Cutting s3 doors

PostPost by: Concrete-crusher » Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:10 pm

I have the doors off now, and want to cut a slice out to pull them in at the rear. Do you apply resin and glass on the inside, in which case how? Maybe I can find a child with small hands to do it

Or do you glass it from the outside?

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PostPost by: nmauduit » Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:28 pm

I guess you don't necessarily have to, if you've tapered enough the cut on the outside. You may want to apply a single layer from the inside after you've bonded the cut back on the outside, to smooth the inside and hide the cut line, but I would not do it first since a setup will be needed to hold the parts in place initially so th door would not be easy to manipulate.
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PostPost by: webbslinger » Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:58 pm

nmauduit's advice is the way to go, outside first. You can cut thin strips, wet them out, and it is possible to get them inside to finish up. Check before you start that you aren't making the door too tight for the frame assembly to still go on.
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PostPost by: snowyelan » Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:49 pm

I did the opposite, 1 layer on the inside first. I kept the doors on the body and used lengths of tape wrapped under the door, inside to outside, to adjust the fit to the body before glassing. The door gets pretty flimsy when cut and I figured it was best to be able to check the alignment in situ. It wasn't a simple taper with my doors, the lower center was bowed a bit as well.
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PostPost by: prezoom » Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:48 pm

My S2 doesn't have the door problem, but my Sabra Coupe did. I cut a slit along the bottom and up the latch side of the door, and removed just enough material to close the gap and align the door to the body. Took a piece of thin aluminum with a series of holes punched along the sides, pop riveted one side to the bottom of the door, then squeezed the door, closing the gap until perfect alignment with the body. Then pop riveted the opposite side of the aluminum strip to hold everything in place. Added cloth and resin to the inside of the door, removing the aluminum after everything had set up. Then did some minor repairs to the bottom and rear of the door. No sign of the repair is noticeable, and the repair is still good after more than 7 years. All this was done with the doors on the car.
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PostPost by: Gordon Sauer » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:11 pm

My S3 doors are fine but did not like the fit of my +2 doors and built them up from the inside then mounted and ground down from the outside to get the fit right/contour Gordon Sauer
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