series 3 pillar replacemant advice.

Hi folks,
After some careful thought regarding renovation of my bulkhead, I will slowly diy the job.
Well not really diy because the Uncle of my sons friend is a welder and has done a bit of work on their project car (Jetta)
I have seen his stick welding work in awkward places, and it looks good.

But he hasn't done Landys, so I need to know the construction of the door post area. There seems to be a lot of overlapping parts. The footwells are a write off.
The bulkhead has been stripped of all parts and is still attached to the chassis

In the attached photo is a view of the right hand pillar with riv nuts on show.
That area has to but cut out, but what are the riv nuts attached to inside?

Regarding the final finish, there are a couple of places within a few miles of me that do powdercoating and galv. So I have an option there.

Any help gratefully accepted
regards Peter.

ps.
Any recommendations for a spotweld cutter set? so many on the market.

catman275 said:

Regarding the final finish, there are a couple of places within a few miles of me that do powdercoating and galv.

Click to expand...

Do not get it powder coated, awful, hateful stuff which gets chipped, allows water inside it, and then hides all the rust forming so eventually you are left with a hollow plastic shell of powder cot and no steel!
Get it galved and then fill it with cavity wax. A much better option.

dag019 said:

Do not get it powder coated, awful, hateful stuff which gets chipped, allows water inside it, and then hides all the rust forming so eventually you are left with a hollow plastic shell of powder cot and no steel!
Get it galved and then fill it with cavity wax. A much better option.

Click to expand...

+1 - powder coating is probably just about ok for a TV stand or some such - but anything that lives outside does the hollow plastic shell act

Galv is the future

As for what is what .... easier to look at piccies than explain in words, so have a nosy here:-

https://yrmit.co.uk/product-category/series-2-3-swb/bulkhead-right-hand-drive/


( I've assumed SWB...)

They are not rivnuts, I think they are captive nuts on a plate. You can probably recover them and recut the threads. There's a good thread somewhere of the same areas being repaired.

rob1miles said:

They are not rivnuts, I think they are captive nuts on a plate. You can probably recover them and recut the threads. There's a good thread somewhere of the same areas being repaired.

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With a closer look you are correct there. I reckon on making a positional template up for holes and nuts, I could make a new plate, weld the nuts on and fit behind a new repaired panel.
There still seems to me a lot of overlapping parts there unless they are previous repairs.
The feet of the pillars are in pretty good nick. so that will save a few bob.
cheers peter

rob1miles said:

They are not rivnuts, I think they are captive nuts on a plate. You can probably recover them and recut the threads. There's a good thread somewhere of the same areas being repaired.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up on powder coating. I will give that a miss.
If you remember the thread on the repaired similar area I would appreciate it. I have been through 40 pages so far without luck because the search option has gone tits up.

cheers Peter

Thanks to all for their input.

Looking at this pic the plate for the door stay looks to be spot welded. if you cut the piece out clean the backing piece up repair the panel with new steel the through holes drilled plus some 6mm holes which you can puddle weld through to secure the plate.

Update on this topic. With the search option now working I have turned up many theads regarding repairing door pillars/ footwells etc.
Thanks again for your help.
BTW my pillars are in pristine condition compared to what I have seen here. And they were repaired!
cheers Peter

I think that's the key, the repair sections cover pretty much all the parts that rust badly so you can rescue most things with a bit of time and patience.