Heater channels - How to fill gap at door pillar?

[daveavw]

I am editing my post as it seems I should have maybe tried a bit harder ... A little floor jack action under the offending area did wonders for the fit. I'll leave the original question in hopes that it may help somebody...

My original stupid question:

I'm doing the initial test fit of a new Dansk heater channel and it looks pretty good with the exception of the bottom of the door pillar, where there is a pretty good gap. The channel is laying flat on the pan right now but its not bolted on, and its trivial to lift the body back off. Seeing as how it fits tight at the bulkhead and quarter panel, I don't see how I can eliminate this gap. Rather, it seems that I would need to be able to fill the gap when I weld it in. I'm using MIG with .030 wire.

What are your thoughts on welding the area around the door pillar? Do I do some tack welds and keep adding on to them until they bridge the gap or fill the gap with a piece of metal first or ...?

Fits pretty good at the quarter panel.

Thanks for any and all advice and suggestions!

- Dave

[Casting Timmy]

Mine has been a fun experience, the back was really bad. I really wonder if my body had a previous repair done to it with all the mig welds in it. My heater channels also had the carpet tack strip so it went 2-3" under the back door pillar. I had to cut part of it off, luckily I'm not planning on carpet so it doesn't bother me too much.

[67ctbug]

Yeah, I had the same experience, I just took a body hammer and am filling in the gap. I think there are very few checks on whether the parts are the same when they make them so there is a lot of difference in fit. I'm hoping the drivers side goes easier for me.
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[theKbStockpiler]

Exactly how are you getting rid of the gap. The body should not deform it's self from it's own weight.
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My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
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[vaughn bros.]

Here's how ours looked before and after. We used a bright light, modelers magnifying lens headset, and a tiny carbide bit in a die grinder to finish.

[theKbStockpiler]

Are those BugStuff door bars? Is the fit right on or did you have to shim them at all?
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My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[wheel607]

[wheel607]

[theKbStockpiler]

Thank you for posting your experience with them! Maybe I'll bite the bullet and order a pair.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[far rider]

Might be worth it to put the door on, after a tack or two, and check for fit that way
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67 zenith blue sunroof

Contentment; when what you have is what you want.

[Streetsweeper]

Looks like you did a good job... but did you check the door gap on the bottom before you tacked it?
Just a heads up:

If you were to come across a gap like that again, the best way to fill it is with some slugging material... such as tig wire... or what you can do is cut the gap a little bigger and add small pieces of sheet metal... if the sheet metal is too small it will not absorb the heat and will burn through... that is why you have to make the decision which is best...

I prefer slugging it with tig wire

[oldmanmark]

I had a hard time too. The grinding of the welds can really help in the looks and fit. Nice way to do it with the magnafing glass and the tiny carbide tip. I bought different grinding tips n discs for my 63 project. Turned a lot of ugly into ' hey that's ok now'. Always keep in mind the factory dimensions of the doors frame when addressing these things. The dimensions of door openings are int the Bentley.
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