Drivers door change - hints & tips.

[stecad]

Hi all, I have a replacement door to fit (the current one is all rusted out) and was looking for hints & tips from those that have more experience than me.
The replacement door is the skin only so all the mirror, electrics, window, etc need to switch across.
Is it easier to switch doors then switch everything across or easier to do the assembly on the bench then bolt on the complete door.
The replacement door is white (car red) and I've sprayed (rattle can) the inside of the door red. Should make a better job when it is finally resprayed.
The vapour barrier plastic looks tricky as it's stuck on with super sticky black stuff.
thanks

[CalMac]

Vapour barrier is easy enough, just pull quite hard and it'll come off without tearing (much).

I assembled what I could on a workbench when swapping a passenger door skin - it's a bu88er of a job though from what I remember. And the assembled door is bloody heavy!

The clips which hold the rubber seal around the inside of the door skin are quite fragile too so take car removing them.

You'll probably want to prop a stool under the door when you re-hang it as it's tricky to support and align at the same time - two man job really.

Aligning the door glass is probably going to be the most time consuming aspect though!

Finally I'd advise wearing work gloves as there's a lot of tight squeezing with the glass up/down at various heights to try and get the fixings through it, so you'll experience quite a few cuts and 20 year old sticky dusty mess

Good luck!

[Martin F]

Vapour barrier is easy enough, just pull quite hard and it'll come off without tearing (much).

I assembled what I could on a workbench when swapping a passenger door skin - it's a bu88er of a job though from what I remember. And the assembled door is bloody heavy!

The clips which hold the rubber seal around the inside of the door skin are quite fragile too so take car removing them.

You'll probably want to prop a stool under the door when you re-hang it as it's tricky to support and align at the same time - two man job really.

Aligning the door glass is probably going to be the most time consuming aspect though!

Finally I'd advise wearing work gloves as there's a lot of tight squeezing with the glass up/down at various heights to try and get the fixings through it, so you'll experience quite a few cuts and 20 year old sticky dusty mess

Good luck!

HaHa, I was going to say it was an easy job, better doing the window assembly on a bench if given the choice though.
Take pictures before you remove in case you encounter problems, that way you can see what needs done.

The door itself is also easy, just bolt it up feed the wiring through then make sure everything is level etc. and tighten the bolts, just remember, a camera is your friend when doing something like this.

P.S. pay a professional sprayer to spray the door to match the rest of your car, doing it yourself will end in tears, unless you are an experienced painter that is....
If however you are going for a fresh respray ignore above comments

[stecad]

Many thanks chaps.
I've been looking at it for a while and was reckoning that doing the assembly on the bench would be the way to go.
Guess i'll have to spend a weekend clearing the workbench.
I'm always taking things apart and use the camera a lot. One of life's mysteries as you never quite manage to get the angle that you need to check during reassembly.