Just thought about modifying the doors to suicide style. How difficult would this be? ANy thoughts?
probably the most difficutl thing would be to deal with the weight of the doors, you would probably need some hinges that are stronger, cause what most of the suicide doors are put on have light dorrs made with fiberglass, or at least very lightweight materials, and the doors on the pinto arent too light.
There are heavy duty hinge kits out there for steel doors. check 'em out. http://store.gaugemagazine.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1900
I'm guessing the REALLY hard part is the latch. there isn't a place on the Pinto to put the original latch system in the freont, so you'd be fabbing one up. then lining it up,and adjusting, then more lining,& adjusting, then,...you get the idea LOL
It will take a LOT of work to put suicide doors on a pinto and even then it may not work after a while. The panel with the striker bolt simply does not have the strength to hold the door. I kid you not when i say you can bend that panel with your hand. I give credit where its due and the pinto was a pretty good car (especial considering the explosion problem was blown out of preportion), but ford did drop the ball on the striker panel. I know of 3 people that were rear-ended in pintos and the doors would not open because of the lack of braces on that pannel.
If you want to take the time to weld some sort of brace on that panel then you may be able to get it. Keep in mind you're gonna have to totaly redo the door hanles (or the electric pop-out thingys that are cool nowdays) and i dare say it will be a pain to get in and out of the car with suicide doors. i'm 6'1 and i have a bit of trouble gettin out of mine now. I'd never be able to clear the steering wheel on suicide doors.
Just a little food for thought
-Harry
Yes, I have thought of all those aspects, although I thought the B pillars would have been a little more solid. Another problem would be clearance for the excess door panel, it kind of rounds out so when it would hinge out it would need somewhere to go, might need to cut a hole in th pillar then weld in some sheet metal to form a pocket. Fabbing the handles wouldn't be too hard, I've come up with an idea to use the opposite handles from the other door(s), at least your thumb would go where it would feel right. Another big headache (of course) would be alignment. At first I thought this would be a neat idea, a cool project to do, but now I am having some second thoughts.
I always thought that Ferrari, or is it Lamborghini, style gull wing doors would be cool. But, I don't know if there would be enough strength in the roof to support that.
Hey Sagenip,
I,ve often thought about doing a Suicide doors on a Pinto. and I am the last to shoot down a COOL idea.
BUT!!!Many of my friends are Street Rod guys and they all have HORROR stories about the door flying open at speed and they all end with the door lying on the road. Most have all kinds of 4 letter words and ALL have the word GOD in them.
NOW if you could rig something to elecdtronicly LOCK the door when the car is in gear then and only then would I try turning the door.
From Pintony
eye,m not sure where you'd find them, but eye,ve seen older cars(with heavy doors) at shows that have front hinge, but swing up.
not quite gull wing style, deffinatley not suicide, but cool all the same, for what its worth