Making lambo doors

I have a 97 grand am, recently put a body kit on it. I got looking at lambo doors a while back and have always liked the look they give a vehicle. Also I've never seen any around here because of the price they cost a person. I also posted this in a different section on this forum but nobody has replied so i figured maybe someone would notice this one. I'm in machine trades and can make the lambo hinge if I could get ahold of a blueprint. Also if it needs to be modified by cad my bro's in cad so he can draw it up for me. Hopefully someone can help me here, so I can try and get them and save money. I appreciate any help.

It's not difficult to accomplish, just time consuming. The most difficult part is the fact that you have to get the door to first pull away from the door sill then swing upward. The Lamborghini door sill is at an angle that that allows the door to swing upwards withiout any interference whereas the grand am door is designed to swing outwards. Thus making it open straight up is not possible. There is two ways to accomplish this:

1. You can either do as previously mentioned, have the door first pop out and away from the door sill, then have tilt up.

Or...
2. Modify the door and door sill so the door realy opens like a Lambo.

Decide which way you want to do it, then let me know and I can assist you in designing a hinge that will work. Let me know. It'll take me about a week to design the hinge. As far as having blueprints, I don't know where you can get any of previously designed kits.

Marc

Actually I like both Ideas. The first one sounds easier, but how much does it have to pull out before going up? Does it look good that way? If you know that the first one will look just as good as the 2nd...and functoin well i'd go with that one. Thanks for helping.

Sorry, re your PM. When I responded with the second being easier I was thinking of the first option. I like the second option also, plus making a hinge for that is much easier. There are a couple problems with this though. You may lose room in your door which is needed to role down your windows. If that's how you want to do it, it isn't that difficult. Things you will need are a plasma cutter and a MIG welder (or at least access to them). The plasma cutter is optional, but would make the job easier. And it wouldn't hurt if you could find a passenger and driver side door from the wreckers to test all this on, no point in chopping up your good doors in the name of science if it turns out you don't like the outcome or decide to opt out at the last minute.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=32616&size=big&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

This pic gives you an idea of where the door should be trimmed and where the new pivot point would be. It's a crude drawing, I know. I don't have my scanner yet and it would take a bit to design it on CAD since it's just an example. I was looking at my doors, and there are definately some clearance issues that would need to be resolvede in order for the door to just tilt up, not major, but it could get frustrating to accomplish. One of these issues is the door panel may hit the A-pillar when it goes up. Another issue is the lip at the top of the door frame will interfere with the roof line. A third issue is just above the pivot point the front fender would collide with the door edge in the tilting process. These would all have to be overcome, a lot of welding and changes would have to be made. It would be sweet when done.


Marc

so you said the 1st one would be easier then? Well i have access for the mig welder at vocational and a cousin. They have a plasma cutter there also if needed. How would you go about making the door stay up? Shocks? I'm sorry but the picture isn't quite working.

Yeah, it was a poor attempt at quickly drawing on MSPaint. LOL. As far as getting the door to stay up, yes you would use a small gas charged shock, like on a hatch back, just shorter. Or did you meen the pic isn't showing up, because it isn't showing up on my computer either. If that's the case go to the photo gallery and look at it there.

As far as the pic goes, the red line indicates where the door would actually have to be cut down to in order for it to swing up. That small section that would get cut off would be welded to the door sill and become part of the body.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=32709

If you look at the top pic, the door and door sill are normal. If you were to try to tilt the door forward and up (like a lambo) the bottom right corner of the door would hit the door sill. In the bottom pic, the door has been cut at an angle allowing the door to tilt up.

so you said the 1st one would be easier then? Well i have access for the mig welder at vocational and a cousin. They have a plasma cutter there also if needed. How would you go about making the door stay up? Shocks? I'm sorry but the picture isn't quite working.
Is there any way to not have to cut your door? My parents wouldn't care as much if I didn't have to cut my door. How could you make a hinge where you wouldn't have to cut it?

Yeah, I agree, cutting the doors is not a good idea unless you are prepared to do a lot of work, and very good with a welder. I can help you out with the hinge issue, but there is still a lot of work to do to get it going. The principle is fairly simple but you would still have to do testing and prototyping of the hinge to get the exact movement you need. If you are just starting out in fabricating, this isn't the best project to tackle.


Marc

Well, my cousin is a great welder, parents just dont like the idea. Also yeah it is my first project as far as metal working on my car. I do lots of metal work at vocational. I actually found this site today. http://www.decah.net/site/articles/4.html It has a walkthrough on how to install one. Is that the kind of hinge i need to make?

i have a 94 dakota and looking to do the same forklift guy.. how is your progress on this