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Just fitted wooden door caps to my front doors.
I had some moments, so here's the procedure..
(I've just done the two front doors for now, so this just covers them, I see no reason why the rears should be too different in principle, aside from the fact that they are more awkward to remove).
1) remove door panel from each door.
2) remove the black plastic guide that the door unlocking button pokes through.
3)Undo the four nuts with integral washers that (should) come with the cappings.
4)Fit the guide to the door capping and offer it up to the door. Use the black plastic guide as your reference point. It is just long enough to start to seat in the hole in the door panel to act as a reference point.Line up the rest of the door capping along the rest of the door by sight.
MY MOMENT..
When I fitted mine, I noticed that the interior weatherstip on top of the door panel was not straight along its length, whereas the door cappings are. I went ahead and got myself in big trouble trying to remove the weatherstrip in order to refit it straight. BAD IDEA! that hard plastic strip has indentations that act as teeth when the weatherstrip was fitted to the cardboard door cards. Trying to prise them off just resulted in screwdriver marks on the top of the weatherstrip on one door - the other one I actually tore the card across the hole in the card for the black plastic guide! An urgent cry for help on this board was answered by my compatriot the great and good Mr Bill Davies who pointed out that the door cappings are designed to cope with the variations in the weatherstrip and may sit slightly on top of the weatherstrip in places.
5)press your thumb on top of the door capping directly over each threaded bolt that is attached to the door capping in order to make a slight indentation in the material of the door panel.
6)Quickly remove the the capping and mark the centre of the indentation with a pen - I say be quick as the indentations will disappearif you're too slow.
7)drill a pilot hole with a small drill and finish up with drill slightly larger than the capping bolts.
8)using a pencil or similar, push down the material that may be sticking up out of the hole.
9)clean up the other side of the hole, so the washer has a flat surface to fit against.
10)Now offer up the capping, again using the black plastic guide as your reference. Make sure all the bolts are aligned in the holes and ease each one down in turn, along with the black plastic guide.
11)Once it is in place, tighten each one a little in turn with the emphasis on the bolt in the middle being tightest, so any play will be taken up by the bolts on either end - a bit like tightening head bolts.
12)Final touch - the black plastic guide is normally held in place with two tangs that are moulded so that they spring out and hold themselves in place, same as the boot/hatch release switch in the door. With the extra height of the door capping, they won't now be able to latch underneath the door panel. I cut off a length off each tang the same thickness as the door capping and they are now secure.
Time taken (excluding time faffing around with weatherstrip)20 mins for first door, 10 mins for second, not including time to remove/replace door cards.
Hint: while door cards off, this is a good time to treat the moving parts of your lock mechanism with 3 in 1 oil and make sure all the cable connectors are tied securely and tape up any tears or holes in the moisture barrier material.
Good luck
Andy(West London)
posted by 82.44.64...
, Wed, 5 Apr 2006 09:02:54
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