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Diving into some door repair, any tips or advice I should know?


Black_Baby

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Passenger side door will get the side vent glass, new (to me) mirror, changing the door lock cylinder, and power window motor. The window is currently in the up position.

Drivers side will get power window motor. The window is in the down position. Also changing the door lock cylinder.

I'd like to keep my fingers and not lose any hide. I'm gonna try to do these over the Christmas weekend. Happy Holidays Ya'll!

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Guest Mc_Reatta

While your in there, lube the locking mechanism from the inner handle all the way back to the latch and the check locking motor operation. Good time to check out the speakers and other switches in there as well. Might consider wrapping your arm from the elbow to wrist in an ace bandage and some mechanic's gloves to keep your blood loss to a minimum.

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Replace the locks with the window out much better access. Also check the two rivets on the back of the handles if the are loose your light show may not work. To remove the handles take out two 10mil nuts on the back of the handle. Plus what Mc_Reatta said.

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Guest Mc_Reatta

I'm thinking if this is your first time going inside of your doors, there may be some other tips that might come in handy.

It you discover that some of the long push fasteners that hold the panel to the door are broken, bent or missing, you can find them at Lowes in the hardware aisle. If the mounts that hold them to the panel are broken or come loose there are some techniques that have been posted here a long while ago on some repair techniques using fishing line and hot glue. (The newfangled version of the old school chewing gum and bailing wire.) :P

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  • 1 month later...

Good news! I didn't pass out from blood loss. Most of the repair went off without a hitch. I got both lock assemblies removed and replaced with ones that are keyed alike to the trunk as it should be. Thanks to 'ol benevolent Zoltanb. Vent glass on the passenger side has been replaced and looks MUCH better than the lexan. Ya'll were right. There were broken door panel fasteners on both sides. I managed to make a fastener stand with some JB weld and PVC pipe. Don't laugh, it worked. It looked so bad I wouldn't even take a picture. I found a Dorman product at FLAPS, p/n 450930BP. Here is the link: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/DORN/450930BP/N0274.oap?ck=Search_C0329_1030914_-1&categoryRedirect=C0329&pt=C0329&ppt=C0325 I'm thinking the explanation will conjure up a visual. Both electric motors were also replaced, now here is where things may or may be agreeable to all Reatta lovers. This how I repaired my windows. I put the regulator and window motor together. At this time I ran a 1/4" by 20 bolt 1/2" long into the assembly with the nut on the back. I hand tightened the nut down, then used the mig to back weld the nut in place. I did this for both of the hard to get to nut/bolt mounting places on the motor. After replace the motor/regulator assembly back into the door the bolt lined right up and went in without problem and no backup was needed. I thought that was a good repair. Now the not-so-good repair, but it works. I took the window switch apart because I'm just that kinda guy. The white rockers looked OK, but wouldn't make the window go up. So I added/shimmed a little metal "chiklet" to the up side of the window switch. Basically, I added mass to make up for the difference of wear on the rockers. I used a bit of metal license plate, but plastic from a coke bottle would be just as good.

I'm not outta the woods yet, I missed the part about the two rivets and their relationship to the "show". I'm gonna need further schooling on that. I also decided to re-do the speaker covers. They will not be OEM grey, but I will recover with a black material then re-install.

OK, what's the trick to loading picts? Is there a size limit?

BTW, I got her inspected and currently waiting for the state to send the license plates. Woohoo! But...there's a problem to overcome. I'll get a new thread started after I do some research first. Stay tuned.

Edited by Black_Baby (see edit history)
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I used a heat gun set on low heat to warm the old adhesive and was able to remove the plastic without even stretching it. I had to use some 3M multipurpose spray adhesive (fortunately a very narrow spray pattern) to lay down new adhesive when it came time to reattach.

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Guest Corvanti

agree with the "heat-gun" at the low setting or a hair blow-dryer if no heat gun, to remove the door's plastic covering.

BUT: i have used "3M Strip-Calk" to re-apply the plastic on several vehicles. if you ever need to get in to the door again for any reason, it's much easier to remove than spray adhesive. available at most FLAPS or online.

lots of uses: http://3mcollision.com/3m-strip-calk-08578-black.html

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One more thing to know about my switch repair. IF you choose to thick of a "chiklet" material and snap the switch together the windows could be engaged to go up once the key is turned on. Make sure the windows are down (be prepared to turn off key switch) once you snap the window switch back together. One of my windows went up and the other stayed in position. I had to file down a teeny teeny teeny bit on the white rocker, after which everything was good to go. The Reatta purists may not approve of the repair, but the Reatta "practicalists" may find it handy. Peace out.

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