Hi All

Decided to tackle the door hinge replacement on one of my cabrio doors (which has bent hinges) using the 62 saloon door I had as a donor.
After reading a few posts on the web it seemed a relatively simple task!

First drill out the factory countersunk rivets on the donor door;





Remove hinges;





Secondly drill out the factory countersunk rivets very carefully on the cabrio door to retain the countersink in the door, which is essential to preserve the accurate lining up and placement of the replacement hinges;







See here the original drilled out rivets and countersink in the door frame;





Remove hinges;




With hinges removed there was a little bit of twisting/damage to the door skin and flanges from the original hinge damage I guess, but this was minimal and behind the hinges, so I reshaped and tidied up skin as best I could.

With both sets of hinges out and put side by side you can clearly see the bend on the original ones!;





Replacement hinges in cabrio door;








To fix them back in I used M6 countersunk allen bolts and nylock nuts;
Once bolted up the new hinges looked good in the door!;







I then mounted the door on the shell (which is much easier with the body on its side!




Fit seems very good on hinge edge;




Gap is out of line slightly on door catch side , so when body is bolted to pan I’ll check again.. there could be a slight bit of flex in the body…but the gap for a cabrio body off the pan is great!





Once I’m happy and ready to paint the doors, I’ll tack weld the allen bolts in place on the inside face to keep them secure.

Few more progress pics..

Started painting tinware….cleaned front pulley, stripped back oil pump cover and behind pulley tinware, back to bare metal, but was quite pitted so used hammerite rust treatment high build primer which gave a good smooth finish,



then painted with a rattle can of BMW gloss black I had left over, got quite a good finish that I’m happy with!...gloss rather than semi matt finish , but looks good!



Barrels and studs cleaned…just need to tackle heads!



Recieved free original used valves from Dave B (thanks Dave!)
In great condition and original marked up VW ones too!




While digging through whats left of my ‘NOS Box’ I found the two parts of the oil pump gear sealed in original bags!...by putting the old and new together I could really see the wear on the original gearing.




Also started sorting out other bits and pieces so I can start putting the pan/brakes/suspension back together.




Coming along nicely!

Hi All

been a long time since my last post!...not done a lot in the last year except paint most of the tinware and repair/paint the stale air heat exchangers, some pics to follow.

Hopefully in the next month i'll be getting back to it again, starting with finishing off rebuilding the engine, then the running gear and pan.

will keep this post updated, keep watching!

long time since the last post...but progress!..engine rebuilt, gearbox and front axle done, now a rolling pan too!..now on to the bodywork!..pics to follow.