I make patterns out of cardboard. Its cheaper to cut up, or modify, and not much of a loss if you goof up, then steel is. The cardboard cases canned beverage comes in works very well, I use Pepsi usually, but this pattern happens to be from a shoe box. Also shown is the Dakota door edge/inner door panel the latch assembly screws to.

This is the hole in the outer door skin. The marked line is where the pattern lays. The pattern would be shifted and trimmed to have a uniform edge all around. If it was too far off, I can tape extra cardboard to the pattern or cut a corrected one.

Cardboard pattern held in place. This pattern will also be used on the other door by flipping it over.

Here is a picture of the door edge and inner door where the old latch assemble was removed. You can also see the outer door handle cut out.

here are the two steel patches. The one on the right is the outer handle surround. The piece on the left is the still unbent edge/inner panel. On the edge panel, notice the shape outlined in marker, and the 3 places the screw holes will be. The angled slot like marking will be for the door latch adjustment. This is a new piece of sheet metal with a slight surface rust that will sand off.

This is the outer handle surround welded in position. The outer part needs to be done before the inside part is welded in. The hole was cut, and the handle fitted and tightened into position. The latch assembly was screwed to the new door edge ans was fine tuned to assure everything worked.

This is the hole from inside the car, with the outer skin welded in position. The square piece that runs up and down is the original window track.

Once everything fit and worked, the edge piece was tacked in place, the latch was removed and the door edge patch was welded in. Pictured is the welded door edge/inner panel with the latch assembly screwed in place.

In that last picture you can see the inside lock rod temporarily zip tied to the inner panel. The inside release rod is running forward. Those pieces will be finished as needed when the door panel is fitted. Both pieces work as is.

I don't have pictures of the striker post during installation. But the process was pretty straight forward. Once the door latch and handle was done, the location of the striker post was marked with a marker. A hole was cut about an inch square so the post would have some adjustment. A reinforcing plate was made to fit on the back side with a 1" matching square. The reinforcing plate would have flanges to capture the "nut" the striker post screws in to. I drilled 4- 1/4" holes around the square hole in the outer skin. The striker was bolted into position and the door was opened and closed several times to assure the door worked properly. Once assured of a functioning door, the reinforcing plate was plug welded to the outer skin through the 1/4" holes.

Pictures of the striker bolted in place, painted.

The original door post had an indentation where the original latch pieces used to fit. I cut the indentation out and welded a piece flush in that location. I have a couple pictures of the back of the striker post reinforcing plate, the pictures suck, they were real hard to take. This 1st one is a more clear picture, but off centered.

This picture is the same location, but better centered. Unfortunately, the picture sucks.

The whole process was repeated for the other side, except I didn't bother cutting the original surrounding metal from the Dakota door. Gene

Some very nice work, especially with what you started with. Originally being from the midwest myself I know first hand about missing and rotted sheetmetal......and am first to admit that I have been spoiled living in AZ the last 25 years. The stuff some of you guys back there start with amazes me.

I'm wondering about the difference in body weight between the car and truck are you going to have to do any spring changes because of weight differences?

good job on the door handle install gene ! i'm using k car handles on my humpback and they will fit nicely below the belt line bead. the inner latch structure will be installed similar to how you did yours, but at the front of the door instead, as the doors are suicide style. keep up the good work !

Mikep, I had an AZ car once, the body was great, but everything I did to it was a battle. It was as though it didn't like me messing with it and was very uncooperative. I find it easier to work with this rusty junk, I'm a long ways from being a perfectionist, so I like going at it with the attitude that it was junk before, so I can't hurt it. Fits my life style better.

Moparx, the 1st rod I did I used K car door handles, I think I still have a set around here someplace with keys for the locks yet! Probably still have the matching steering column for the K car door handles too. Finding them may be a different story.
I have never done a suicide door before, I suspect that brings a whole new set of issues with it.

I seen to be having a real problem figuring out how I need to do hood hinges. One of the few things that must have gotten collected with a pile of scrap from the Dakota since I can't find them around here. They probably would have worked out well too. Something will come to me, I just hate sitting for hours staring at something without coming up with a plan of some sort. Gene

Still plugging away. The coupe had a lot of issues with the structural integrity around The windshield frame. The top of the windshield header was rotted away, and the rubber gasket was pretty much hanging in the breeze. I ended up replacing a 44" wide section of metal above the windshield, and a large section of the inside lower pinch weld as well. As such, I had to reform the peak of the windshield, on both the top and the bottom of the "V" and much of the inner body structure at the top and the bottom of the windshield. Having had to deal with windshield gasket leaks in my 50 4x4 for years, (new glass and new rubber 2 times, made little difference, still leaked around the rubber) I was determined I was not going to have rubber gaskets in this car.

Since I had already done extensive work on the windshield frame, I contacted the local glass guy I've used for years, to see what I needed to bond in new glass. He told me I needed at least a 3/8" lip all the way around the windshield for the Buteen (or whatever that windshield black glue stuff is called) to sit on, and I would have to make a center support. I'm using a split 2 piece windshield with a center post that is bonded in. The center post had to be 1" wide, and at the correct angle for both pieces of glass to sit on and not touch. I added another piece all the way around the outside of the frame to give me a 1/2" flat surface lip for each 1/2 of the windshield, with the center post finishing up the glass mounting surface. A hard board pattern was made from the still intact 1/2 section of the windshield. The 1/2 section I had was in bad condition, it was separating and was scratched up real bad, there was also a crack in one corner. I was concerned it would break while I was trying to get all my surfaces flat. I figured a hard pattern wasn't a bad idea anyway.
While I was doing the surface pieces, I sent the glass out to have a couple pieces made. The windshield fits on the lip where the rubber gasket originally sat. The glass guy put a 1/4" thick piece of bonding agent on the surface and the glass sat on top of that, the finished product is about 3/8" above the body surface at the top and sides. He has a nice seam of bonding agent all the way around both pieces of glass to assure the seal and to protect the edges of the glass. At some point, I may fill the small gap between the glass and the body, but at this point, I'm leaving it alone. I'll see what pictures I have I can post of the process, but much of it was done in a hurry, so pictures are limited. Lets start with the finished product.

another view

The center post