Door inserts

[Jakedog]

I'm working on installing the 1 piece door inserts from wild horses and I have a few questions.

1. How much trimming did you have to do to get a good fit?
2. How did you seal off the seams around the inserts?
3. Did the portion of the insert that meets the floor stay flat against the floor? Did you have to use screws to keep it flat?

 

[Glass Pony]

1. A good bit especially across the bottom.
2. I didn't seal off anything. May have to remove them someday.
3. Yes, pretty much. That's where some of the trimming was done to get them to lay flat. No screws.

 

[Rustytruck]

the part across the floor needs a pad under the insert if your going to step on it.there is quite a gap under neath between the insert and the top of the rocker. the bottom of the insert is held down inside by the floor trim if you are using it. trimming to fit wasn't too bad except around the windshield area and the rear top of the insert at the bed top. Unless you go crazy like I did where I did allot of filling around the insert with Dura glass and bed all the mounting points where you put screws through the insert. I spent 2 months of all my spare time to get what i see as a proper fit and not just good enough. On 2 inserts fixing all the issues that bothered me on a really good pair of one piece inserts. Mine mount solid and can still be taken off if I want to hang the doors on in the winter. was a lot of work but worth it in the end product. I spent 25 years with multi piece poor fitting inserts and when ready to move up I tried to do it really right the second time around. My old inserts were a deturance my new ones are an asset.

 

[Jakedog]

I'll renew my membership on here and take pics when I can. They are a pain in the a$$ to get lined up, but I like the look.
I just put the new soft top on yesterday and it looks badass. I still need paint and some bodywork work done but it's coming along.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Rustytruck]

yep and they are so much cooler to drive with the heat escaping from the floor boards.

 

[Jakedog]

I hate door inserts!
These have been such a pain in the ass to line up. The top portion nearest the windshield is giving me problems. The area in the door insert where the screw is supposed to go through is too far back. It looks like it's in the right spot but there wont be any metal behind it when it does line up.
I'm thinking the best way to remedy this is to attach a piece of sheet metal behind the insert using the bolts from the fender to attach it to the body. I can then attach the insert to that piece of sheet metal.
If you have a better idea please share.

I ended up drilling the holes in the inserts from the back directly in the middle of the washer. The inserts were not dimpled so I figured it would be easier. The fiberglass chipped a little bit but I'm still needing to paint the Bronco so no big deal.

 

[Rustytruck]

drilling fiberglass you want to use a brad point bit. you will also want to use a larger regular bit by hand to chamfer the gellcoat so it wont chip later. should use tape over the hole placement mark the hole and drill through the tape.

 

[Jakedog]

I have some brad point bits, but I didn't think about using them on the fiberglass. I'll remember that for next time.

 

[Jakedog]

The door inserts are installed. I also installed the soft doors. I did a lot more trimming on the inserts than I thought I would.

My floors are lined with a spray in bed liner similar to LineX. I had to trim areas where the floor and inserts meet. If you are considering using door inserts, and you plan to use a bed liner on your floors, just remember that the thickness of the bed liner will change the fitment of the inserts.

Now it's time to take it all apart again and get it ready for the paint shop. Which means removing the door inserts and putting the hinges back on for the hard doors.
The shop will be replacing the left quarter panel, the left rocker panel, and the left door post.

 

[Rustytruck]

Make sure the steel doors are hung when they replace the rockers. You dont want them fitting the rockers to the inserts.

 

[Scott McKelvey]

So I've been looking for crappy used doors to essentially make softdoor inserts out of real doors, but prices on even the shittiest steel doors makes it kinda silly for an experiment and still have a ton of work to do, mostly guessing, cutting, fitting, cutting, re-fitting, etc. And then I still have fix the rust issues.

Honestly I can't believe people have been putting up with the traditional door insert for almost 60 years now. Hear me out! Think of the advantages of having a normal door in lieu of a traditional insert.

• using the new Lift off hinges, easily swap b/t regular doors and the "inserts". even traditional hinges wouldn't be bad.
• no swapping to inserts (say minimum 4hrs if you swap spring+fall)
• No deciding on 1 piece or 2 piece at the time of purchase
• No scratching paint (priceless)
• so body Weather stripping stays in place (better sealing), and no having to seal the inserts. There's a cost to all of that and total effing hassle.
• No removing and realign of hinges (depending on how particular you are, that's a disaster)
• No drilling holes in the body (priceless)
• And finally, if you need extra room to climb or load something in the back, you just open the door. (priceless)
• sure, rigidity could be a challenge, but between the frequency of opening/closing and the purpose it serves, I don't see a need to make it as rigid as a normal door anyways (there's no window frames, or anything else).

It occurred to me that Bronco Design already offers a full door (so the hinges+latching+everything else sorted out), and they already offer a door insert (so they have the softdoor dimensions sorted out too). So I can't imagine it would be too hard to meld the two. Point being I emailed them recently, and I'd hope that the bronco world would welcome this, and that Bronco Design is around and would entertain bringing it to market.