

My wife and I purchased a 62 Safari, 22ft, a few months ago. I've been working on it almost daily ever since. Fixed rotted floors, made new cabinets doors, counter tops, Stainless Stain backsplash in kitchen, dining table, couch, wood floors, cushions, curtains, and the list go on. Reading everyones threads has help me greatly. Thank you!
I started compounding/ polishing over the weekend. In removing name plates, turn signals, etc. I was finally faced with the door. This thing has been hacked to death. Basicaly missing the orginal door handle and now has big cut-outs where I removed the door latch/ handle the previous owner installed. I need to replace a few smaller aluminum panels here. What type of aluminum should I buy for the door? Thickness, I can match I guess. Will the new panels look the same? I stopped by a local metal supply store and I don't know where to begin! Can I use a dremel to shave down the olympic rivets, then polish? This part of the project scares me.

[74Argosy24MH]

Check out this thread. Also try a search, repairs are a fairly popular topic.

John

[59toaster]

www.airpartsinc.com I recently purchase from them and had great service. They were far cheaper then I was able to find local.
The aluminum you want for that vintage is T2024-t3 Alcad. It's around $12.5 a running foot (4ft wide).

For exterior pannels you want .030. For interrior and belly pan you want .025.

If the door is like mine and really messed up it would not be hard to skin the door. The only special tool needed would be a Bead roller to put the bead back into the lip. They are not super expensive and can be bought at www.harborfreight.com or Eastwood. If you check with your local hot rod shops you might find somebody loacal that does interior aluminum pannels and they would have a bead roller. Take about 30 minutes to do and probably only charge a few bucks.

Do a search on "Door Knob" as well. Depending on the style your coach had there may be a reproduction available. That should pull up most of the post on the subject and one of them will have contact information on reproduction handles. Won't be cheap.

[74Argosy24MH]

The only special tool needed would be a Bead roller to put the bead back into the lip.

No bead on mine, flat stock and crimped into the frame inside and out. I eliminated 1 trim strip on the body that also covered the seam between the 2 pieces. I ended up making a 1 piece skin and got it crimped back in without any problems (fingers crossed the whole time, that's a lot of working for old aluminum).

John

[59toaster]

Yeah the bead is a prone mounted door thing. The flush mounted doors like yours are smooth. The prone doors overlap the body of the coach by about 1 inch and have a seal there. The bead gives it a little strength and adds a little cosmetic detail.

I think the picture of my model badges in my photo album you can see the edge of the door to see what I mean when they come back up.


Ohh here I found a picture at Vintage Airstream.


You can just make out the bead I'm talking about on the door edge.

[surf'n safari]

Thank you for the help. 2024 t3 Are you familar with the rivet shaver for 3.15 in the air parts catalog? Is this what I think it is?