Door Skin Replacement

Keeping it sharp - paint, wax, detailing, etc.
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v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Door Skin Replacement

Postby v6spider » Fri Jan 13, 2017 9:34 pm

Just curious if anyone's ever replace both door skins on their early spider.. mine is a '72. How tough is it etc. I can weld so that's not an issue.

Thanks!
Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider

AriK
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Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider
Location: Montreal Canada

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby AriK » Sat Jan 14, 2017 8:29 am

Drummond in restorations repaired his door skins where they were rotted. He has documented some pretty interesting pictures that may be of interest to you.

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v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby v6spider » Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:20 pm

AriK wrote:Drummond in restorations repaired his door skins where they were rotted. He has documented some pretty interesting pictures that may be of interest to you.

Patch work I am familiar with and I have done lots of that.. but I would like to see how replacing the entire skin is done. Appreciate the info all the same. I did check it out though. Man his car was rusted. I am so glad the damage on mine was minimal. Still he's doing great work. :)

Cheers!
Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider

DRUMMOND
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Your car is a: Fiat Spyder 2000 1980 Pininfarina

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby DRUMMOND » Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:37 pm

Hi Rob

After going thru all the stuff I did with my doors It would be easier just replacing the skins. they are spot welded in a few places around the folds which grind off. and as they did not use any seam sealer they come of pretty easily.
The main thing that would concern me is the intrusion bar inside the door I am not sure if that is spot welded to the door skin or not?
I do not think it is.
Attaching the door skin I think would be the easy part.With seam sealer of course :D

Here is some good info
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/paint- ... maro-door/

Your project spider is amazing, Lots of Kudos to you!!

I may do something similar in the future, but I wanted to see how the car is in original state ( I had a 124 coupe when I was a teenager and remember it as awesome! May have a poor memory :?: ) before I start altering it

vandor
Posts: 3996
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Your car is a: 1971 124 Spider
Location: Texas, USA

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby vandor » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:30 am

If the intrusion bar was spot welded to the door skin then one could see the spot welds on the outside. So I'm pretty sure it is not, however it could be glued.
Csaba
'71 124 Spider, much modified
'17 124 Abarth, silver
http://italiancarclub.com/csaba/
Co-owner of the best dang Fiat parts place in town

klweimer
Posts: 550
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:45 am
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Arvada, Colorado

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby klweimer » Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:14 am

Good article on the Superchevy website link above. These master sheet metal guys make it all sound and look so straightforward.
Kirk

ekstrandt
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Your car is a: 1985.5 pininfarina
Location: Fayetteville, NC

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby ekstrandt » Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:06 am

I did a half skin it was not hard at all. Never done body work before got a lot of great info from this site.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... hp?t=53534
It's pretty long but full of great tips and DIY tools.
Image

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v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby v6spider » Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:31 pm

DRUMMOND wrote:Hi Rob

After going thru all the stuff I did with my doors It would be easier just replacing the skins. they are spot welded in a few places around the folds which grind off. and as they did not use any seam sealer they come of pretty easily.
The main thing that would concern me is the intrusion bar inside the door I am not sure if that is spot welded to the door skin or not?
I do not think it is.
Attaching the door skin I think would be the easy part.With seam sealer of course :D

Here is some good info
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/paint- ... maro-door/

Your project spider is amazing, Lots of Kudos to you!!

I may do something similar in the future, but I wanted to see how the car is in original state ( I had a 124 coupe when I was a teenager and remember it as awesome! May have a poor memory :?: ) before I start altering it


DRUMMOND: I especially appreciate your input considering all the work you've done replacing rusted sections on your spider. Wow is all I have say. I've done quite a bit myself replacing sheet metal in the rear wheel arches as well as most of the rear with my taillight mods and body mods. I think replacing the door skins would also allow me to get at the internals of the door to rebuild the mechanism and fix some internal rust.. building my Spider has been a blast. Most of the mechanicals are done although I may build a custom k-member to perfect my steering geometry..it's real close but doing so would make it perfect. She's a beast and I want the handling better than stock.

To all that responded appreciate your input as always a bright group of folks here. I have been on this forum since 2000 and it has always been helpful.

Thanks!
Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider

User avatar
v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby v6spider » Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:35 pm

vandor wrote:If the intrusion bar was spot welded to the door skin then one could see the spot welds on the outside. So I'm pretty sure it is not, however it could be glued.

I've investigated and you are correct. I saw a gap in between the panel and the bar.

Thanks!
Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider

architect
Posts: 321
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2016 9:48 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat Spider
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Door Skin Replacement

Postby architect » Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:07 pm

bring this thread back.. any further information regarding replacement of skins?

Was it as straight forward mentioned above? Grind spot welds and replace?
78 Fiat 124


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