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Originally Posted by bird72
Well, I guess if vastly incorrect later door releases don't bother you, then it is OK! personally that is pretty Mickey Mouse when we are here talking about restoring rare vintage cars. But, to each their own, that is what makes this world great. All I remember is slipping the early door panel on the later door, taking one look and unbolting the door off and giving it away after paying 100 bucks for it, I was so mad. It would be like putting RTS dash inserts on an early car, or late 70's window trim and pillars on an early one, sure you can, but WHY?
I'll still wait for someone that has done the fab work and can honestly say how many hours they have into the swap. BTW, aren't the release rods different?
And in the end, you will have a door, that all you have to do is tap on or shut to hear the thin sheet metal vs the early thick sheet metal.
It all really comes down to if you care about correct. Advising someone to go incorrect is still BAD advice in my book, and that just happened on the other door thread recently, the guy went "great" and off to buy a later door..... that just is wrong in my opinion.
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When I mentioned that I had installed later doors on my 70 T/A,I was NOT suggesting that they would be considered a proper replacement for a 70-74 Firebird,ESPECIALLY a T/A.
When I did that,even 20 years ago,nice clean,STRAIGHT 70-74 doors without any RUST or FILLER were hard to find,but it's 10 times WORSE today.
The T/A I installed them on was NOT a pristeen example,it was ACTUALLY my winter "beater" at the time.(RA III/auto #'s match inc. carb) The replacement doors & the hood were probably the only pieces of sheet metal on the whole car that were GOOD!
However,if I was building a 70-74 Firebird & HAD to use the later style doors,I would rather use the incorrect escutcheons than have a patch of an early door panel latch welded into an otherwise NICE clean unmolested door.
There is nothing that looks WORSE than pulling off an interior panel & finding out that Dr. Frankenstien has been there BEFORE you!
Everbody has different ideas/criteria for when they are building their cars,but if you have a true dual exhaust on your bird instead of a transverse/crossflow style,radial tires instead of factory bias ply & a replacement 78-81 dash pad or one that has been hacked for a modern stereo,later style door release escutcheons on 1977 doors are pretty insignificant in comparison.