Current Progress

Doors


My doors are finally completed. Unfortunately I can not take credit for them. Robert at http://www.exoticglass1.com/ in Louisiana got them done for me. (UPDATE I ended up reworking the latch mechanism so scroll down to see the changes) I took pictures of his work and the doors are perfect. The use the original Fiero window mechanism. (UPDATE SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE CHANGES)	The is the door strut mounting point. It uses a simple 1X1 angle iron.
This is a picture of my doors being done a Roberts	This is a picture of Roberts method with the new D&R Doors

You can see the strut hole Robert made. It is in the shape of a Letter "L". -- Update I may change that to a Letter "l" as the original does not have the "L" shape.	This is the inside of the door latch mechanism

You can see the old Fiero inside door piece. It is framed with 1/2 inch steel.	The window is as far down as this setup will allow. It does not go down all the way however this is more than I expected and am very pleased.







The door lock is from the original Fiero. I welded an extension on the release.

After looking at some real cars I have decided to redo my latch mechanism to that of the original car. I have ordered new Door jams from D&R that will help facilitate this and will place updates on the progress. I have included some images I took of the "Real Deal" below... I have much larger resolutions if anyone needs them









After our trip to the Lamborghini dealer and looking at the doors I decided that we wanted an authentic latching system. With the guidance from Robert at www.exoticglass1.com we ordered new door jams (inner and outer both left and right) from D&R. It set us back $60 ea however it was better than trying to re-engineer the fiberglass to work. We picked up a set of Mercedes S series latch along with original door grabs and push button lock set and key.

These are the new skins from D&R	The new skin panel was roughed in and held initially by Duraglass

It was then reinforced with fiberglass and allowed to harden	From the inside I began to weld in the steel supports for the latch mounting. This picture shows the steel for the lower two mounting holes.

Latch from the outside	I then added steel across the top for the other two mounting locations. I filled in the gaps with filler and allowed to harden

Another close-up of the new steel at the top	I then glassed is all in with about 3-4 layers of fiberglass

measuring closely and checking with the original, I cut the openings for the Door grab and the Push button	I added steel mounting locations for the push button and then glassed it in. This is the interior of the door the hole at the top right is the door grab opening.

Probably the most difficult part of the process was engineering the mechanisms of the Lock and opening. It is a bit hard to show you how it all works however I did take a few pictures

With this setup the outside key will lock the door and the push button will open it. so it all works like it should. Many replica builders, I have noticed, mount their latches from the inside. I wanted a more authentic look like the original. It is a bit harder to engineer however I think it will be worth it in the final product. Everything I added to this application has the ability to be unbolted and removed and serviceable from the outside and inside.

	Ok Started on the Latch catch side

This was pretty straight forward. I put the door back on and closed it I put the latch catch on the latch and then I placed the outer panel in the opening I cut until it met the back of the latch. While I held it I slapped on some Duraglass to hold it in place while I fiber glassed it in. It was pretty easy to do. After the fiberglass set up I filled and sanded and sanded and sanded... oh .. and sanded some more until the new piece fit like stock. I then dabbed the back of the latch catch with duraglass (I just love that stuff) and then shut the door and held it. After about 5 min I carefully (Unlatched the door) leaving the latch catch "stuck to where it new "home" would be. I quickly drilled out the mounting holes and then removed the Duraglass before it harden to much. and then polished it up. I mounted it and it look great!

Ok I have the Drivers side door completed and ready for primer	a week later and I now have the Passengerside all done too

These are pictures of the right and left sides Identical to the original

The passenger side mechanism is essentially the same except refined a little better. There is Daynamat installed in both doors to help reduce road noise	You can see every piece of steel is welded in place and then fiberglassed down and then primered to prevent rust as this will be a moisture cavity

I engineered the latch so that the doors now open from the outside with the OEM door push. The doors can be locked with the key from the outside. Since the original does not have a method of unlocking the doors from the inside using a mechanical means and I did not want to be relying on a battery I fixed the latch so that if the door is lock by using the inside OEM door pull it will automatically UNLOCK the door and open it. If you can not figure out how to do this email me and I can show you. It is simple as filing down a small part of the latch catch on the inside. Completely unnoticeable and I suspect that the original Lamborghini did the same thing. I will make a plate to cover the hole like the original and I plan on making the 9 little air vents under it. but after all this work I'd like to move on to something else.

Final Thoughts: This was a 2 to 3 week project and it was not very easy. I had a sore neck for three days afterwards because I was working on the floor sanding with my head down. I would however do it all over again because you can see the final product adds more functionality and look more authentic. If you purchase a D&R kit today they are now adopting the new latch setup however many are mounting the latches on the inside. I was after a more authentic look and I paid for it in time because it was very hard. Another issue that I had to overcome was the fact that the doors were already "done" once so the skins were on. It would be quite a bit easier to do if I had done this BEFORE putting the skins on. These latches I have I got from Ebay. From my searches they are hard to find unless you are prepared to buy the whole door. New ones will cost you $300 or more. I have a couple of sets that I could sell someone as I am always looking for good deals for others to take advantage of. A set of used ones will run you as high as $100 each or more so you may consider buy new ones. I was told by D&R that they need to be S series latches however after 3 sets later although they look similar they were different from the original and did require you to mount on the inside. To be honest I have NO IDEA where these latches came from because the place I got mine from had them off the car already. Good luck on your doors and let me know if you have any problems or questions. I am closing the book on the "Outside" portion of the doors as the next time I visit that area again will be interior work.