Skin Updates 2: Cutting Out the AL Back Door

I kinda of dreaded this day for a while and thats why this job hasn't been done yet. Cutting out the full back door inner skin. Its not laser cut I presume as a choice if the builder wants to go full back door or 3/4 route.

So this weekend I decided to make Saturday the day to tackle this project. It lived up to sucking and not being much fun.

So to start I clamped the inner and outer rear skins together using small clamps that are $6 bucks for 144 at office depot. This will be my main guide so I know where to cut the back door.

Then I clamped 2 pieces of L channel as a cutting guide for the my little hacksaw to cut thru. This way you can't go too far off of the guide. You can buy this L channel at Ace, Home Depot, Lowes for cheap. Its handy to have this stocked if you can cause you never know when you need it.You could also use a dremel if you have a steady hand with them and speed this up to cut out the inner skin. You choice and take your own risks with these parts..

Here is one more photo of the mounting the L channel for a cut my cut guide.

Here if the cut after the L channel was removed. Its not as accurate as the laser cut of course but does a decent job. I have to file and maybe put filler in a few places. No big deal I'm happy with that cut. On to the next side.

So repeat cutting out the other side, then proceed to cut out the center. Using a dremel cut an area in the middle and then install the L channel. Insert you hand cutting tool and complete cutting off the back door.

Now with the inner skin mounted and the backdoor cut out it fits after I filed away some parts at the top straight. I still need to life the left and right openings straight. But before I do that I'll focus on mounting the inner skin on this door first. I know this will run into the battery box but still going to do it anyway.

So cool I can open the back door and start the next couple of weeks of finishing all the back side parts to complete this area. But I need to James Bond the battery box to make this happen.So in the end it was a success. I got the inner skin cut out without ruining it. Which you'll find is easy to do!