Replacing a 35ths Door

Swooshmandm

Registered User
Here's the deal. My grandpa recently passed away and he gave me his 35th that he had since 93. Soon after I picked it up, a friend of mine was helping me move into my house and backed into the car. Luckily, only the drivers door was damaged. I have a replacement door (white) that is about ready to be painted. I've already pulled the old door.

Is there anything i should do to the replacement door before i send it to get painted? Can and should i try to remove the window seals? They do look better on the original door.If i should, how are they removed?

Also, i havent even looked at the door lock, is that difficult to get off and install on the new door? The keypad was severely damaged in the accident. Are they usable from any year Thunderbird or are they year specific?

I appreciate everyones time, and I apologize if this is the wrong forum.
 
Depending on how bad the damage is, it would probably just be far easier, faster and less expensive to have the existing door on the car repaired and repainted.
Taking the door/glass runs out is a difficult and time consuming exercise in frustration that most often results in ruined runs.
Removing the door handles is not too hard, but the lower glass run at the back of the door needs to be removed first to get to the door handle and the keyless pushbutton pad.
And unless you take the door TOTALLY apart, you will not be able to completely paint it black...if that matters to you at all.

If the body man is good, he can pull out most of the dent and will not need hardly any filler.
 
it depends if the intrusion beam has been bent or not, if it has then you have to replace it
 
The original door is trashed. What happened was an open tailgate basically rammed into the handle area breaking the glass, bending the door part of the b pillar and totally tweaking the door beyond what i believe to be repairable. There is a very large dent below the door handle. I wish the door could be repaired but i don't see that happening. Honestly, the way it all happened it's lucky that the cars b pillar isn't damaged. I know there will be a few places that will not be black (like under nuts holding the window tracks) but i don't think that any of them will be visible. I will never be selling this vehicle (I was very close to my grandpa) so a few white spots under the door panel will not be an issue.

I'm hoping to remove the part of the door seal in the upper part of the door. The original one looks much nicer. I'm just not sure exactly how it comes out yet.

One other thing, the gray trim just pops off. Is there a trick to putting it back on (maybe latch the bottom on then pop in the top)?

Thanks again.
 
Which gray trim are you talking about?

The best way to remove the glass run is to take a pice of masonite and cut it to the shap off the upper portion of the door glass.
I can't remember if there are screws holding the bottom ends in, but if there are, remove them and VERY GENTLY (and slowly) pull the runs out of the groove a little at a time. I would soak them with WD-40 or something like that first, and do it on a warm day.
The runs are extremely fragile and will tear and bend(aluminum inside) if you let them droop out of thier shape. So, when you remove them place the run along the window-shaped masonite to help hold it and retain its shape while it is being removed.
Keep it stored on the masonite until you are reinstalling it, and use the masonite form to held it right to the door groove and install it directly off the masonite form.
Start with the upper corner of the 'B'-pillar area and work both directions from there to reinstall.
Clearly it is necessary to have 4 arms, and if you don't have four arms, then another person to help you.

Believe it or not, this is the FSM procedure!
 
The gray trim i'm talking about is on the bottom of the outside of the door. Keep in mind its a 35th so the car is black and gray.
 
Hes talking about he Titanium colored ground effects I believe. Never had mine off so I cant help on the reinstall.

S
 
Oh yeah...I also have a 35th. The 'gray' description threw me off.

Very simple to remove: On the inside lower section of each end of the door is a screw that holds each end of the piece to the door. Remove them.
Then get your fingers up underneath the bottom edge at one end and gently but firmly pry upwards to release from the clips. Once the first one unsnaps, the rest will unsnap quite easily. I just did this on mine when it was repainted.

The piece is aluminum, so don't bend it!

If the donor door is not from a 89-92 Super Coupe, you will have to have the body-clip rivets welded to the door so that the attaching clips can be mounted.
A good body shop can do that post haste.

Good luck
 
The donor door is a 90 i believe. Either way i'm pretty sure it has the rivets welded to the door as the stock one does. Thanks for all your time.
 
Oh yeah...I also have a 35th. The 'gray' description threw me off.

Very simple to remove: On the inside lower section of each end of the door is a screw that holds each end of the piece to the door. Remove them.
Then get your fingers up underneath the bottom edge at one end and gently but firmly pry upwards to release from the clips. Once the first one unsnaps, the rest will unsnap quite easily. I just did this on mine when it was repainted.

The piece is aluminum, so don't bend it!

If the donor door is not from a 89-92 Super Coupe, you will have to have the body-clip rivets welded to the door so that the attaching clips can be mounted.
A good body shop can do that post haste.

Good luck



Yea the gray threw me also, until I thought about it and did a wild guess. Thats the only gray thing I could think of. Good info to know being that my other 35th is only about 2 weeks away from the body shop. Luckily Ive got a good donor car (actually 1 1/2) to rob from.

S
 
I just did a complete repaint on mine and took it near completely apart and reassembled it...if you need any info I probably have it!
 
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