Door Card Removal

[mwagner10702]

I am preparing to remove my door cards so I can upgrade the five leather covered panels and re-do them in Alcantera. For those of you who have removed your door cards, what areas or parts are most at risk for breakage? I reviewed several threads and a document from BrianK and it looks like the panels are secured with screws vs. plastic clips. The only area I could see that could be an issue are the two plastic upper corner covers (front of door and rear of door).

Any other areas of concern I should be aware of?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[I_M_Legend]

If your door panel has been removed before, chances are the previous owner broke some tabs. They're pretty brittle it seems. Someone had a thread on 3D printing more robust tabs. Yes, secured by screws. No plastic clips. The part I struggled with the most was removing the panel right behind the door handle. I have small hands so you maybe you'll have better luck. I followed the BrianK document.

To avoid having too much downtime I bought an extra set of panels and redid them first before I removed the door panels to switch them out. Good luck!

 

[MotorMouth93]

Several of the mounting tabs are likely broken at this point. You can replace the pieces with the tabs or just repair the tabs. I fabricated new tabs from 1/8" ABS stock to replace the broken ones and solvent welded them on, no issues 4+ years later.

The triangle pieces at the top of the door are very difficult to remove with the metal clips. I removed the metal clips entirely and just use small balls of butyl rubber. They stay in place just fine and are easy to remove for future services or mods this way.

The leather piece under the door handle takes a surprising amount of force to remove, use a plastic pry tool to lift up the rearmost edge of it so you can get your fingers behind it and pull.

 

[bullithollywood]

My lessons learned from removing the door cards when installing the Hug-Buga mods:

Lower window fully. I would say be careful not to scratch the other leathers when you pull the piece behind the door handle out but if your replacing the leathers I guess it doesnt matter. Theres two "ears" at the back wide part of handle piece that you got to get out, once you get the back edge up with a trim tool or the like (wrap whatever you use in something soft!), you can get your fingers under it an work it out backward intuitively with just your fingers.


The screws behind the door handle are different. Careful with the pointy screwdriver around the door release or you could scratch it. When reinstalling those screws be careful to get em back in the same places and not to overtighten or strip them. As I recall the black ones can take some torque for the door pull handle but careful with the front gold ones they'll strip.


Have a towel handy to wrap the door release unit while releasing the plug and door release cable so you don't scratch the window switch/vent panel while wallowing it around. Pay attention to which slot the door release cable is in when removing the handle.


Once you loosen the screws around the card edge be sure to put the plastic door tabs on top of the door gasket before pulling or you could tear the gasket.
Pull the card out and release all the plugs loose on the back. I think they are all center push to release.


Be sure to remove the triangle pieces first then you can pull out the card 6-8" and smack it upwards from the rear till it releases. Once off DO NOT sit the door card down on its edge or you'll break the edge tabs for sure.


If your tabs are in good shape I'd recommend using some nickel sized washers over the tabs to spread the pressure off the tab when you reinstall. Either way don't over tighten the tabs much past snugged you'll start to bend them inward and that will also break them.

Good luck!

 

[mwagner10702]

[MENTION=34822]I_M_Legend[/MENTION], [MENTION=33247]MotorMouth93[/MENTION], [MENTION=23995]bullithollywood[/MENTION] - thank you for your responses. The suggestions will be very helpful. Regarding the tabs - I assume these are on the door card itself. Do any of you have a picture of these tabs? Just want to make sure I understand what you guys are referring to.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[I_M_Legend]

Here's a pic of one of the tabs that are prone to breakage. The original thread is here and has lots of pics. http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...-Make-your-own-NSX-3D-Printed-Parts!-Tutorial

 

[mwagner10702]

Here's a pic of one of the tabs that are prone to breakage. The original thread is here and has lots of pics. http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...-Make-your-own-NSX-3D-Printed-Parts!-Tutorial

Thank you sir! Exactly what I was looking for.