Chevy & GMC Vans

The cargo van has a window in the slider door and I would like to remove the glass and weld sheet metal in its place so it looks like it never had a window.
Anyone ever done this? do you have some pointers for me?
Mark

I have done a bit of body work, and thought about doing that on a set of rear doors for a different van. The more I thought about it, (time, material costs, and PITA) the more I realized I was better off buying a set of doors and swapping them. I would suggest the same for you. You can probably pick up a used door on the cheap from a salvage yard. Might even be able to trade your door for a non-window door at the yard. Not very many people want a windowless door. You have to repaint it anyway....

-X
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Extremely easy to do. Unless you're finicky about how it looks afterwards. Large expanses of sheetmetal are very hard to work with when you're trying to camouflage welds etc...

been thinking of doing this too...if i can find some no-window back doors, i will probably put them on...but i can't shake the idea of swapping dutch doors and welding in the hatch window...if i start on one side and work the metal slowly across to the other side, then it might not be as bad, but i'm sure it will still be a lot of work...

Well, I highly suggest going the no-window look. I have no windows save the three front windows, and love it. Stays much cooler in the heat, I don't even need rear A/C here in Houston. It also looks bad ass!

Again, I have done some body work, and unless you are good at it and have a bunch of time, buys some doors.

-X
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Stays much cooler in the heat, I don't even need rear A/C here in Houston. It also looks bad ass!

that was something i'd wondered...i guess with that nice black van in houston, you would definately know a difference in heat!! i was worried it might be hotter with a dark paintjob, but if that's not the case, it's back to the drawing board on paint choices...

Yea, I have a complete rear A/C & Heat setup sitting in my attic that I was going to install, but didn't need it. Not even a little, so there it sits. I am thinking of using it in my Tramper build later this year, hard to say...

But you shouldn't have any problems with cooling if your system is well maintained in a windowless van. My van has some insulation on all the walls, and that helps, but we never get even close to warm here in Houston.

-X
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dj_joker_2002 wrote:The cargo van has a window in the slider door and I would like to remove the glass and weld sheet metal in its place so it looks like it never had a window.
Anyone ever done this? do you have some pointers for me?
Mark

My old 88 cargo had a window behind the driver,drove me nutts
so I cut a panel out of a junker cargo & had my buddy weld it in my van,
(did not own a welder at the time)
did a grind n fill & hit it with primer.
It turned out very good (I'd post pics but I lost them from the "Other board").
For a slider I would try to find a windowless,I know....There a bugger to find.
Talking about heat & AC,my 90 now is like driving around in a pizza oven
on a sunny day,with floor carpet,roof insulation,& insulated sidepanles.

Silly rabbit!! You can't weld glass!!! #-o

...sorry... It just HAD to be done...

I LOVE the look of Cargo`s, but when I bent my Gullwing-Slider door (because it crashed down when I was welding on the gas struts) it took me 3 months to find another decent non-window slider in the wrecking yard.

Be careful when filling that window in with sheet metal, distance your mig weld spot welds, away from one another to keep the heat and distortion down.

But it is do-able.... I recommend to practice first, so that you can get a killer result on your own van.

The real question is if I want to cut out the window frames on the side of Ole Yellar or use the windows as a template and weld within the frames.I have a filler panels from a cargo and haven't decided which way would give the best results. :-k In terms of the slider,I have a no window slider and will get no window rear doors.

Maybe this will save you time, money, and grief.

Windowless Slider http://www.Car-Part.com search for New England
http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi? ... ge=1&iKey=