HOW TO - 'Vert door pillar removal

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AZhitman
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^ That would be the ideal solution, and I would recommend doing that if you were planning on having the car painted.

However, my paint was almost perfect, and finding a set of perfect black coupe doors is nearly impossible.

Remember, this is a LOW BUDGET project, and this mod cost me next to nada.


nab911
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Weew... well just from the pictures i looked at, it looked pretty ruff (great job but a lot of work) and i see some many 240's all over the place, someone would just hand me their doors off the st . But ill figure it out when i can actualy get a vert

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BoyWonder
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Wow, I was just thinking about doing something like this. What a perfect time to randomly come back. It's not so much something I want to do as it's something I need to do, as my stock passenger door was mangled in a tragic car-pushing accident, and I don't really have a passenger seat belt anymore. I do have a door, though it doesn't fit quite right, and after reading through this it may be because it's a hatch door rather than a coupe door. I didn't realize there was that big a difference, but looks like I'll have to find a real coupe door now.

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Danrc30
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nab911 wrote:I got a question... i love the way it was looking... but wtf... why dont you just buy some coupe doors and put the whole door on there??
Changing both doors is a pain in the butt. Not to mention expensive to purchase... And then you need to get them painted to match the car... but new paint won't match the old, so then you gotta paint the whole car. Or you could do what Greg did and just cut the heavy crap out of your door. Make sense now?

The more I see how sleek his car looks, the more I want to do the same thing........ that post is so annoying when you're driving too...

---Dan

nab911
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Yeah, i got my vert a little while ago and its baby blue... the odds of me finding a door that matches

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Danrc30
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Question for the experts... I have a set of doors that I could swap, but they don't have power locks or windows in it. How hard is it to swap that stuff out? I'm considering doing this conversion if/when I get some time...


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daz1320
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what is the difference in coupe and hatch doors?

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TrunkMonkey
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Danrc30 wrote:Question for the experts... I have a set of doors that I could swap, but they don't have power locks or windows in it. How hard is it to swap that stuff out? I'm considering doing this conversion if/when I get some time...
all of the "power" stuff is actually attached to the door panel itself, not the door. as long as you have the right panels, i don't see where you will have any problems doing this conversion.

-demetrius

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AZhitman
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Meech is right.

The doors are the same, the door panels themselves differ.

Hell, I'd rather have non-power windows on mine, less weight.

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daz1320
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How did you remove the rear seatbelt loop?Mine appears to be welded in.

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AZhitman
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Nope - There's a nut on the backside of the top loop (if you mean the backseat ones).

Once you remove it, you can replace the useless hardware with a suitable nut/lockwasher/bolt.

nab911
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Mine is the same way, Nothing to get to. Its flat behind that... Im bout to drill through it...

nab911
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Can anyone who has their rear top loop welded tell me how you got it out?

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daz1320
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Guys i found the answer to all the rear seatbelt B.S....I just did my seatbelts and I used S14 front belts.They work great although they dont retract like the stock ones do.All that i had to do was drill three holes on each side and cut a hole in the bottom solid piece.

nab911
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Well after trying to dirll through that **** i decided to call it for the day. As for the welded rear loop. Undo the small screw below that, take a screw drive and pry the plastic pieces behind the actual belt away and pull the belt to the side and there is a huge nut right there. Its an 18 mm and you have to remove the plastic/rubber liner from the back brace piece where the belt comes over it. (Youll know what i mean).

Next, how did you guys keep your seatbelts from perminantly locking? I have one that wont lock period anymore and one that wont retract now. IM just gonna get my roll bar and harnesses but WTF?

slownslurious
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I am defintely removing my seatbelt mounts... I thought I was the only one who had that idea. The first thing I thought when I got mine home was "how am I gonna remove that piece of ****"I'm obviously going to be purchasing a roll bar soon (can't run anywhere without it) so seat belt mounting isn't an issue. Right now I'm just trying to decide if I want to:1) lop off the pillars where they extend above the door, fiberglass over the door panel where the hole used to be, and wrap the panel in vinyl (no big deal, I could keep my doors easily, and keep all the bracing).2) lop all the bracing off and use the tan door panels that I was planning on using on my convertible doors, or, because my power door locks are crappy aftermarket, my car has manual mirrors, and the power windows aren't working,3) switch doors with the coupe that I have, which has stock power window, locks, and mirrors.

After reading this write up I'm defintely leaning towards #3. I initially wanted to keep all of that bracing because of structural integrity but your write up makes it look like more of it doesn't do anything for structure once you remove the seatbelt.

Does anyone know how the wiring would go to get the power door locks and mirrors to work on a car that didn't have them stock? are the plug still there in the main harness?

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AZhitman
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Nick:

You have to mount the seat belt retractors PERFECTLY perpendicular to the ground to keep them from autolocking. You should be able to see the little ball or catch that activates the locking mechanism...

S&S -

Sounds like swapping the doors is your easiest bet. I think we can figure out the wiring for the power locks / windows.

slownslurious
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from doing a little deeper reading into the forums it looks like the moderator has already done the power mirrors.. this is a good forum

raxx
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Well, Thanks to Azhitman, I tried tackling this project myself.

At this point I'm half way through, driver side, (one more door to go, plus I'm waitin on some coupe panels).

Gotta finish the passenger side next, I'll finish it tomorrow.

Anyways, I ran into some problems, with the rear seat belt location. Seem's like the previous owner already removed the rear seatbelt retractor.

So I had to rig up one myself, just to have a seat belt, so I can't get pull over and get a ticket for no seat belt, I manage to rig up seat belts for my waist. It's not bolted down real well, so it's not a good, safe, and secure seatbelt, but it'll get me away from tickets

Anways I used the seat belt retractor from the door, and bolted down under myseat. But it's not all that perfect, you have your pros and cons.

Pros:I HAVE A SEAT BELT, what else can I say.Cons:It's not safe and sturdy. You have to run wires in order for it to retract. And the only way it can be retracted is only if you have the door open.

But thats the only choice I have, whats the chances of me to finding parts from a convertible. I've been looking for rear speaker covers for the longest time. So I just rigged it up and used some mesh grills and painted black for the mean time.

Modified by raxx at 3:32 PM 10/15/2005

Modified by raxx at 3:33 PM 10/15/2005
Modified by raxx at 5:04 PM 10/15/2005

raxx
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sorry for the big, and unfocus pics. My digi came sucks, and my phone cam doesn't work anymore

raxx
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seat belt spot

slownslurious
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raxx, I'm gonna be just straight up ditching all my belts since I use a harness, if you want my rear seatbelts/retractors let me know you can have them for the $ of shipping.

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Danrc30
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I'll take them if it's all good with you. I'm gonna be doing the conversion most likely over the winter and I'm gonna seed a set of belts...

raxx
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About how much are you talking about???

If the pricing seems right, I might grab it from you.

But I'm doing alright with my waist belt.

I just got to rewire it to the point where it works all the time with the door closed. Thats my only problem, I think its because I used the same wires that it was unplugged from.

I'm pretty sure I can just wire that up to a fuse, or to something with power and ground it.

I'll try when ever I get back to finishin my doors.

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AZhitman
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The power has nothing to do with retraction (I'm almost positive).

The wires are for the seat belt light in the dash.

Your retractors won't work unless the unit is PERFECTLY perpendicular to the ground.

Try adjusting those so they're level.

raxx
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AZhitman wrote:The power has nothing to do with retraction (I'm almost positive).

The wires are for the seat belt light in the dash.

Your retractors won't work unless the unit is PERFECTLY perpendicular to the ground.

Try adjusting those so they're level.
I believe your wrong AHhiteman because it has to be plugged and I had it out of the car and I couldn't retracted the belts. Bother retracters wouldn't retracted unless it was plugged up.

nab911
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Raxx is right. If i unplugged the belts... it wouldnt retract. If i pulled on the belt, the second i plugged it up it would go loose again. Weird stuff....

Anyways, anyone have any idea on how to pop the lock on these doors with a coat hanger because my jack *** friend closed the door when the lock was hooked up wrong and now i cant get it open...

slownslurious
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they are easiest to get from the interior door lock, just use a wedge and a coat hanger and bend it sharply at the end to pull the lock catch.From inside the door its a bit harder (at least with a coat hanger). a slim jim would work but I have found that they require a bit of bending and practice to be successful with, usually, so if its your first time using one you'll likely be frustrated.

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Danrc30
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slownslurious wrote:raxx, I'm gonna be just straight up ditching all my belts since I use a harness, if you want my rear seatbelts/retractors let me know you can have them for the $ of shipping.
slownslurious - still got those seatbelts? I'll pay the shipping for them...

nab911
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Update on door lock situation...

It hit me while i was spaced out during a math test... I have power locks. SO i popper the driver lock shut and back on and it opened right up.... im such a dumbass.


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