How do you remove the doors ?

[AC BILKO]

been to see a car sprayer today and I've agreed to remove the doors and ali door release buttons for him. have any of you ever removed and refitted your doors, is it fairly easy or a right pig of a job. where are the hinge bolts hidden, is there a sequence of things to remove in a set order ie top bolts first, do you unbolt hinges from the car or door. any tips appreciated

[andy-w]

AC BILKO said:

been to see a car sprayer today and I've agreed to remove the doors and ali door release buttons for him. have any of you ever removed and refitted your doors, is it fairly easy or a right pig of a job. where are the hinge bolts hidden, is there a sequence of things to remove in a set order ie top bolts first, do you unbolt hinges from the car or door. any tips appreciated

Lift the carpet on the inside of the footwell and you will see to big holes...about 30mm diametre...inside each of these is an 8mm bolt (13mm head size) the top ones are behind the dash but obviously at the bottom of the A pillar.

loosen all the bolts, remove the bottom ones first and then remove the top ones...i got mine on and off on my own but it would be easier with two people...i might have some pictures of the hole location somewhere...if not i can nip out and get some more

[AC BILKO]

Cheers m8 , all sounds nice and straight forward, shouldn't be a prob. for some reason i thought people were going to say it was a nightmare of a job or you need special tools, but from what you've said it's a straight forward unbolt the door job

[kevin63]

Watch out for the bare fibre glass, that can be a nightmare, there can be blood everywhere.

[andy-w]

also the bolts pass through large brass bushes in the body work...check these when the doors are off...one of mine had craked all the way round and was moving slightly, i ended up digging it out (found it was just held in place with filler) and fibreglassed it back in place.

Also there are connectors under the dash, it is probably easeir to disconnect these rather than take the speaker out the dorr and disconnect the ones in there.

Last thing, make a note of how many shims are behing each hinge and if you have got time get some 1mm thick ally and make some more, i took pictures of mine and put back exactly the same but still needed a few more shims to get it just right.

If you are getting it resprayed why not ask the painter to remove the door release buttons as well...???

[AC BILKO]

Cheers Andy
plan is to disconnect and remove as much as poss at home in my nice warm garage rather than mess about with limited tools 40 miles from home in a cold strange work shop. I'll do a trial run and remove the doors in my garage to make sure every things free and not seized, I'll refit and shim the doors but leave the door cards off, the wing mirrors off and electrics disconnected so all I have to do is unbolt the doors when I get there. the guys priced it for supplying the pearlesant paint and doing the speed six head light conversion, masking around the door release and boot hinges and back lights, so I was gonna remove these my self (not sure whether to bother removing the back light covers though) I may even remove the hood. to be honest the guys quoted such a cheap price that I cant moan about him wanting to mask up things instead of removing them, I dont mind spending a day or two removing all the bits and pieces if it means a slightly nicer finish at the end of the day and I have plenty of time on my hands at the mo.
if anyones got any handy tips on removing the wing mirrors, door release buttons, back light covers or hood it'll be appreciated. I've got the bible and I think that covers mirror removal and I've got an article on hood removal saved on the PC some where. I'm sure most of it will become self evident once I start the strip down but it's always nice to be forwarned about any poss probs. Cheers

[andy-w]

hood is easy enough...just a few 6mm bolts to undo and a couple of allen screws where the arch pivots...

I removed my door release buttons from the rear wing and filled the holes...IIRC there are three bolts holding each one in place...bit of a pig to get to but it is possible....you might find it easier to take the seats out to get better access..

[AC BILKO]

just seen your profile pic m8, very nice, love the lights. if mine ends up even half as good as that i'll be a happy bunny. I'm thinking about changing the colour from dark blue to either yellowy/gold or purple.
where d'ya get ya light from SP or Webbs