It’s that time again, headed to the junkyards to see what I can find. I’ll be going for doors off a coupe/hatch and a Z-24 rear bumper and a 2nd generation spoiler (if the size matches up to 1st generation).

So does anyone know if I need anything special to remove a door? I remember on my ’76 Trans Am it was just a few bolts for the hinges, but this car looks like there might be more to deal with, I’m especially wondering about that spring in there that props the door open. Any special tools?

What about that bumper—is there anything I should know or is it just standard bolts? Will it just bolt right on a non-Z J-body? I know I’ll have to get the license plate mounted and have something done so the plate light will work since the Hawk has a lower placement on the plate, but anyone know anything else?

What is everyone else looking for? Small stuff I can afford to get, shipping to you will vary.

I replaced doors on a 85 cavalier last fall,the easiest way I found is to unbolt the lower hinge and just knock out the pin on the upper hinge, unless the dash panel is removed from the car in that case unbolt both.

For the bottom hinge you will need a 10 or 11mm 3/8" socket and long extension to remove the outer bolt and a 14 or 15 mm for the one inside behind the kick panel. By unbolting the bottom hinge from the body the spring won't even be disturbed.

You will need your long extension and a hammer down to tap the pin down from the top, use a pair of needle nosed pliers to pinch in the 2 tabs of the locking collar that is on the pin itself, unless you do not need the collar because you have a new pin, in that case just tap the pin through. You could need a pair of vise grips to pull the pin the remainder of the way out.

I have seen two different rear bumper mounting setup's on first and second gens , one has bumper shocks and the other has a collapsible metal bracket.
First remove the bumper cover mounting bolts inside the trunk, 2 on each side,10 or 11mm. 1 bolt on the inner rear lip of the wheel tub each side, and then 3 on each side under the car.
Then unbolt the bumper brackets or shocks with a 13mm and take the cover, bumper,and shocks all one piece that way you have everything you need.

So if I remove the dash panel, I can get at that pin from the inside of the car?

I don't really understand how tapping the pin from the top will get it out (I'm not that smart sometimes). My thought here is that the pin is horizontal to the ground and the effect of tapping it from the top is to simply bend the pin (or maybe I'm seeing this coming off the car a little different than it is).

What about electrical wires? I'd like to keep my power locks if I can, but I am dumping the power windows for cranks since the PW parts pretty much don't exist.

on my 86 I just had to knock the top pin down with a hammer and a punch and the bottom one up. no hinges had to come off. then just get new pins and bushings at the parts store they are pretty generic.

This is what I'm really not getting...

1. If I were to knock the pin (from top or bottom), how does that not just bend the pin?

2. OK, let's say I finally understand how this works when I'm there and actually doing it. So I bang on the pins and I get the doors off the car in the yard. Then I have to come home and do the same to my car. Now this means I have to replace the pins I just broke? Do I have to tear apart the dashboard to get to the pins from inside the car?

i think some one needs to take some pics for him

have you ever popped the pins on a house door? like that. exactly lol

The house door I understand, since that door it is a vertical pin, but unless I'm looking at the wrong thing, isn't the pin on the car horizontal (which is why I figure it would just bend).

nope its vertical on the car too. The bolts are horizontal to hold the hinge to the door/frame, but the pins are vertical.

So I must be looking at the wrong thing there. I'll see if I can post a pic later for the only part I'm not sure about then. My plan is to take the hinge with the door, so do I only have to get the bolts?

The reason for this whole mess of a post is that it looks (to me) like there is a horizontal pin in the top hinge and I didn't know how to deal with that--does the hinge simply rest on that and it is welded to the car?

those are the pins. they pop out and door comes off with half of the hinge. it would be a bitch to not do this anyway before taking the part of the hinge connected to the car off.

So glad you got a pic up...

OK, those pins circled wasn't what I meant (sorry for the confusion).

On the upper hinge, to the right of your circle about 3/4 from the top of the pin, see that little nubby sticking out horizontally? That's what I meant. Really my plan was to grab hinge and all, but if I have to pop the pins you have circled anyway, and since I don't know what to do with that nubby, seems like I shouldn't bother taking the part attached to the body.

Now look at that lower circle, exactly above it is a spring--is there anything I should know about grabbing that since I really don't like the doors closing by themelves?

Finally above the spring, there's a tube that I'm guessing holds wires which I won't need if I'm ditching the idea of power windows or locks. Does that just pull off from the body?

I really wanna take this moment to thank everyone for their input so I can learn to do this.

the tube comes loose but there will be wires in it (duh to me lol).. the springs however, I never was able to get back in because I couldnt find a way to compress them (THEY ARE STRONG!)

I see the nub now and now im thinking that those are the back side of a bolt that is welded in. I think that there is a nut inside the car behind the dash. you can find out at least for the bottom one since its not hard to get to that spot. someone will have to clarify that though, i only used the pins. sorry that I am going off of something I did in "08. I keep thinking about the lebaron which has 3 nuts on each hinge with those same pins. (which I have to get a new drivers door soon since that hinge rusted into the door and wont open or shut right now.)

hope this is any help!!

Wow, you're fast!

I think my local Harbor Freight (tool store) has something for that spring, I'll have to check that out.

Thank you for walking my dumb-a** through this; and sorry about the misunderstanding on what the pin was.

dude no problem I feel amazed that I had any input on this site at all that may have been somewhat helpful... haha.

I want to know if you get this taken care of!!

Man what a PITA the doors are...

Used that 14mm to get the bolts from behind the kick panels, had a hell of a time getting the 11mm ones off from between the hinge and the door, but finally got those suckers.

Couldn't do a darn thing with the pin in the upper hinge. No way to really get anything on it to bang it through, but somehow managed to get one partially going.

Total time = 3 hours and walked away in frustration.

How long should this take really? Is there something to getting that pin out I didn't get? I was banging at it from the top and it just didn't want to budge. My friend managed to get the one on the passenger side started, but no way to really pull it from the bottom that we could figure out.

I'll probably try again next Saturday but any suggestions?

heh, I bought my doors already removed, but it took me an entire day for the drivers side to come off my car, and then half the next for the passenger LOL

I had a thought today about those darn pins...

Is that a sleeve over the pin? I'm thinking at the factory when the fenders are nice and off the car, someone comes in and shoves the pin up from the bottom, then feeds that sleeve over the top through the top hole and the tabs come out and won't allow it to go through the lower hole, thus locking the pin in place.

Would I be able to pull that sleeve up through the top hole and then the pin will slide out the bottom hole?

not sure what you are referencing on that one. there is a sort of grommet that goes in the hole before the pin. its about 3/4" and you might be able to just break it out to make the pin have more room to slide out.

It may be just an illusion to me for there to be a sleeve

This is what Lewis wrote at first:

You will need your long extension and a hammer down to tap the pin down from the top, use a pair of needle nosed pliers to pinch in the 2 tabs of the locking collar that is on the pin itself, unless you do not need the collar because you have a new pin, in that case just tap the pin through. You could need a pair of vise grips to pull the pin the remainder of the way out.

That part about the 2 tabs--are those tabs maybe part of a piece the pin slides into from the bottom?

This whole thing is just driving me nuts and if I can get these darn doors off the car in the yard, I may just pay a bodyshop to hang them on the car for me.

oh ok. those tabs are on the grommet, bushing, washer, whatever its called. its just a little black cup the very top of the pin sits in and gets snugged up. its what keeps it in the door. you can break them by just beating the pins out. no worries