The Manroom has been in a bit of a state recently and I have the battle scars to prove it as I've been falling over stuff. I spent the entire morning today tidying it up - I pushed the Midas out on to the driveway so I could have more room to play with and it is now a much happier place to be. So much so that it was time to crack on with the doors. The frames needed to come off as it is the only way to get the glass out short of smashing it. I REALLY need to change the channel rubbers and all the other window seals as they're so rotten - not a problem really, but the state of them is quite comical.
First thing was first was to remove the 7 screws holding the frame to the door. 2 of them go through each frame upright with 3 securing the end piece and 2 through the front edge of the top of the door beneath the quarterlight. These were horrible on the driver's door, and I have ended up bending the frame over these as they simply would not shift. Nothing a bit of hammer work won't cure. The others were all fine, with the exception of the screw through the upright near the rear of the door. I had to use an impact driver on this one in conjunction with some WD40. Didn't take too long though as I like hitting things with a hammer. The frame then came off with no real issues, and this was followed by the lock, latch and handle mechanisms. All easy!
The other side was next up. Firstly I drilled out all the rivets on the winder plates (the main one looked horrible!) and removed all the window winder gubbins and the door pull. I then moved on to the frame. The front screws were a struggle - I resorted to Dremel-ing a slot in them - the heat from this allowed the fibreglass to release its grip enough to let them turn. The back 3 again were no issue but the rearmost upright screw was a proper bar steward. Of course the head was just chewed enough so the impact driver wouldn't work and you could not get the Dremel in there to cut it off. I eventually released it using a very small pair of Molegrips, which took forever because I could only move it about an eighth of a turn at a time. Eventually it gave up and the frame parted company with the door.
I cut the rusty bit off the door plate and once again repeated the process of making a replacement part, riveting it on. I then hung it up and gave it a coat of stonechip. Am feeling good!
Frame finally off driver's door.
Handle and locking mechanism out.
Frame ready for refurbishing.
Passenger door ready to be attacked, including...
...very ugly looking door plate.
This screw was a pain. I cannot thank the inventor of Molegrips enough.
Frame is finally off this one too!
Repaired door plate in stonechip.