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Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:00 pm

Right after owning a beetle and letting it stand for many years I have finally got up and started restoring it. It's a 72 and whilst stripping all the body panels off 1 door I cant get off as a muppet garage years ago did a botch job on my a pillar replacement and me being young (at the time) couldnt be bothered to argue, now I think I am going to pay the price so two things

A) where the best place to get a replacement pillar. (I have seen some inner and outer repair panels from cool air but thought this item would all be one peice with the plate for the door screws.)

B) see photo

Whats the best thing to do to get the door off?

Preferably I would like to keep the door and hinge in tact (especially as cutting the hinge still leaves this on the car). Is it just a case of cutting out a larger piece including the inner pillar where the door is screwed to?

Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:33 am

Buy the metal that will replace, then start cutting. You may want to make an incision with a sawzall to cut the hinge screws off between the hinge and A-pillar to at least get the door off and out of your way.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:39 am

Drill the screws out. Use a small bit for starters and then work your way up. I've done this many times on both Ghia and Beetles, and by "many" I mean well over 30 doors.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:40 pm

Gary wrote: Drill the screws out. Use a small bit for starters and then work your way up. I've done this many times on both Ghia and Beetles, and by "many" I mean well over 30 doors.

X2. The method works well and I used it last summer taking a door off a pretty rusty parts car.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:57 pm

If you start with a smallish hole drilled through the center of the bolt, a countersink bit works great to remove those flattop screws without damaging the taper in the hinge plate. If you don't have access to a countersink bit then just a regular drill like the guys above mentioned will work fine as well. I only recommend the countersink because it will have the same angle as the countersink in the hinge plate, so less chance of removing too much somewhere you might want it.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:10 am

As for where to get the repair panel from, Hookys are so much better than the black nasty repro stuff that you normally get from GSF and the like. They actually fit, for one! More than twice the price, but by the time you've thrown away a couple of the repro ones because you've modified them that much and they STILL don't fit, you'll wish you had spent more first time round. Google Hookys Panels for contact details.

Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:15 am

cheers for the info

Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:49 pm

The drilling the screws out is working good. However I didnt notice when I posted this that the botch job is worse than I thought......

When they were 'repaired' last they were actually part welded in place!

Is it easy to replace half the door hinge? i.e taking the pin out and replacing the section that attaches to the car, I was thinking of just grinding the hing off and dealing with the door later???

good or bad?