Door install advice?

heffe2001 · Apr 2, 2014

Going to be pulling my existing drivers door off tomorrow afternoon and putting on one from another car, anybody got any advice on steps for doing it?

I've been told that my best bet would be to remove the drivers side fender, and mount the door on, get it all aligned correctly, then put the fender back on. Would keep me from damaging anything that way, and I'd have access to the hinges easier.

The door I'm replacing it with has had the wiring harness removed, as well as the locking cylinder. The window motor and door lock selanoid are both still there, and supposed to be in good shape, I'll just need to move my harness and lock over to the new door. The original hinges are still on the new door as well. I'm also going to be replacing the inner fender cover on that side at the same time, so removing the fender at least in theory sounds like a safe bet, lol.

Any tips on the wiring harness/etc?

Going to be driving around with a mineral grey door on a silver car for a few weeks, till we can get the rest of the parts I need to replace done, but it won't look much worse than the mess that's on it now (the front lip is mangled with a bunch of filler in it, and half the door's paint came off first time I washed it after getting the car, just from the pressure on my water hose). I've already painted the door jambs/inner parts on the door, so don't need to worry about that at paint-time..

My existing door was repairable, I just didn't want to fool with it so I'm just replacing it, lol. My time's worth more than the $75 the perfect door cost me, lol.

CC'S95GT · Apr 2, 2014

removing the fender helps a lot but not necessary.
The harnesses (window and lock) unplug inside the car, What feels like just under the windshield.
You'll need a 17mm socket to get one of the bolts loose. Also look at the hinges for wear and replace now.

Have help. that thing is heavy.
I used a floor jack to help support the door while the bolts are being loosened. It also helps the realignment of the replacement door

heffe2001 · Apr 2, 2014

We went with removing the hinges from the new door, and using the hinges off the old door. Used a jack to hold it up, and a 2nd person to keep it steady. Was a PITA to get the harness removed and switched over (same for the door lock selanoid, lol). Once I figured out how the button assembly came off the harness, I was good to go. We actually pulled the harness off the door, and pulled it through the access hole in the front (left it connected under the dash). I left the black door handle (mine were grey), I'll end up replacing it with something else eventually (Billet maybe?). Car's also silver, door is mineral grey, going to temporarily rattle-can it with some SEM YN code paint, as we won't be able to get the car fully painted until near the end of the month (and the wife has already complained about the door color, lol).

We also didn't remove the front fender, but once the door was on and bolted in, it woudln't shut without contacting the front fender (we were VERY gentle, so as to not bend anything), so the front fender was adjusted slightly forward, but still didn't give enough room. We ended up getting the remaining room by shimming the door with a 1/8" washer under each bolt holding the door to the hinge. Made the gap front and back the exact same as the other side. We're still having a slight issue with the top being tilted in ever so slightly, and the bottom tilted out, but there's some adjustment there I believe. Also the new door didn't have a place for the black pin on the end (I'd probably have to post a picture for anybody here to know what I'm talking about tho, lol). The door had 2 push pins in the sheet metal there, but the holes weren't tapped for the screws like the old door (it's a brass insert there, we're going to tap it tomorrow and see if that helps the door spacing any, I think it will).

I sat there for 20 minutes trying to re-attach the Mach460 tweeter pod, could NOT get the single friggin screw lined up, so turned it over to my brother, got it first try, lol.

Now that it's on there, there's definitely some adjustment that needs to be done. With the inner door skin on, it actually touches the dash where it meets the door panel, the other side has a bit of space (you can hear the parts squeaking a bit on bumps is how I noticed it).

One thing we noticed, there doesn't appear to be any forward/back adjustment on the door hinges. The part that attaches to the car appears to have no adjustment built in (anybody know if there's a nut on the back of the welded in bolt going into the body? We didn't get under there and check). That's why we went with shimming the door back a tad.

A little history on the car, it was hit in the front before I got it, and repaired by the previous owner. I was told everything was 'professionally' fixed, but since I bought it I've had to replace the K-member (was warped, and them pulled, and not completely fixed), replaced the front springs (the one on the hit-side just looked a bit wonky, not sure if I have a picture or not though. Was told the ABS needed one of the sensors replaced, ends up the ABS ECU is completely dead, had to put a new top on it (knew this when I got it, but it 'didn't leak', lol. Also had to get the drivers seat completely recovered, and the seat base on the passenger side, was told the drivers seat just needed the base, but it had a cover on it (the kind that you don't just pull over and look under, it was a PITA to get off there. The drivers side looked like Freddy Kruger had gotten his claws into it at some point, completely shredded on the backrest.

CC'S95GT · Apr 3, 2014

The door can be adjusted on both sides of the hinge. You shouldn't need and shims. If you need more adjustment just make the holes on the hinge a little bit bigger.
Get the door adjusted with the window down first. Make sure the gap at the rear of the door is the same on top and bottom of the door skin. Adjust the fender to the door. After all the metal stuff is aligned go back and align the glass.

heffe2001 · Apr 3, 2014

We're going to end up pulling it back off in the next few days, but I was running out of time yesterday afternoon (not to mention it was friggin 85 out there, wasn't prepared for that heat, lol), so we did what we had to to get it on for now. It LOOKS like the hinges don't have much adjustment as far as front to back, but that may be the welded on bolt threw us off (I'm guessing there'a nut inside under the dash?). We'll get it right before we paint the car. The glass appears to line up perfectly with the top/windshield where it's at now. I'm just glad the new window regulator works, and as a added bonus, the door lock works now as well (the actuator on the drivers door didn't work anymore, so no locking/unlocking with the remote for the driver, lol).