Newbie here, wondering where the best place is to get doors?

[shaunthesheep]

Hi guys, so yeah as per title I've just bought a series 3 that needs new doors in the worst way.

I see loads of different suppliers but is there any particular company I should be using in regards to quality? I'd prefer galvanised ones if possible.

[David Sparkes]

Seeing that no-one picked this up yesterday I came to offer a response, but having read the detail  of your question I'm not sure I can be helpful.

You will already know of Bits4Landys and Paintman, which are the two names I recall reading on the forum of the Series 2 Club (There seem to be many S3 owners posting on there).

The 'galvanising' bit threw me, being an S2 owner myself as I think of doors being aluminium, but perhaps you are referring to the steel frames being galvanised?

You see why I didn't respond immediately, no precise knowledge of the subject :-)

[shaunthesheep]

Sorry yes, I was perhaps a bit vague.

Well my door tops are completely gone so definitely need new ones of those, which I think come galvanised?
 And yes I was thinking galvanised frames for the door bottoms which are also in pretty bad nick.

Hadn't actually heard of bits4landys, so are those two companies recommended? Or are most of the companies making doors pretty good? google throws up plenty of options....

 

[dave88sw]

If you find some good quality ones let us know where from 😂.

I've fitted britpart ones and sp land rover ones.  The britpart ones are sort of ok, they're not great quality, the steel frame is thin and the section of frame where the door is curved is pressed badly, it looks a bit crushed there, it's also 5mm shorter than an original door, which doesn't sound a lot but it looks a lot, because the gap at the front between the bulkhead and door is half the size of the one at the back between the door and tub.  The SP land rover ones were a little better made, frame was stiffer and they're the right length but the curve of the door was far too flat, it doesn't match up with the tub at all which meant that it never looked right, regardless of how you adjust it, it you adjusted it so the capping lined up, it looked far too low on the curve, if you adjusted it so the curve lined up, it looked too high on the capping and the door gaps weren't parallel.

I don't know of any with galvanised frames other than SP Land rovers seem to have that option, although i've not used them, the ones i fitted were plain mild steel.

[David Sparkes]

I don't know if you can follow this link, access might depend on registering for the Forum, or worst case, joining the Club.

If you can access the Search results this is the link.

Ahh, tested and found it took me to the initial Search page, not the search results page.
I searched for 'Paintman doors', specifying 'Show results as messages' in all forums.

Regards.

[shaunthesheep]

9 hours ago, dave88sw said:

If you find some good quality ones let us know where from 😂.

I've fitted britpart ones and sp land rover ones. The britpart ones are sort of ok, they're not great quality, the steel frame is thin and the section of frame where the door is curved is pressed badly, it looks a bit crushed there, it's also 5mm shorter than an original door, which doesn't sound a lot but it looks a lot, because the gap at the front between the bulkhead and door is half the size of the one at the back between the door and tub. The SP land rover ones were a little better made, frame was stiffer and they're the right length but the curve of the door was far too flat, it doesn't match up with the tub at all which meant that it never looked right, regardless of how you adjust it, it you adjusted it so the capping lined up, it looked far too low on the curve, if you adjusted it so the curve lined up, it looked too high on the capping and the door gaps weren't parallel.

I don't know of any with galvanised frames other than SP Land rovers seem to have that option, although i've not used them, the ones i fitted were plain mild steel.

Hmmm, neither of those sound great to be honest.... But think the sp ones would annoy me the least  😂

7 hours ago, David Sparkes said:

I don't know if you can follow this link, access might depend on registering for the Forum, or worst case, joining the Club.

If you can access the Search results this is the link.

Ahh, tested and found it took me to the initial Search page, not the search results page.
I searched for 'Paintman doors', specifying 'Show results as messages' in all forums.

Regards.

Had a look there, so paintman one possibly not great either?

Anyone any experience with these? https://www.lrparts.net/395533galv-land-rover-series-3-galvanised-right-hand-door-bottom-anti-burst-style-with-key-hole-galvanised-frame-with-alloy-skin.html

 

[Romahomepete]

SPGlobal make galvanised door tops

 

Peter

[smallfry]

I have never found any replacement (non genuine LR OLD stock) doors to be much good.

The curved shoulder is always not right for various reasons, the frame itself is generally thinner, and the quality of the alloy skin is poor.

The skin material is always too soft. If you thump an OLD original door, you will must likely hurt your knuckles (same with all the other body panels) but if you try it with a new replacement, it will dent easily. Also the replacements alloy will rot MUCH quicker than the original.

Best bet by far is to try and source some good condition old doors or possibly ex military, if you do not have the technology to repair some old ones.

However, I suspect later MOD stuff is not what it used to be.

[Romahomepete]

The skins on new doors is always going to be softer than teh original a"birmabright" is no longer available.

 

Peter

[Gazzar]

5 hours ago, Romahomepete said:

The skins on new doors is always going to be softer than teh original a"birmabright" is no longer available.

 

Peter

I wonder if the series one restoration parts guys would be interested? They use an alloy very close to birmabright.

[shaunthesheep]

Hmmm my original skins aren't too bad, bit of bubbling at the bottom but nothing major. Might be worthwhile just trying to find replacement frames?

[smallfry]

On 10/16/2020 at 7:33 AM, Romahomepete said:

The skins on new doors is always going to be softer than teh original a"birmabright" is no longer available.

 

Peter

The original alloy they called "Birmabright" was a grade of alloy used in aircraft production. It will still be available, or something close to it, today.

It is strong and rigid and hard to work (and more expensive) which will be why pattern parts manufacturers will not use it.

But they could........ 

[Snagger]

Land Rover stopped using it in the 90s too.  Might be because of toxic or environmentally hazardous substances involved, but more likely the bean counters making them cheaper.  That’s why Defender wing tops are always full of elbow dents, softer than the 90/110 wings that coped with elbows but sagged below squaddies’ boots, and Series wing tops managed the boots without much harm.

[Chris Hall]

On 10/9/2020 at 5:50 PM, shaunthesheep said:

Hmmm, neither of those sound great to be honest.... But think the sp ones would annoy me the least  😂

Had a look there, so paintman one possibly not great either?

Anyone any experience with these? https://www.lrparts.net/395533galv-land-rover-series-3-galvanised-right-hand-door-bottom-anti-burst-style-with-key-hole-galvanised-frame-with-alloy-skin.html

 

I bought Paint Man door bottoms to fit but will probably repair my original doors as there are problems with the pattern ones. They are not quite the right size, the hinge tubes are slightly wrong, but worse, the tubes that the door tops go into are too large in diameter, which makes the door top very loose and difficult to align. The door tops fit the old doors well even without the nuts on - which is convenient for summer use with canvas top on. I also bought SP galvanised door tops which seem to be an OK fit. They cancelled my order for the door bottoms with galvanised frames after I asked questions about the profile and shape compared to originals.