Photo Essay - Replacing A Door

[PhilMeUp]

Some time ago some bimbo was reversing a 4WD as she changed her mind about pulling into a particular carpark. I happened to be on the road behind the carpark entry, and despite me holding my hand on the horn (and making plenty of noise) she kept on reversing until she collided with my car. The damage was limited to the driver’s door, but the door needs replacing.

I found a door from a wreck that is the same colour as mine. Goody, that means that it’s a simple bolt off/bolt on job and won’t need panel beating or painting.

Tonight I had a go at fitting the replacement door. It wasn’t until I had the old door off that I decided to get the camera out and take some photos, so the photos in this series are a bit out of order. But these photos will at least show you what the driver’s door is comprised of.

Here is the replacement door, ready to bolt on. I’ll be using my existing mirror and door trim. The driver’s window was smashed in a break-in late last year and the replacement window that I got has bad tint. This has irritated me ever since, so it was a bonus to get with this door a window that is in perfect condition.



Removing the old door wasn’t too hard, although it did weigh quite a bit. I used two axle stands and some rag cloth to support the door for when the bolts were removed. I used a 10mm ratchet spanner to remove the four bolts, and a ratchet and 10mm socket to remove the bolt that connects the black strut to the car body. In amongst all this I also had to disconnect the power cable that powers the electric window, mirror and door lock.

Despite my full concentration, the door fell over anyway as I was trying to disconnect the cable. I spat the dummy, until I realised that this was the old door and that the scratch and dent that it sustained didn’t matter. If you’re doing a door swap then I highly recommend that you have a second person to help stabilise the door as you undo the bolts and disconnect the power cable (which you can’t do until the door hinge bolts are either very loose or removed).



Another view of the door frame after the door has been removed.



What I did, and how I did it. I reached in with a 10mm ratchet spanner to remove the four bolts that attach the hinges to the door. Then I used a ratchet and 10mm socket to remove the bolt that connects the strut that stops the door from opening up too far.

I’ve also removed the door trim from the old door, and will be fitting it to this replacement door.



As I was replacing the door, I needed to transfer the door lock from the old door to the new one. There are two metal rods to deal with - one for the door handle and the other one for the door lock.

For the door handle rod, reach behind the white plastic clip and push it toward you. With a bit of force it will unclip and you can then rotate it upward and out of the way. The rod will then slide out sideways to the right.

For the lock rod I reached in with a fairly small flat blade screwdriver and levered the white plastic apart until the rod was able to slide sideways out to the right.



When removing the lock from the original door, I ended up removing the door handle and lock together. I later realised that the lock can easily be removed with the door handle still in place.

You also don’t really need to disconnect the door handle rod, but I did so to give me access to the upper bolt that holds the door lock in place.



These are the tools that I used for removing the door handle and lock. Not much to it - a flat blade screwdriver, 1/4” drive spinner handle, a 1/4” ratchet and 10mm socket. The spinner handle has a 1/4” input at the handle end, so it doubles as an extension bar. And yes, I forgot to include the T25 screwdriver that I have - you can buy one from any tool shop.



Once the door lock has been removed. The door handle can then be removed via the other side (ie the outside of the door). The handle rod has been folded down to below where the photo stops.



The door handle and lock, all disassembled.



Removing the door lock from the door handle is easy - it just rotates and then slides out.



To fit the lock to the door handle, push it in and rotate it anti-clockwise.



A photo showing the two bolts that hold the door lock in place. The bolt that connects the door handle to the door (on the far left) isn’t there, but is the same as the upper door lock bolt.



There is a recess in the door handle plastic that accommodates the metal tab on the door lock.



This photo shows where the two bolts go that attach the door handle to the door.



To disconnect the rod that connects to the door lock, use a flat blade screwdriver to lever apart the white plastic until the rod will slide sideways out to the right.



This shows where the two rods go, and how to disconnect the door handle rod.



Now that I had the door handle and door lock sorted out, it was time to remove the driver’s side mirror from the old door and fit it to the replacement door. There are three T25 Torx head screws that attach the mirror to the door.



There is a plastic tab that conveniently holds the mirror in place for when you remove or re-fit the Torx screws. To remove the mirror, pull the bottom of it away from the door.



Another photo showing the plastic tab and where it goes into on the door.



The plastic that goes on the inside of the door just unclips and pulls outward.

[PhilMeUp]

This photo shows what you’ll see once you’ve removed the door trim and need to start removing the mirror.



The door trim is attached to the door by a bunch of white plastic studs. It all clips into place. To remove the trim from the door, just pull it away from the door once you are sure that you have removed all the relevant T25 screws. If it doesn’t come away then go looking for whatever T25 screws you have forgotten.



When putting the driver’s door handle back in, make sure that you clip the white plastic back into the door handle surround.



To remove the door handle, there will be a small bit of plastic to cover the screw. Remove that and you’ll see a T25 Torx screw. Remove that screw and the door handle will come loose.



If you need to strip the door and do anything with the door handle or lock then you need to make sure that the window is wound up before starting, so that you have access to the door handle and lock. I forgot to do this with the old door, so had the window in the way of getting to the door handle and lock. To connect the door to power would have meant refitting the entire door to the car. I ended up removing the window from the door by using a flat blade screwdriver to push the plastic tabs apart. You can also try using a pair of needle nose pliers to push the tabs apart.



As mentioned earlier, the old door fell over when I was balancing it to unplug the cable. I was lucky that no damage was done to the cable socket on the car. I was cursing furiously until I realised that this is the old door, so damaging it wasn’t a problem. This incident confirmed that fitting the replacement door was going to be a two person job, so the girlfriend was summoned. In hindsight, the original door falling over was useful as it prevented me from possibly stuffing up and damaging the replacement door.



The completed job. Much to my delight everything worked perfectly. The door opens and closes properly, and the power window, central locking and electric mirror all work as they should. I’ll get a replacement taxi logo sticker put on next week, but after having a severely dented driver’s door for the last couple of months I’m just relieved to have everything straight again.



I was pretty pleased to find a door that is a perfect match. The donor car is the same year - it was one month older. I wrote this before I fitted the replacement door:

I bought a door.

From a store.

The old door is done for.

Because of some bimbo who decided to reverse some more.

At the time, I was angry to the core.

I wanted to thump her to the floor.

Or get her a one-way ticket to Timor.

At the very least, declare war.

Such action is certainly called for.

Stuff World War 3, I want World War 4.

My car suffered some gore.

Damage to it will make me poor.

Until her insurance pays then my wallet will be sore.

Fitting it on my own will be quite a chore.

I haven’t done this particular task before.

I’d much rather just go to bed and snore.

I just noticed that this rhyming is becoming a bore.

It certainly won’t become folklore.

Of that, I am very sure.

Unless you are keeping score.

I shall not babble anymore.

I am a rhyme whore.

Hear me roar.

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Once I finished the job I came back inside and wrote this:

The time came to fit it.

But the door fell over and took a hit.

I threw a fit.

Dammit, you stupid piece of sh*t.

Lots of other words I did emit.

The dummy - I well and truly spit.

Most upset I was, I do admit.

With lots of bad words, the atmosphere was lit.

Repeating those words here would be most unfit.

I checked the door - I have dented it.

I wanted to throw the bloody thing into a deep pit.

Or into orbit.

My wrists - they must be slit.

Oh, hang on a little bit.

If you will be so kind to permit.

It’s the old door - time to cool it.

The new door has not yet been through the refit.

Over in the corner it still sit.

I hereby acquit.

And regain some of my former wit.

For I have not damaged the new piece of kit.

It is still all legit.

Worthy of my car, it shall befit.

Writing crap on this forum - I shall not omit.

To this I shall always commit.

Such as this lovely rhyming little skit.

Which I hereby submit.

Via the internet it shall transmit.

I don’t know what to make of it.

Time for me to quit.

I shall split.

[PhilMeUp]

Update (weeks later):

Well, no-one spotted my… intentional… mistake here, so I’ll now show how this job should have been done.

Turns out that the hinges come apart - you don’t have to unbolt anything to remove a door.

The driver’s door window regulator died at the start of the Easter weekend. That had to be fixed as soon as possible (ie so that the taxi can be locked and secured when required) but I knew that replacing the window regulator was probably going to take a while (ie I haven’t done it before).

I had a spare car the same colour at home, so I figured that we’d just swap the driver’s doors until I could replace the window regulator at the end of the weekend. And after doing it the hard way last year, I wanted to try doing it the easier way.

To clarify with the cable, there is a plastic tab which is pushed inward, and then the connection comes apart at that point. I used a flat blade screwdriver to lever the two connections apart.



In each hinge there is one of these little black plastic gadgets. Remove each one with a set of multi-grip pliers.



The hinges then just come apart. Pretty simple.



A close up photo of one of the plastic inserts.



I wasn’t fussed about some minor scratching on the hinges, so used a crowbar to lever them apart. If you want to be extra careful then you can cover the crowbar with some rag cloth.



A close up of the hinge part that is on the car (unfortunately out of focus, between swapping doors around and fitting a new window regulator I was rushing through all this as quickly as I could).



The hinge part that remains on the door.



The car end of the cable fell back into the body, so I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to pull it back out. I found that it was easier to have the door in position but reconnect the cable before reconnecting the hinges.



What isn’t shown in these photos is the trolly jack and rag cloth that I had holding the door up at the right height. This also meant that I could slide the door along the rag, closer to the car. Using the trolly jack to help line up the door hinges made this task a lot easier.