I'm buying two USED doors (with everything in them, glass, regulator, etc) from a 1989 6-speed covertable with 27,000 klm (16,700 miles), and having a bodyshop put them on my '89 Z51 6-speed 2 door coupe in 2 weeks. I got an email from the seller today. They are unbolting the doors from their car and taking off the door panels. They wrote the following below, and said the door lock and the passenger power mirror are not working and I'm wondering if it's because they unplugged wires, or does this sound like something more serious. Email is below. Thank you for an thoughts !!!

"Okay just jump battery cables windows work great. Power door drivers side lock wont lock with power but locks manually could be because seats are not hooked up and the driver needs to sit in the seat to lock the door it will unlock with power. Also there are some wires disconnected on the car so that may cause problems. Passenger power mirror nothing happening. So all else is working. The wires are wired into the main harness so will have to disconnect them from the door. Thanks"

 

What is your reason for the purchase of a pair of doors? Sounds foolish! Just because they're low mileage?

How many $$$$

**** The harnesses in each door are extensions of the Instrument Panel Harness (they are NOT separate) Only a somewhat talented individual that understands the C4 door components could pass on to you what works. If you checked the operation before they started the removal you 'could be' fine.

 

Hi WVZR-1, thank you for your post. I'm not buying two used doors because they have low mileage. It's a long, painful story, that is well explained in another post I made below. I'm going out to see the seller right now. If anyone has any thoughts regarding my first post in this thread it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !!!

Uh Oh ! Air Pockets/Bubbles in Paint ! 89 Vette
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1605335930

 

If the car that they're removing the doors from is actually a 'nothing but a salvage piece' - where the harnesses extend into the doors just have them cut the harnesses at the conduit (close to the hinge pillar) and leave all of the components (motors, locks, mirrors and door harnesses) in the doors.

 

THANK YOU ALL. I just got back from seeing the seller and the doner car. We got power to the battery. I tested both door locks and they work. I tested both windows and they work. I tested both power mirrors and they work as well. Everything in doors is working ! NOW, the question goes to the WIRING. The seller wants to unplug all the wiring in his donor door and pull them out through the hole in hinge pillar (leaving everything else in the doors, regulator, etc). He would prefer not to cut the wires. And he suggested the body shop remove the wiring in my doors and transfer my wiring over to his donor doors. Is this possible, and/or time consuming ? Also, I don't know if my wiring has been cut at the door hinge before. I'm going to check that on Thursday. PS -- does anyone have a photo of a 1989 door conduit to know at what spot to cut the wires. What are your thoughts ??? I appreciate any advice !!!

 

Don't cut wires unless you have to...the harness will unplug inside the car. Then as door is removed you feed the harness out (after you take the screw out of the a pillar for the door bellows)

 

When your doors are removed (the shop) will have to do as suggested and unplug all components and feed the harnesses and connectors out of the door. Yours unless a door has been replaced previously shouldn't have ever been cut. It's a labor intense job for the shop, very intensive. They then need to be fed back through the conduit into the doors you're contemplating replacing. I mentioned labor intensive - it certainly is and to anchor them correctly' inside of the doors is a task. How many plastic connectors are brittle and will bust during the disconnect procedure? Likely a few, maybe many!

Not knowing anything regarding the previous paint work, a couple of questions, Why were both doors painted? I'd ask a couple questions of the dealer. Do they still use the same paint vendor? I'd get the vendor/manufacturer of the products involved and sort the actual issue. Their vendor and also the manufacturer of products used should be interested. It would be I believe certainly less expensive and a more desirable solution than the project as you've explained. Ask the dealer to have their vendor visually inspect and determine a proper analysis on what's been done in the past. Replacing the doors doesn't sound like a solution. I'd say it can only make 'your' situation worse.

One thing you want to do before starting any of whatever. Get very good digital images of the labels that are on the driver side door frame, No vendor will offer reproductions without images for duplication. Being a dealer they should understand. That I'd imagine even if the dealer has wholesale account will be expensive. In Canada I'm not familiar with vendors but the dealer certainly should.

http://www.ecsvin.com

*** I mentioned 'foolish' in post #2. I'd say after reading the earlier thread and then this one again. It certainly is 'FOOLISH'.

 

WVZR-1, thank you for your comments. I DON'T want to replace both doors, but I have tried everything you suggested. Roughly 5 years ago both of my doors were replaced due to a break in attempt on my car. The drivers door came from a 1986. The passenger was a door shell (never painted) off the GM assembly line sitting in storage. A reputable body shop that repairs classic cars transfered my hardware from my damaged doors to the doors just mentioned. They were in good shape, no paint bubbling, and were installed on my car. They painted the doors and soon after the paint on both doors started bubbling. I took it back and the shop repainted them. Shortly after the bubbles returned, so they stripped them and painted them again. The bubbles came back ! At this point, I spoke with the insurance company and they had the body shop reimburse me the money to do the job so I could take it to someone else.

AFTER this, I took the car to several body shops and they wouldn't touch the job. They said the bubbles would likely return. So I took it to a local GM dealership. They said that they COULD fix the bubbling and they stripped the doors down and painted them. However, the bubbles came back. They repainted them AGAIN, and you guessed it. The bubbles returned, even WORSE, and with cracking in the body work. Note that a paint representative has been involved at both body shops.

As it currently stands, the GM dealership said that they would paint the doors one more time, but NO MORE. Anyone with one eye and half a brain can see the odds of them fixing the doors are close to zero. That's WHY I found two used doors from another '89 vette. Of course, I don't want to go through this trouble, but I'm being forced to go this route. I posted about this in the General Section, and Paint Section, and a commentor said, "I am betting that they have used filler over large areas. The filler has developed cracks as bonding issues.. It will look great for a year or so. Underneath you will have those cracks coming back every time the door is shut." And another poster wrote, "If it's a GM dealer, the shop techs should have all the proper training on how to use the paint materials they're being supplied with whether is be PPG, Dupont or what ever their system is. If the problem keeps occurring in the same spot it's not the shop or them, it's your doors. My suggestion, go buy two new doors as you have contaminates that aren't going to come out. "

In summary. I hope that answers some of your questions + statements.

 

Is the GM dealership hanging the doors and doing the required adjustments? The doors are the same color or different colors? Is your damage only the upper half of the door between the body side molding and the outer door glass sealing strips?

It certainly has been a disturbing and ongoing issue for you.

Are the used doors a solution? Might be the only at this late date. I'd make sure that the used you're buying have 'only' the original factory finish.

 

Yes WVZR-1, 5 years ago both doors on my '89 were replaced, and it has turned into a nightmare. The drivers was replaced with a red door shell from an '86 (no body damage and no bubbles on it) and the passenger was replaced with a door shell (never painted, excellent condition) off the GM assembly. I suspect the first body shop that did the replacing and painting contaminated the doors, and the GM dealership just made it worse. The bubbles started out around both mirrors, and then the more paint work the body shops did, the more the bubbles began spreading. They are mostly on the upper half of the door between the body side molding and the outer door glass sealing strips, but now the bubbles are starting on the bottom half now.

You asked, "Are the used doors a solution ?" Time will tell on that, but I tried to find two used doors in good condition, with no bubbling, or body work to them, and I found a 1989 C4 Corvette 6 speed convertible with 27,000 klms locally. The owner said it's the original dark blue paint, and the car has been sitting in storage since 1993. I inspected his doors and they appear to be as advertised. So I'm having those doors shipped to the GM dealer on August 15th. I worked out an agreement with the dealer to install and paint those doors on my car, instead of mine. They will paint them black. I won't have to pay for it. BUT, I may have to pay the labour to transfer the wiring harness from my doors to the new used doors. The question is, are the wires on my bad doors cut at the door jam from all the previous work done ? I have to inspect my car this morning to see. I guess I will check in the door jam, but it's raining right now. That's my next move in this aggravating saga that began roughly 5 years ago. Thank you.

 

Is rare but GM has a history of bubble paint jobs why ?? I have seen over the years a few vettes and medial GM cars could not paint bubbles came back ??? A good friend bought a new S-10 years back same problem GM repainted it 2-3 times the bubbles got bigger ??

 

Was there ever any Evercoat product used in any of the previous 'REDOES"? You mentioned the vendors and suppliers were involved so many might be interested in just how the past 'REDOES' were done if you know.

 

I have no idea if any evercoat product was used WVZR-1, and I doubt either body shop would be willing to help answer those questions at this point. If I did though, I would CERTAINLY post the info to help others. Thank you.

 

I may be wrong here, but I thought the door glass on the convertibles are shaped differently!? If so, you'll need to transfer your old side windows as well....or maybe I'm thinking of the C3's....sorry if I'm mis-remembering👍

 

Thank you '78Corvette, fortunately I already called a local autoglass shop and they looked up the part number on their computer, and then manually in 1992 NAGS (National Auto Glass Specifications) and they said both door glasses are the same part number for the '89 coupe and '89 convertable. Salute.

 

UPDATE: There was no need to cut wires. The harness unplugged from inside the car doors, and fed/pulled out of the door, and the door was removed for painting. THANK YOU all for your help and guidance !