hinge sheet metal repair

[RobE30]

When I bought my Ragtop, the PO replaced the damaged door with a different color door and it's driving me nuts. I have the original door with matching faded Indigo Blau paint BUT someone (not me) used a BIG drill bit to remove the hinge rivets in an attempt to replace the hinges.

To my question, I have two options that I can see. Option 1a; Clean up the oblong holes on the Blue door, weld the holes shut (is 18g steel strong enough?) option 1b; find a donor door, cut out a rectangular section from OG door and cut matching section from donor door, butt weld the pieces together and install new hinges.

Option 2, paint the current door. My biggest issue with that is my original paint has faded to a very nice worn out denim jeans color and I cannot find a spray bomb that doesn't look ridiculous when placed against the 65 year old paint. I'm not ready to fully repaint the entire car at this time.

I appreciate any insight. Thanks

[viiking]

I had a similar situation to you but I was repainting the whole car. I welded around the hole and then used a step drill to drill out the correct sized hole.

Depending on how original you want to have it look you could always just get a slightly bigger headed bolt and adjust the hole to suit, e.g. round off the hole better. This negates the need to repaint your perfectly patina paintwork.

VW actually had a service kit that replaced the original rivet with special bolt and nut. Forgotten the name of them now. Wafer head screws?

Do a search on here for hinge replacement screws and you'll find it.
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[bomberbob]

I just fiddled with m my drivers door yesterday, trying to shim to fix door adjustment.
If I were you I would fix the original door. What was the reason why they drilled out the rivets in the first place? I reskinned my doors and replaced the lower inner sections due to rot, so I had to re-fit the hinges. I put countersunk screws in, but the heads still protrude a little above the door surface. Not enough to cause a problem.
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1968 Beetle torn apart again
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in storage)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[RobE30]