Door Skin Replacement

[v6spider]

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

[AriK]

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.

[v6spider]

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

[DRUMMOND]

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

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]

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.

[klweimer]

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

[ekstrandt]

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.

[v6spider]

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

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

[v6spider]

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

[architect]

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

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