Lamborghini Door Conversion by: ez-conversionz

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Lamborghini Door Conversionbyez-conversionz
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Pre-Introduction

• The information contained within this CD will
  aide you in converting your doors to the style of
  a Lamborghinis doors. This CD is also helpful
  because it will give you the knowledge of where
  to find cheap parts, where to install parts, very
  helpful pictures, and bonus websites!

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Introduction

• The following is a brief discussion on the 4
  most popular door modifications used on exotic
  sports cars today a) Suicide Doors, b) Gullwing
  Doors, c) Butterfly Doors, and d) Scissor or
  Jack Knife Doors.

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a) Suicide Doors

• Suicide doors are the opposite of regular
  doors, i.e. they open the other way.
• The door hinges are moved from the front to
  the rear, as the wiring for the power locks,
  windows, speakers, and the dome light switch.
  The latches have been moved to the front.

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B) Gull wing Doors

• The hinges on these doors are located on
  the roof thus a strong roof and/or a light door
  is necessary. These were made popular by the
  classic Mercedes Sports coupes back in the hay
  days.
• It might be hard to make this modification
  to your car since the roof is converted to be
  part of the door.

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C) Butterfly Doors

• These type of doors open up like a butterfly
  opens up its wings, in the 10 and 2 oclock
  positions. They have 2 hinge points with one
  close to the roof and one at the traditional
  location.
• These doors are commonly found on exotic
  cars such as the McLaren and the Saleen.

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D) Scissor or Jack Knife Doors

• Also know as Lambo doors or Vertical
  doors. These type of doors swing straight up and
  will be the main focus of this guide.

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Lambo Door Construction

• Vertical Door Opening Double click screen to
  replay (Acrobat format).
• The below image was taken with permission
  from Street Dreams http//www.iserv.net/strdrea
  m .Street dreams does custom work pertaining to
  street rods, classic and custom cars.

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The Hinge

• The hinge is the most important part of the
  conversion, apart from time and labor. This
  section analyses the vertical hinge.
• The following are pictures of real Lamborghini
  hinges, please analyze them carefully.

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Lamborghini Door Hinge
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Lambo Kit Hinges

• The following are pictures of lambo door
  conversion kit hinges

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Lambo door kit hinges
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Animation of Door Hinge

• Double click picture to play again (Acrobat
  format).

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The real Lamborghini door hinge

• This is a real Lamborghini door hinge used
  for kit cars. The cheapest way to have lambo
  doors on your car is available via courtesy of
  http//www.sequentialturnsignals.com/lambodoor/lam
  bodoor.html or
• http//www.iserv.net/strdream/hinges.html .
• The cost for each hinge, approximately
  100-250/pc

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Another door hinge
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Door Geometry

• I think the biggest problem to convert an
  existing door will be the door's shape. On very
  square doors, the bottom corner may hit the
  pillar when it tries to rotate upward. There are
  a few work-arounds for this.
• You might be able to find hinges that throw
  the door forward as it rotates up. You can see
  this on the new Cadillac concept car. Otherwise,
  you may also use another hinge setup that pops
  the door outward before rotating it up.

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Door Hardware Needed

• All you really need is a single hinge and a
  strut. I've heard that Volvo tailgates, mid 90's
  Pontiacs, and Ford Explorer lift gates provide
  good salvage yard struts. For a specific strut
  contact RV shops in addition to the normal strut
  mnfrs. You will need to know your compressed and
  extended lengths as well as the force required,
  which will be more than the door's weight
  (especially if you locate the strut at some weird
  point). If you won't be using struts, there are
  other mechanical and hydraulic options but they
  will cost you more as well.
• Local scraps are a good starting point to
  get the struts and hinges, as they are cheap and
  easily accessible.
• the above text was taken with permission
  from Filip's Falcon GT A Scratch Built Project
  http//www.statikdesign.com/scratchbuilt  . The
  site is a compilation of research geared toward
  the novice who wants to build their own sports
  car from scratch."

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Determining the Correct Strut Specs

• Part A Equipment Required
• Tape Measure
• Pencil or crayon to mark on door and body
• A helper strong enough to hold the door at the
  vertical position
• Scissor hinges which you will use (this is
  strongly recommended but not required)
• A produce-type hanging scale. You could construct
  a crude version using a rope, pulley, and some
  counter weights (like from a dumbell set).
• the above text was taken with
  permission from Filip's Falcon GT A Scratch
  Built Project http//www.statikdesign.com/scratch
  built  . The site is a compilation of research
  geared toward the novice who wants to build their
  own sports car from scratch."

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Determining the Correct Strut Specs

• Part B The Procedure
• First, you should mount the door on the proper
  hinges. For a door mounted conventionally you
  should take it off of its hinges and position it
  in the door jamb so it is free to rotate up (or
  out).
• From looking at a lot of pictures, the strut is
  usually mounted on the body about a foot or so
  down from the hinge. You can use this as a
  starting point.
• The strut's compressed length will be the
  distance from its mounting point on the body, to
  the mounting point on the door itself.
  Compressed Length
• Now rotate the door around its hinge point to the
  upright position. It is a good idea to have
  someone help brace it up for you. It will get
  tricky to hold a 50 lb door up with one hand
  while you use the tape measure with the other.
  Now measure the new distance between the strut
  mounting points (as in Step 3). Extended
  Length

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Determining the Correct Strut Specs

• Contd
• Your length of travel is the extended length
  minus the compressed length. If your Length of
  Travel is more than about 40 of your overall
  length, you will need to move your strut mounting
  point. The majority of struts will not have a
  Length of Travel more than this.Length of
  Travel Extended Length - Compressed
  Length
• If the door is empty, attach all of the trim,
  mirrors, interior, glass, actuators etc. You will
  need to simulate the weight of the final door.
  You may use dummy weights but be careful where on
  their placement. Adding 5lbs to the end of the
  door versus closer to the hinge will make a huge
  difference.
• Now you will need that hanging scale, or you will
  need to come up with an alternative. Either way,
  attach the a hook to your strut mounting point on
  the door (you found this in Step 3), and pull up
  to the position you want. The max weight that the
  scale reads will be your force. The reading might
  fluctuate depending on the door's position, but
  it should read the highest when the door is at
  the closed position. Add about 15-20 to this as
  a safety margin. You don't want the door to close
  too easily, plus you should take friction into
  account and some wear and tear later on, which
  might degrade the strut's pushing force. Offhand,
  I know of a '95 civic that was converted and used
  175 psi struts. If you don't have a produce
  scale, I will try to post an alternate method
  soon. This will not simply be the weight of the
  door. Leverage is working against you. The closer
  you mount the strut to the hinge (on the door)
  the more force it will need to push up. It also
  depends on the shape of the door and the location
  of its add-ons.
• the above text was taken with permission
  from Filip's Falcon GT A Scratch Built Project
  http//www.statikdesign.com/scratchbuilt  . The
  site is a compilation of research geared toward
  the novice who wants to build their own sports
  car from scratch."

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Door in vertical position

• This is a shot of a passenger door in the
  upright position

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Door schematics
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Door Hinge Installation Blueprints

• A company by the name Street Dreams
  manufactures hinges used for Lamborghini kits
  which may be applicable to your car. They have
  developed blue prints for DIY hinge installation
  which can be seen here
• Hinge info
• http//www.iserv.net/7estrdream/instr/sddoor1.pdf
  
• Door Recommendations
• http//www.iserv.net/7estrdream/instr/sddoor2.pdf
  
• Strut info
• http//www.iserv.net/7estrdream/instr/sdstrut1.pd
  f
• http//www.iserv.net/7estrdream/instr/sdstrut2.pd
  f
• http//www.iserv.net/7estrdream/instr/sdstrut3.pd
  f
• The above text was taken with
  permission from Street Dreams http//www.iserv.n
  et/strdream  . Street dreams does custom work
  pertaining to street rods, classic and custom
  cars.

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Example

• 300 ZX Butterfly door

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Example 300 ZX

• To install the door hinges, you simply have to
  have these parts
• Two air shocks - that work by switch (about 8
  inches long each)
• A welder
• Steel tubing (for door reinforcement)
• Thick steel sheet metal
• You have to mount one shock onto a plate at the
  bottom front corner of the drivers door, mounted
  onto a flat plate that is welded to the
  floor/door structure of the car, under the
  carpet. The shock is not seen when the door is
  closed, the shock goes inside of the door and
  there is a plate welded to the door that also
  mounts to the shock at the tip of the skinniest
  shaft.
• You have to reinforce the door for support. They
  take off the fenders do some cutting in below A
  post weld on about 2X3 square tube, then GMC or
  Ford E rear cargo doors hinge. Cut some off and
  add to it like 180 flat bar (now on that Honda
  they used 175psi struts).
• When you hit the switch the door should slide out
  on that shock, now comes the pushing up part. You
  have to have the other shock mounted to the same
  plate, but it is about 12 inches long and runs up
  parallel to the door beside the seat and mounts
  to the door at the end of the shock. You have to
  have a shaft made to the door so that when the
  door pops out the shock slides on the shaft then
  when the door is popped out it catches and pushes
  the door open.

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Example 300 ZX
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Example 300 ZX
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Example 300 ZX

• GM or Ford full size van cargo rear door
  hinges

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Example 300 ZX
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Example Honda Accord
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Example Honda Accord
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Considerations

• Before you begin it may be necessary to
  consider the following
• Will you need to extend any wires, and if so do
  you have an extra supply of the wire
• Will their be a speaker on the door, if so, you
  may need to extend speaker cables
• Alarm function
• Solenoid cable, automatic lock cables, etc.
• Will applying lambo doors void any warranties
• Are their any laws prohibiting these type of
  doors
• Is their enough room for people to get out of the
  car safely.

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Alternatives

• There are 2 alternatives
• Dont do the conversion and leave your doors
  intact, and,
• Buy a universal kit from a company called Decah.

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Decah http//www.decah.net
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Decah

• Decah has created a patent pending universal
  vertical door conversion kit for many cars. They
  first started off with Honda Civics.

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Honda Civic(Decah)
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Decah
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Decah - Benefits

• The key benefits include no cutting, no
  welding, quick installation, adjustible, complete
  with instructions and all necessary hardware.

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Decah - Disadvantages

• The main disadvantages are
• Limited applications, but decah plans on
  announcing many more cars.
• The cost at 1599.00(US)

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Conclusion

• Now that you know how to put lambo doors on
  your car, you can now see as well how you can
  put lambo doors basically anywhere, i.e. your
  hatch door, your hood, gas cover, etc. It is all
  in the hinge.
• Most custom shops charge between 2-8,000
  to do this conversion, but now you can do it for
  a fraction of that cost.
• In my opinion, by having these doors alone
  it is enough for you to stand out from the
  ubiquitous cars with the same type of body kits,
  aluminum wings, stickers, rims, etc.
• Thank you for taking your time to read this
  guide and good luck for your conversion

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Summary

• To do this yourself what you need is
• Struts
• Hinges
• Patience
• You will have to remove the fenders and
  doors to do this conversion properly. It should
  not take more than a weekend to do because you
  are basically just changing the hinge pattern and
  using struts to reinforce the door. For older
  cars you may have to lighten the doors and roll
  back fenders. To lighten the door simply cut out
  the interior of the leaving it a hollow shell.
  You may want to remove the speakers as well.
• If you do not want to do this yourself,
  then print out this cd and give it to almost any
  bodyshop guy, they will gladly do it for about
  1-200 bucks (depending on their labour rate).

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Watch out for

• GULLWING DOOR CONVERSIONS coming soon
• SUICIDE DOOR CONVERSIONs coming soon
• DIY Hydrolics using mechanical struts
• CARBON FIBRE DIY

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Special Thanks

• Ross from street dreams http//www.iserv.net/str
  dream 
• Filip http//www.statikdesign.com/scratchbuilt/in
  dex.html, he has plethora
• of information about designing or
  building your own car from scratch.
• Ron Fletcher and Brian Wolfe About your advice
  regarding conversions.

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Good luck?