re-skin

[Punisher]

I have know clue how to do body work on cars and trucks but i have a problem that i am going to try and fix myself. I ran in to the side of my garage in my 87 chevy c10 and a piece of metal got caught in the lock and ripped it out leaving a huge whole. I order a door skin from lmc trucks, cost about 30 for the lower half of the door. question is should i just cut out where the lock was say a 6x6 square around it and weld it in, or should i reskin the whole ouside if so how do i do it. who do i take the acutual sheet metal from the door frame.

[IRON TO ART]

I did the lower section of a Ford Ranger that had a bad crease. to remove the section of door skin I ground the edge of the door which removes the fold that holds the skin on. I then cut my new skin to the size I wanted and laid it on top. I used my die grinder with a cut-off tool at an angle to cut across the door. The section I wanted to remove then came off. After that you need to put the new skin on and make a few tack welds to hold it. Then hammer and dolly the lip over the door all the way around where you ground off the old lip. After that its lots of tack welds across the butt seam and inside the door jam. Of course you have to be careful about to much heat causing warpage but thats the readers digest version. I know there will be lots more advise more detailed then mine.

[gillmanmac]

You may also need to drill out some tack welds to get the door skin off.

[rustedjeep]

Post up a picture for us to see. But from your description I think the 6x6 patch is the easiest way to do it. I just did a bunch of these on my old jeep to get rid of damage and rust. I found that working with strait lines (square patches) was easier to work with than anything that had a rounded edge.
Also I was taught to weld all the way around your patch, not just a few stitches here or there to hold it in place. And ss you weld just do an inch in one place, them move to another place for an inch to avoid warping. The purpose of welding all the way around is to create a seal so moisture will not get in and get to your bondo.

[Punisher]

i will post a picture sometime the weekend. I am leaning towards just cuting out a patch because it will be less work that removing the whole skin.

But i will post a picture so yall know what im working with