the doors on my 67 camaro are in pretty good condition. the skin does not appear to have any rust on the front and back. However, the door shell does have a little surface rust on it. the part that I don't know what to do about is the rust that is on the inside of the door shell. I can access it if I take the skin off but I don't want to replace the skin if I don't have to. Is there a good way to remove the rust?

Very hard to do with the door outter panel or skin still on . Try to clean up best as you can then flood the in side with epoxy primer keep turning the door to get coverage

The definition of surface rust varies considerably, depending on who is using the term, good pictures would go along way in helping get the information you are after.

Sargent, I just finished up re-skinning one door on my 67Camaro and in the process of re-skinning the second. My doors are also in good shape, but one had a couple of rust through spots in the courner. For my restoration, I felt the only way treat the rust to my satisfaction was to remove the skin, sand blast, reprime and paint, then re-skin. The problem areas of the door cannot be accessed with the skin on. In my opinion, if you want to stop the progression of rust, you will need to re-skin. If you want to slow the progression of rust with rust issues in the future, then clean and treat. Although not necessary, I mount my doors on a jig prior to skin removal to insure the door shell does not twist.

I own first gens and have two in my shop now for restorations, although type of car does not matter in this case.

What you do depends on the severity of rust. I bought my '67 in '84 and drive it in the rain and wash it. It had trace surface rust inside and the original doors are not failing, The hems are like brand new. A customer's 'doors have trace rust inside and the hems are solid. No way I'm ripping off good skins to blast any trivial rust between the shells and skins.

If the hems are not swollen and the rust is not severe, just prep and flood with epoxy. Throw some One-Step in there first if you feel like it. Any swelling of the hems requires metal replacement. On a '67 that is easy to do just below the bodyline. I almost exclusively use GM panels, so if a customer provides me with GM skins, I'll put those on if required. You can tell by the rust if your hems will begin the fail.

Door corners are notorious for rusting. When repaired correctly, the repair will outlive you. A skin replacement is not always the answer. I'll repair minor rust on a GM door before I'll use a repro skin.

excilent advise above. if you don't feel any swelling of the pinch weld around the edge of the door do as above and pour some epoxy inside. tape off all the drains and latch openings and roll it around then drain the excess off. then shoot a little sound deadener and it will probably last until you graduate from the final school.
Jay D.

ScottB wrote:
If the hems are not swollen and the rust is not severe, just prep and flood with epoxy. .

Thanks for the advice. One question though is I am not sure what you mean by my hems are swollen. This is the first car I am restoring where I am having rust issues.

I don't notice anything different about my hems so my guess is they aren't swollen?

I am quite sure this is just light surface rust as I am able to scratch most of it off with a little sand paper.

hems, I believe he's talking the area of the door skin that is folded over the door frame. that would be front, bottom and back on most doors. moisture lays in there and causes rust eventually. as the rust gets worse it starts to swell the fold. this is a good way to check doors if your buying a used one, just run your fingers along the fold if you feel any lumps the door has problems.
as for the surface rust, it's usually just a brown coloring of the metal it hasn't got to the stage were its staring to pit or get flaky. most of the time you can clean it up easily with a scratch pad or paper then paint it with some epoxy. some epoxies have a rust inhibitor that will work good and should last for a long time
Jay D.