GT Door Waist Rolls on an NON-GT Car

Silver Creek Sunbeam · Sep 13, 2022

Hello Sunbeamers…I’ve done some research and reading but what I’ve found is bits and pieces, so I’m asking for your input.

I am interested in using GT door waist rolls on my Series V. I realize it is not original but it would tie in nicely with the two-tone interior that I did on my car.

Here is my question…are the waist rolls ‘plug in play’ use adding to a non-GT car (I have gathered they are not) and if not, is there a workaround that anyone has come up with to make them work and would you mind sharing what that workaround is?

From what I’ve seen, I believe that I at least need some type of spacers behind the top of the door cards. Is that correct?

As always, any assistance is greatly appreciated.

alpine_64 · Sep 13, 2022

There are quite a few differences. The waist rolls sit out. They can be fitted by drilling the mounting holes into the door pressing along the upper arae where the trim clips fit...easy.

However as you state.. They sit out further. A series of small top hat brackets are welded around the door to space the door cards. This also means thw window crank mount and door handle mounts have longer posts to make up the additonal distance.
There is also a deeper 1/4 window base to align to the waist roll.. This isnt essential but does make it look tidy.

Iirc randy W used to offer the small top hat spacers to help tiger guys convert ST doors into GT doors.

Warren · Sep 13, 2022

Oh thanks I've been wondering how I was going to pick out all the square corner door window regulators from the round corner door window regulators in my piles

alpine_64 · Sep 13, 2022

Warren said:
Oh thanks I've been wondering how I was going to pick out all the square corner door window regulators from the round corner door window regulators in my piles

Warren.. There are more sqaure corner ST regulators that GT ones..... They came in both styles... But will help you identify GT/ ST ....
As a side note.. There are long mount ones in yhe round corner GT S3/IV alpines that had the lower mounting for the window crank designed to skin your knuckles on the handbrake

Tim R · Sep 14, 2022

Don't forget that the chrome base of the quarter light is different too.

Tim R

alpine_64 · Sep 14, 2022

Tim R said:
Don't forget that the chrome base of the quarter light is different too.

Tim R

Was covered in the first post Tim

sunalp · Sep 14, 2022

Tod,
All mentioned differences are what you'd be up against, plus the door cards are completely different. They are actually
smaller than the ST's and have metal stiffeners at the edges. The "hats" mentioned already step the panel out from the
door and there is a chrome (or stainless ) trim part that goes where the dovetail hits the door. You'd have to take your panels,
strip them, get the GT panels ( they might be available from Sunbeam Specialties, last time I bought them, probably 10 years
ago , they were $75) and get all the stiffeners plus what others have said ( different quarter light bases (very expensibe if
you can even find them)

Don't want to dissuade you from your intentions but figured you'd want to know this before taking this on. Just as an aside
I did a "GT" style door panel on my car using ST cards. Didn't use the waist rolls but kinda got the same effect.

Cheers!
Steve

volvoguys · Sep 14, 2022

alpine_64 said:
Warren.. There are more sqaure corner ST regulators that GT ones..... They came in both styles... But will help you identify GT/ ST ....
As a side note.. There are long mount ones in yhe round corner GT S3/IV alpines that had the lower mounting for the window crank designed to skin your knuckles on the handbrake

"sqaure corner ST regulators that GT ones..... They came in both styles"? Thats news to me.

It's documented that the length of the pedestal for the door remote control (that is, the door opening handle) is longer on the GT and late Tigers due to the door cards. But I know of and cannot find anything to support a difference in the regulators. The 6600992 parts manual makes no mention of any "GT" specific window regulator but does differentiate the remotes.

Please support or document this claim.

Rgds, Mark ..... v

Silver Creek Sunbeam · Sep 14, 2022

Wow

First of all, thanks to all for so many quick and detailed responses. I can always count on you guys to shed some light, whatever the subject.

Secondly, it looks like the project is going to be more that I want to tackle, especially with scarcity of specialty parts involved.

I'm sure they had there reasons but MAN did Sunbeam seemingly make a mountain out of a molehill to add a couple more inches of finishing to the interior of the doors.

junkman · Sep 14, 2022

Generally there is a felt spacer glued onto the back of the door cards, kinda like a doughnut that keeps the regulator post at the correct depth. I'm not sure ST's had them, but GT's certainly did.

alpine_64 · Sep 14, 2022

volvoguys said:
"sqaure corner ST regulators that GT ones..... They came in both styles"? Thats news to me.

It's documented that the length of the pedestal for the door remote control (that is, the door opening handle) is longer on the GT and late Tigers due to the door cards. But I know of and cannot find anything to support a difference in the regulators. The 6600992 parts manual makes no mention of any "GT" specific window regulator but does differentiate the remotes.

Please support or document this claim.

Rgds, Mark ..... v

Mark was referring to the length of the munti2ng1 pedestal in both ST and GT to warren saying that that he cant identift a square corner cars reg by length of the mounts as they jad both ST and GT lengths in SV cars and that there were more st ( short spec) than GT as while all tigers went to the long styles most alpines are ST.
sorry for the confusion in the answer to warrens comment

Jay Laifman · Sep 21, 2022

Sadly I had full GT door parts. The door panels were bad. So I took off the metal edges and dutifully taped them together and onto a piece of wood to keep them straight when I shipped them to Martha with other stuff to redo my interior. When it all arrived, I did not get GT doors and my metal was nowhere to be seen. I called Martha and she had no idea. I have no reason to suspect she kept them for someone else. She must have thought the wood was just a piece of wood and threw them out.

So I redid my doors as ST doors. I kind of like those better because I like to see the painted metal inside.

I'm grateful for this thread because it reminded me that the door and window mechanisms I have in the rafters are special for GT. The door toppings and quarter windows are obvious. Admittedly, I certainly knew this distinction back then - but with time I forgot (and might forget again at some point).

Silver Creek Sunbeam · Sep 21, 2022

Jay Laifman said:
Sadly I had full GT door parts. The door panels were bad. So I took off the metal edges and dutifully taped them together and onto a piece of wood to keep them straight when I shipped them to Martha with other stuff to redo my interior. When it all arrived, I did not get GT doors and my metal was nowhere to be seen. I called Martha and she had no idea. I have no reason to suspect she kept them for someone else. She must have thought the wood was just a piece of wood and threw them out.

So I redid my doors as ST doors. I kind of like those better because I like to see the painted metal inside.

I'm grateful for this thread because it reminded me that the door and window mechanisms I have in the rafters are special for GT. The door toppings and quarter windows are obvious. Admittedly, I certainly knew this distinction back then - but with time I forgot (and might forget again at some point).

Wow...that's bad about losing your pieces. As you said, I'm sure Martha wouldn't have done anything intentional.
It turns out the conversion would be more than I wanted to tackle, especially with parts availability to worry about.

Hope you're doing well...