LamboJayso's OEM Murcielago Build!

[LamboJayso]

My car has OEM doors both sides, they weigh about 95lbs with glass and all. They are very awkward though and the weight is distributed with some funky loads on the hinges I'm sure, this is probably the reason to use such a large weight capacity on the rod

Lol my G28 doors weighed more than 95 lbs glass and all & those things are short compared to an OEM sized door.

[Murci-Me]

I agree with you No Bull, that's why I'm using 11ga (1/8" thick) tubing to add as much weight as possible and to keep things rigid. I happen to have an OEM door shock. Lamborghini uses a 281 lb force shock for their doors. Which tells me an OEM door roughly weighs 250lbs. When my doors are all said and done, I'd like them to weigh around 150 lbs.

HUH? How did you calculate that?

[jamack]

My car has OEM doors both sides, they weigh about 95lbs with glass and all. They are very awkward though and the weight is distributed with some funky loads on the hinges I'm sure, this is probably the reason to use such a large weight capacity on the rod

[LamboJayso]

I agree with you No Bull, that's why I'm using 11ga (1/8" thick) tubing to add as much weight as possible and to keep things rigid. I happen to have an OEM door shock. Lamborghini uses a 258* lb force shock for their doors. Which tells me an OEM door roughly weighs 220 lbs. When my doors are all said and done, I'd like them to weigh around 150 lbs.

[No Bull]

LamboJayso, you are doing a very nice job with your doors.  One thing I highly recommend is securely connecting the steel door frame to the hinge plate at the front.  (Read that "weld a braced steel connection")  That will stiffen the door to the hinge to eliminate side play when the door is open.  The fiberglass alone can flex and that will cause the latch to "miss" the part of the latch on the door jamb and cause a lot of paint chipping when the door hits the body.  Secure them together and save a lot of headaches.
Also, on that same note,  it looks like your hinge is all steel.  I welded wider extensions on the sides of the hinge that bolts to the chassis to give it a more stable stance.  You can't do too much to make the doors open and close well.

RT

I was at my buddies house over the weekend and I was checking our his Murci build that has the doors mounted up.  The exterior door panel is off the car so it gave me a really good chance to see what causes a door to wobble.  I think a common mistake is making the inner frames too weak which creates flex on the frame in all directions.  I think we underestimate the weight of the door and the pressures put on the frame when the door is closed (the gas shock is always pressing on it) and especially when the door is opening.  He is using the traditional 1" square tube framing that  creates the basic rectangular frame.  When the door opens, you can watch the frame flex in both directions (up and down and side to side).  He is aware of this and is changing it to make everything stiffer. 

It's just important that once you have strong inner frames, you secure the frames to the door shells and I'd strongly advise everyone not to use fiberglass or glue to just adhere them together.  After enough hard slams and some cold to hot temperature changes, it's a sure bet that your bonding material will give over time.  I built flanges on my frames and tapped holes into them.  I then used a countersinking bit in a drill and beveled the fiberglass so I could use countersunk screws (hex head) to screw everything together. 

Some adhesive between the frame and inner shell will help hold it together but also acts as sound-deadening to minimize the squeaks and rattles (the key is that it's the primary method for holding everything together).  From the outside of the door it looks very factory and if you need to disassemble everything, you simply remove the screws and break the adhesive loose. 

I'm using 3" rectangular tubing tubing for my frames but I'm now considering boxing my frames inside the doors with additional 1" square tubing to eliminate as much flex as possible.  I'll also tie my door latches into my door frames and build additional framing behind the strikers on the door jamb.

Your car is looking great Jay.. keep the pictures coming!   

Chris

[LamboJayso]

LamboJayso, you are doing a very nice job with your doors.  One thing I highly recommend is securely connecting the steel door frame to the hinge plate at the front.  (Read that "weld a braced steel connection")  That will stiffen the door to the hinge to eliminate side play when the door is open.  The fiberglass alone can flex and that will cause the latch to "miss" the part of the latch on the door jamb and cause a lot of paint chipping when the door hits the body.  Secure them together and save a lot of headaches.
Also, on that same note,  it looks like your hinge is all steel.  I welded wider extensions on the sides of the hinge that bolts to the chassis to give it a more stable stance.  You can't do too much to make the doors open and close well.

RT

Thx RT, absolutely, the plate the hinge bolts up to must be integrated into the frame. The same way the latch is integrated. I just left it like that for now.

[RT]

LamboJayso, you are doing a very nice job with your doors.  One thing I highly recommend is securely connecting the steel door frame to the hinge plate at the front.  (Read that "weld a braced steel connection")  That will stiffen the door to the hinge to eliminate side play when the door is open.  The fiberglass alone can flex and that will cause the latch to "miss" the part of the latch on the door jamb and cause a lot of paint chipping when the door hits the body.  Secure them together and save a lot of headaches.
Also, on that same note,  it looks like your hinge is all steel.  I welded wider extensions on the sides of the hinge that bolts to the chassis to give it a more stable stance.  You can't do too much to make the doors open and close well.

RT

[LamboJayso]

Dang.  That's the nicest inner door shell I've seen.

MD, every part of this body is nice. Compared to my first build, I have a deep appreciation for working on something so clean.

[MDMurcy2]

Dang.  That's the nicest inner door shell I've seen. 

[LamboJayso]

I spent today working on the door.

[LamboJayso]

No worries Lambiero, the door closes on the striker perfectly w/ample clearance.

[01Lambiero]

I can see the edge of the door glass so it would have to be a roadster but could be either Diablo or Murcie.  I believe that the builder used the later style Mercedes latch and installed it inside of the inner.  It looks like the inner is hitting the striker when he closes the door.  The further the latch is mounted in the inner, the more you have to shim the striker on the jamb forward.  Jim

[Onewickedsvt]

say that again?

is that a murcielago latch you have in the pic(black door), or is it a diablo?

[01Lambiero]

Why is it that you are mounting your latch recessed into the door inner?  By doing so, you are moving the door inner rearward toward the latch striker and you may run out of clearance.

[LamboJayso]

Nice fitment for the latch.  I really like that.

Thx MD