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My doors look quite rusty under the 4 coats of paint they have on there, and I'm afraid I'll have to either look for new doors or re-skin them. How hard is this to do with a aftermarket skin, and how do I do it? I have a very good body shop MIG welder and I do know how to weld. I also have one of those air hammers that will make holes for plug welds and that also makes that overlapping flange for plug welds.

Skinning a door is fairly easy. I would cut it at the window pillars. You only two cuts and welds to worry about. My biggest concern would be the new panel is not mild steel but the junk the make new cars out of. If it is a patch panel it is best to butt weld it, using a flanging tool will distort the long panel and the double thickness would make it hard to straighten. Google Ron Covell he has videos of how to do this correctly. There are excerpts on youtube of the videos. Also use a spot weld cutter.

I'd sure check the price of a couple of used doors. Reskinning is going to be a pretty big job even if you're good at it and a couple of used doors may cost less than the shipping to get them to you. Plus, then you've got the original german steel. There are guys who have stacks of doors laying around.

Just a thought.

doc

perrib wrote:Skinning a door is fairly easy. I would cut it at the window pillars. You only two cuts and welds to worry about. My biggest concern would be the new panel is not mild steel but the junk the make new cars out of. If it is a patch panel it is best to butt weld it, using a flanging tool will distort the long panel and the double thickness would make it hard to straighten. Google Ron Covell he has videos of how to do this correctly. There are excerpts on youtube of the videos. Also use a spot weld cutter.

I think these repro parts would come from a manufacturer called Klokkerholm, which sound awfully local to me, so who knows, might actually be some good stuff.

A little more googleing revealed the truth, they are a Danish sheet metal producer, looks like the know their stuff.

http://www.klokkerholm.com/default.asp?lang=gb

doc wrote:I'd sure check the price of a couple of used doors. Reskinning is going to be a pretty big job even if you're good at it and a couple of used doors may cost less than the shipping to get them to you. Plus, then you've got the original german steel. There are guys who have stacks of doors laying around.doc

Just a thought.
I've got a couple '74 Standard Beetle doors w/ glass and doorhandles I don't plan on using. I don't know if you're anywhere near N.W.Arkansas, but I'll give them to you if you pick them up. No shipping! -Dan

Sadly, I'm in Finland, Northern Europe. But I'll check with the locals, someone must have a set of doors they'd be willing to sell.