I discovered to my surprise the other day that wagon and sedan rear doors cannot be swapped. The rear pillar on the sedan angles the the back upper area of the rear doors while the Wagon is straight.
This raised a another question - Does the doors between a Hatchback and a Coupe swap. I might have a lead on a good replacement for my Sunbird at the local yard but it is on a Hatchback. I'd hate to waste the money to discover there is a difference. Anyone have any experience ?
Always something new to learn!
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Yeah, I learned that back when I rebuilt my old 1989 Cavalier Station wagon.
I was fortunate enough to get an entire interior and could have used all for doors from an '84 Cav sedan, but I found the rear doors to be different......, but at least I was able to use the inner door panels from the sedan !
I have some old pictures of the rebuild - if I get the time this weekend, maybe I'll scan them and share them with the only guys on the internet that wold actually care to look at them, LOL !
~ Mike ~
Hatch and coupe doors are swappable, so go for it.
Across the jbodys, the skins are the same, as long as the doors are from the same type of vehicle (other than hatch/coupe, those are equal).
The difference will be the placement of the rubber belt. On a Cavalier, it is lower than on a Hawk; I don't know about the belt placement on the rest of the lineup.
and don't forget my new trick for removing doors:
inside lower kick panel is a 15mm. Since this is a yard car, yard rules apply and there is another bolt higher up on the kick panel, so if you don't have a door pin popper, this just might be the way to go for you.
outside lower hinge has that 11mm that you really don't want to take the time to screw around with from the rear of the car, so go to the wheel well and remove the plastic between the wheel well and the fender and you will have full and easy access to that 11mm bolt.
Doors may not swap, but the sedan is looking pretty good there Orlen. Nice thing about white is that it looks really sharp when clean. I don't know how fast you are looking for some doors. I
think my 85 parts car has a good passenger side door. Don't plan on cutting it up any time soon. But if you were just looking for a spare this one would do.
Yes Wayne I was already thinking about your discovery regarding that panel on the lower inner fender area.I believe that the dash has to be pulled back some to gain access to the upper kick panel bolt. I want the complete hinge so the 4 bolts are the way to go this way around.
John the Sunbird drivers door is rather toasty but no swiss cheese material quite yet. The double coverage tarp over car cover along with a tarp on the ground has proved mighty bullet proof thus far. Still I would rather gain access to a spare if possible.Hard to tell when or where I would even come across another chance these days.
I will have to fully instect the HB doors to make a final decision but plan to make a run tomorrow and get at least the drivers side. I was sadly surprised that the Z and former HB (both of those car's doors were a rotten shambles) were gone when I showed up last Wednesday. They have yet a 2nd HB now that deserves where it is - but at first glace the doors might have potential.
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I really don't think the dash has to be touched to reach the upper bolt from the inside. Pull back more of the kick panel to find out I guess.
This hatch isn't another Z is it? I need the bumper cover if it is.
Sadly no Wayne - just a stock base '84 model
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Well - good and bed news.
The good is I was able to get the drivers side door - the door I needed the most
As mentioned I needed to pull back the dash assembly to get to that upper bolt - but it really wasn't all that bad. I had the drivers side pulled 90 minutes after I pulled into the parking lot. Wayne's Top Tip is a Real time saver -I highly recommend it! Thanks for sharing Wayne!!
Unbolt and pull back the fender liner:
Inside there is a second liner - 2 x 7mm sheet metal bolts ant it pulls right out
...and there is the prize - this bolt was already loose - I guess the other fellow never had heard of Waynes Top Tip!
...then you are home free!
and here is a fair photo of the dash pulled back to gain access to the upper inner bolt. I had to pull the steering column, hood latch cable ,IC, & glove box. There are 2 nuts on each side of the dash, one is right above the top of the steering column, on is just to the left of the glove box - but you must remove the box to get to it, and of course the 4 sheet metal bolts at the defroster vents.
Now for the bad.....
I was about 10 minutes from pulling the passenger side which was flawless (completely rust free) and I happened to look up and I saw damage to the top of the window rail ....the whole door was wasted because someone had messed this up. The window couldn't even roll all the way up. Heart Breaking. Still I had a very enjoyable drive down to Roanoke and back up (60 miles each way) and of course had a blast in the yard. I didn't leave till they had to shut the gates. I checked out a few Cobalts while I was there. Gotta say I wasn't too impressed. Th gauges seemed pretty nice but the seats in them are like a buck board and visibility in all of them wasn't good - the seating position is just too low for my taste.
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nope, those don't swap. have a set, they need bottoms. scrapping the wagon but will be keeping the back doors. take the time to fix them for someone with a wagon.
