Bk door rotted out at the bottom ??

aevans692 said:

The other thing I hadn’t thought about is painting over a galvanised door .. ??

Done a bit of painting in the past, but I have never painted anything galvanised? , now if I bought a galvanised steel farms and skin door , is it going to be a pain to prime and paint , over an alu skin door ??

Anyone with experience with this ..

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You just need to prep it with T wash or mordant solution, same stuff.

oh , ok , I hadn't used T wash before , so id clean the surface , use T wash wait till it turns colour , rinse off and let dry , then prime does that sound about right ...

ok , little update

today I took off the door card to inspect the bk door , it pretty bad tbh , looks like there had been previous attempts to weld the door back together , it has broken through at the top where the wiper is , broken at the bottom , one of the cross members is broken ... its in a pretty poor state , the spare wheel plate has been welded in places which is pretty much holding the door together ....

I think im gonna need a new door ....

The wiring loom for the high mount light is threaded through the door frame , this looks like it would be a real pain in the arse to pull through on a new door , part of me is thinking about not fitting a high mounted brake light , is this something I need for a mot ?? the heated window and wiper seems straight forward to swap round tho ... any thoughts or advise please ...

On our 90 the rear door had been damaged and also was rusty at the bottom.
I got it replaced while also having the rear of the Defender re sprayed and the body shop used a Britpart door.
I have to say the door appears to be of OE quality, it fits perfectly and seems well made.
The body shop had no complaints about the Britpart door, they also wax injected the inside so hopefully it will last a few years.

I have found some HD galvanised steel doors which are meant to be a lot stronger , I think that I will opt for one of these , I will prep, spray and fit it myself , shouldn't be an issue .. good to know about the brit part one tho ( i guess it don't have moving parts )

I am still debating if to fit a swing away or not , its going to be an extra few hundred pounds if I do .. Im also thinking that with the HD steel door, it should handle the spare wheel mounted directly to it better , the old one lasted 22 years ...

I will also need a new door card , might opt for a chequer plate one , or a picnic table type fold out one ...

Your door sounds as if it is in the same state mine was, as I said I did repair mine but wished I had not bothered.
New door with checker plate door card will cope with a standard wheel/tyre just fine.
Recon it was only the checker door card that kept mine going as long as it did, 28 years.

does the checker plate add much strength to the door , do you think ?

I think the swing away wheel carrier is a good idea, but l don’t like drilling holes in the bodywork.

yeah thats kinda my thinking too ....

aevans692 said:

oh , ok , I hadn't used T wash before , so id clean the surface , use T wash wait till it turns colour , rinse off and let dry , then prime does that sound about right ...

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Yes

aevans692 said:

does the checker plate add much strength to the door , do you think ?

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Yes, with at least four rivets per side it makes the door a lot stiffer, less flex means less chance of cracks forming in the frame.