Technical Replacing A-Pillar

[francisco83]

Hi All,

I am new to the site. I recently acquired a Fiat 500F and I am fully restoring it from the ground up. I am seeking help relating to the technical aspects to replacing the A-pillar. I am planning to cut out the a-pillar and weld a replacement part. I have already gotten the A-Pillar replacement from Ricambio (London), but before starting to cut, I am looking for some guidance from someone with prior experience doing this. This car was built around the doors and this is probably the most critical modification one can attempt, so I want to make sure I get it right before attempting it.

See below a couple of pictures of the restoration and on the a-pillar in specific. Thank you in advance for any help!!

 

[fiat500]

Are you replacing the supporting part that has the tapped nuts for the door hinges?

 

[francisco83]

I am actually replacing all of it, the supporting panel with the bolt thread, the a-pillar panel (one that goes on top of the mentioned) and the inner a-pillar panel. From the picture they are all in pretty bad shape.

 

[fiat500]

I am actually replacing all of it, the supporting panel with the bolt thread, the a-pillar panel (one that goes on top of the mentioned) and the inner a-pillar panel. From the picture they are all in pretty bad shape.

That will indeed be quite a challenge. I have experience of cutting back the base of that area and replacing some fairly large and complex parts of it, but I'm not sure where I would start for completely replacing the inner support with the hinge tappings.
Generally, when doing something complex on the body work I recommend not completely stripping out all of the rot in one go. If you can trust that those corroded panels are at least located correctly, it might be best to try to tack in one of your replacement items, and to use it as a guide for the other.
It looks like that area has been through a lot of quick-fix repairs already, so your door and panels might have been poorly aligned already. If that is the case, the job is going to be a lot harder, but on the plus side, you can't make it worse.
Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[MalcolmfromMoffat]

Front wing off first I’d say. Then some pictures of new panel and the area it’ll need fitted to.

Is the new panel a pattern part?

 

[fiat500]

Front wing off first I’d say. Then some pictures of new panel and the area it’ll need fitted to.

Is the new panel a pattern part?

...maybe just cut across to expose things, but leave as much of it as you can, still attached to the wheelarch, scuttle, and front panel.

 

[francisco83]

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. As an update please see below a couple of pictures after bracing the body to avoid deforming the door frame area and after some chopping to expose the a-pillar and the skin that covers it (the skin is part of the door frame as you can see in the picture from the spare parts book circled in red). The skin is in pretty bad condition and requires fixing or ideally I can replace it with a repair panel available somewhere.

Does anyone know if a repair panel for the skin mentioned exists and where to purchase it? Fixing the skin will require some serious fabrication skills otherwise….

Thank you all again, and will keep you updated as I make progress.

Francisco

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[fiat500]

When you replace the front wing it will have a significant wrap-around to the pillar. So, as long as what you construct underneath is strong, and fulfils the original purpose of that inner panel, the part that is permanently covered by the wing doesn't have to be exactly as original. Only a relatively small area is exposed, and even then, when the door is closed you can't see it.

 

[francisco83]

Hi All, happy new year! Just wanted to post an update on the Fiat 500F. I got back to work on the project today and have cut out the a-pillar, including outer skin and reinforcement. See pictures below. I intend to find someone (panel beater) that can use the cut out as a template to produce a new panel that then I can weld to the reinforcement panel (new black panel in the pictures). The section I cut out (the skin) is actually originally a portion of the outer door frame, including the section with the flange for water drainage. So once done, I will have to weld it back in place to restore the door frame. Shout if you had anyone to recommend that can do a good job replicating the panel. Thank you!

 

[fiat500]

Hi All, happy new year! Just wanted to post an update on the Fiat 500F. I got back to work on the project today and have cut out the a-pillar, including outer skin and reinforcement. See pictures below. I intend to find someone (panel beater) that can use the cut out as a template to produce a new panel that then I can weld to the reinforcement panel (new black panel in the pictures). The section I cut out (the skin) is actually originally a portion of the outer door frame, including the section with the flange for water drainage. So once done, I will have to weld it back in place to restore the door frame. Shout if you had anyone to recommend that can do a good job replicating the panel. Thank you!

Amazing courage to dig as deep as that; but I guess that it's the only way to ensure a proper repair.
It's the sort of challenge that I would expect to be taken on only by restorers with a personal attachment to the vehicle, and it would be a tricky one to farm out without the whole shell as a template.
On You Tube, Mark Delaney makes some incredibly complex pieces from scratch. But he's usually doing it for rare and exotic cars such as Dinos and Maseratis. If nothing else, he has many videos that show the lengths he has to do to in producing patterns, dies and formers, to enable him to replicate impossibly rare panels.

24 hundred. Inside the workshop

24 hundred, The Dino Workshop offering high quality service, repair, maintenance and restoration.

dinouk.com

(You Tube: Mark's Italian Garage)