Sacrelege to sacrafice a perfectly good rear door?

[vtlandrover]

I am converting a 1996 ROW 90 to a soft top. As with everything I do these days, I want to do it right - which includes sending the new tailgate I'm buying off to get the inner panel galvanized. This will take months - likely into the fall, when the 90 goes into winter hibernation. I also need to weld on tabs for the drop gate, which will require fabrication since the Genuine parts are flimsy in comparison to the originals...

I have a rear door that has had some corrosion repairs, but is sound and has the original paint, still. It has the rear wiper, rear sprayer, and heater element. I'm never going to use the 90 in the winter, nor do I think I'll go back to installing the hard top - which I'll likely list for sale in a week.

My tought is to cut what I have in half and make due for the remainder of the season.

What's a B- condition rear door really worth on the market? Can I bring myself to trash something that's perfectly good and usable??

If I'm really careful, I suppose I could follow this person's lead:

90 Rear Door - Making a 'Split Rear unit' For a Hardtop

Kin Hell how times flys With the Howling Wolf Challenge coming up, (and damned quick too) there were a number of things I needed to do to the 90, some for scrutineering ..............and some I just 'wanted' to do........... I love the Hardtop and the space it gives me, but it is nowhere near a p...

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[Z.G]

In my opinion(and no offense to anyone intended) I can't stand the cut-down full-door look. It just looks unfinished and cheap compared to the correct tailgate. I guess if you need to make something work in the meantime, no issue there

 

[vtlandrover]

Agreed! Purely a band-aid.

As you may recall, there's an invoice for a complete tailgate kit awaiting one antiluce pin to arrive with my name on it.

 

[evilfij]

I’d borrow a second tailgate. Someone has one they are not using.

 

[mitherial]

The door panels themselves are all replaceable now (multiple sources in the UK), but someone may still be able to use your current SW door (I'd take it if I lived closer as my 90's rear door has some weird geometry issue that is making it take excessive force to open, repeatedly breaking the stupid locking mechanism).

Depending on how secure you need your rear cargo to be, maybe use your existing hinges and make a mockup tailgate with marine-plywood and bungee cords, and brush-paint to match until your permanent solution is ready?

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Geez, if you were out here in the flat bits, I'd lend you my extra-ugly one from the 109.

Someday someone will want that original SW rear door.

 

[vtlandrover]

The door panels themselves are all replaceable now (multiple sources in the UK), but someone may still be able to use your current SW door (I'd take it if I lived closer as my 90's rear door has some weird geometry issue that is making it take excessive force to open, repeatedly breaking the stupid locking mechanism).

Depending on how secure you need your rear cargo to be, maybe use your existing hinges and make a mockup tailgate with marine-plywood and bungee cords, and brush-paint to match until your permanent solution is ready?

Not a bad idea. In fact, I could recycle the one I made for my '70 IIA - was good for the first 5 years of ownership! Just have to brush over the faded Marine Blue.

And people on this thread don't think I keep old Rover parts...

 

[vtlandrover]

So... I went with a 'proper' tailgate. Door for sale.

 

[rocky]

Glad you got one. Hopefully you can get the rest of the bits to complete the set up