Door pillar rebuild - How-to guide with pics!

My '83 GTI is off the road for the winter, and a chance to tidy up the nearside door pillar among other things, which was a bit like a tea bag, and causing the door to drop.

I never buy repair panels, just fabricate from steel sheet, which is much cheaper and more satisfying, so here's a little step-by-step guide which may help someone do the same… Took about 2 1/2 hours, though 20 years ago would have taken 2 days…! Practice makes perfect…

As it was




Decided I had to remove the wing so that I could get to all the perforated bits round the front of the pillar.

Start with a piece a bit bigger than you need, bigger only in the direction that it will curve. I.e the vertical dimension is set at time of cutting.



Measure the size of the hinge post and cut a hole accordingly



Clamp it so you can make some of the bends necessary around the pillar



Take it off again and trim the door aperture edge, as you can't do this once you start to weld it on the car



The welded item. Discovered after this that the current setting on my welder was wrong, hence the rather messy result…



Welds ground down



A bit of filler to smooth it off, and now ready for paint. I'll thoroughly spray the inside of the pillar with Bilt Hamber rust-proofer, through a probe. Should be good for a few years…





To anyone considering this, give it a go! On a bit you can't really see it's always worth trying, and you can only get better with practice. Good luck!

It looked like you used galvanised steel did the welder spit a bit :dontknow:

More worryingly, it looks like you simply fitted a shaped repair plate, over existing rusty metal? Did you cut the existing back to a clean (rust free) edge?

Yes, it's galvanised. It did spit a bit, but not badly enough to be a problem really. Is non-galv much easier to weld? I've not tried it, be interesting to know…

Galv is theoretically quite a bit more expensive, but I can get stuff from a ducting manufacturer a lot cheaper than mild non-galv from a merchant, and also I don't use it from one year to the next, and normal steel rusts and needs cleaning if left for long periods.

Paul, yes it was a concern, but there is quite a bit of boxing inside the pillar, and short of totally cutting the whole pillar out and starting again, which would be nigh-on impossible, I deemed this as plenty strong enough and will last longer than I will probably keep the car, at least 5-8 years. I was careful to weld the hinge posts to the panel. Also, as I say, I will thoroughly rust-proof the inside.

I have, in the past, had to re-weld existing repairs that were simply plated over.  I find the best bet is to cut out and replace as the rust will keep going under the plate and eventually rust out past the repair.

But whatever works for you.

Fair comments guys. I would normally do as is talked about, but in this specific case, with door alignment being so critical, felt that I needed to retain the positioning of the hinge posts, where to remove everything supporting them (some of it still providing decent support of course) would leave me with no datum from which to reconstruct the area.

Given the boxing and thicker plate behind the pillar which supports the hinge posts, does anyone know how one would go about reconstructing this if it was all cut out, and retain door alignment? This has always been a bit of a black art to me. Opinions welcome.

goof effort try welding steel much easier

fyi welding galvanized is carcinogenic!
 this is how my mate (paul colman of coltec classics) did my hinge on my caddy;
1, hinge totally loose on door pillar

2, hinge and surrounding area all cut out

3, new hinge and surround cut of another car welded in

 still trying to come to terms with the door opening and shutting without dropping everytime 8)

Yip, as above illustrates the technically best way - cut & butt. I'd compromise and say that overlap welding is fine, so long as the existing edge which will be hidden, is coated in weld-thru primer and isn't rusty to start with. But with the hinge alignment and the door nearby, cut & butt has definite advantages.

overlap will never look as good as butt though.

Interesting info and pics, useful, thanks!
I used 'cat & butt' for the sunroof replacement, with such a big and obvious area. The plating for the pillar with a skim of filler looks fine for my daily driver 'tidy-not-immaculate' car, though I'd agree that for a show car, where the inside of door shuts are important (…  :? !) it would perhaps look unoriginal. Frankly, with the door shut most of the time I'm not too fussed!

" CAT & butt"??? Sorry, sounds somewhat worrying, meant 'Cut'…