1951 Ford Sedan - Box Cutter

All that is required on the bottom is a very small wedge-shaped filler piece to fill the opening caused by leaning the B-pillar forward. A single relief cut on both pieces smooths out the radius.

A pie-cut was made in the front of the door and then the door stub was carefully bent downward until it aligned perfectly with the A-pillar.

The top of the doorframe was cut to match the 5-inch chop and welded to the lower piece that was bent back to match the A-pillar. Note the top corner of the window frame was also reshaped.

After the two pieces are TIG-welded together the filler panel is ready to be trimmed to fit. There’s a slight curve on top of this piece to space out off the panel for proper alignment.

The rear of the door window frame was cut free and fitted to match the new angle of the B-pillar. Note that all the window corners have a nice clean radius that looks like a factory contour.

Here we can see the new filler panel tack-welded in place. The top of the door has been rounded and the door gap is kept uniform all the way around the door.

The B-pillar is really taking shape and the doorpost matches it perfectly. Paint sticks were used between the upper doorframe and the B-pillar to ensure ample room for future weatherstripping.

The finished product; some welding and metal finishing to be done before the final bodywork but at this point there’s little doubt that all the work was worth the effort.

The final piece of the puzzle is a small filler piece that goes on top of the B-pillar. This fills the area between the reshaped doorframe and new angled B-pillar; fabricated from two pieces of 18-gauge steel.