For anybody whose been to the engine board in the last week, they'll know I've been having a severe run of bad luck with my camaro lately. My timing gear got ground up last wednesday, and I just got it back from the shop friday. I spent yesterday doing some tuning that the shop didn't do, and working on the brakes which developed a leak around the same time my engine troubles began.

So tonight I'm at a fire hall meeting (only way I could figure out how to legally drive really fast) and my boss shows up to get her son (he's a firefighter too) for a rattlesnake or something. Anyway, long story short, she backs into my passenger side door with the store pickup truck (I make minimum wage at a hardware store in case you were wondering) and crushes my mirror and leaves a nice crumple in the door. Totally damaged the mirror mount, I don't know if it could be properly repaired (I could probably rig it with a hammer, some pliers, and copious amounts of bondo; I might be able to slip some duct tape in there somewhere too) so I'll probably have to replace the door.

Now, normally, I wouldn't give a squat, if it's someone else's money paying for it, but my boss is actually a really nice old lady and I'd rather not rip her off (plus I can't pass up an afternoon of turning wrenches) and swap the door out with a junkyard one before letting her paint it.

What all does that involve?

I'm fairly certain that I have to remove the fender to get to the hinge bolts. What about the wiring? Do I just unplug everything and feed the wires out the holes? Or do I have to cut wires? I've got power everything, and I might swap out parts to keep my power everything. I've had door panels off before, so that much I've got down.

How hard is it to line everything up? Is it just a matter of adjusting the pitch and tightening the bolts? I imagine there might be some shims involved to adjust the roll or the protrusion. Should I throw in a set of those nifty Lamborghini door hinges to match the 30 inch chrome rims that I plan on buying later on?

I looked at the pillar that the door mounts to, and it looks like it is not bent or damaged at all. I compared it to the driver's side, and it looks about the same. Anyway, my boss is paying for it, and she won't get the insurance company involved unless the damage comes to more than a few thousand dollars (I like the cash thing, because I've heard that insurance companies like to total cars over cracked head lamp covers).

I appreciate any info or tips anyone can give. Also, I was joking about the Lambo hinges and the rims.

 

you can get the bolts off by taking only the plastic inner fender off. 4 bolts are from the outside. the bottom back two are accessed from the inside under the carpeted plastic kick panal behind some of that gross tar sound deadened. the door is Awkward and heavy, i would suggest two people and a floor jack, lining it up is pretty easy. as long as you have all the connecters apart you just feed it through the hole, pull lightly on the rubber thing to get it of the car side i thing. if you have any other questions lmk

 

Ah, ok. That actually sounds a little bit easier than I was thinking. Thanks.

 

yep np. i had to swap mine out when i painted it last march, it mustve gotten hit in the door before i bought it and the impact broke the impact bar lose and it was just kinda sitting in there and making noise... Taking the fender off would make it easier to swap out but with the fender off you lose the body lines on the front side to line it up with so you might get it on crooked

 

Yeah, that makes sense. I'll try to leave the fender on when I do the swap. Thanks.