Shaved doors...

[Petos]

Hi, guys
I bought my VX from Rickster with shaved doors (attached) and this mod is getting on my nerves.. The battery goes off or the power locks refuse to work, and I need to crawl through the trunk every time... :(


I also need to make an important decision about taking my car home (Moscow) or trying to sell it and get another VX to take home (cannot live without one..) so need to understand how easy it would be to restore the door handles..
Your thoughts?
Maybe know of someone in Illinois area who could undertake this kinda job? What spare parts will I need to restore handles?

much appreciated!
Petos

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/P1170004.JPG (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10338)

[johnnyapollo]

Try to find someone who would like the mod and swap doors - it would be easier than going back - might even be easier to find two doors from a junked VX rather than spending the time trying to fix those.

-- John

[fuzzy]

<raising hand excitedly like one of my cadets ready to ask an inane question>

How do you open the door now? With a popper, a concealed handle, or slipping fingers between the creases?

[WormGod]

Uhg, that sucks.

Rule #1 should always be, when shopping for a used car, DON'T buy a car with questionable (or any at all) mods, heh.

Unsure what all went into getting this mod to work, but its most likely poppers, so if you do a swap with someone, you are still looking at some brute force labor. Seriously doesn't sound like fun and I dont envy you. Your best bet would probably be to just get the door poppers to work "right".

[JHarris1385]

Swapping doors with another member is not that easy........remember he has the rickster painted doors.

[johnnyapollo]

Is the issue that the electronic locks aren't engaging, or is the problem that the popper mechanism doesn't have enough power to push the doors open? It's usually the second issue - I'm solving the one on the rear door on my proton by adding a second popper. Some people with shaved doors adde a contact switch on the bottom so they'll have a backup if the remote doesn't work - that's another option.

-- John

[creeg]

Another solution is to put a door lock back on the door. It would be easier to re-drill the round door lock into the door than to add handles back in.

In theory, all you would need to do is drill a hole in the EXACT right spot, install the lock, and then you can use the key to open the door, and the door poppers would open it the rest of the way.

The only problem is that there is a filled hole, possibly that has a piece of metal welded (and bondo'd), right where you need to drill- so it could be tricky.

Not an ideal solution- it kinda messes up the "smoothness" of not having handles, and you should probably look into getting the mechanics in the door fixed by a pro. But it's possibly the easiest solution.

One other thing: make sure the poppers are actually popping open the door. They may be too weak, and that might be your problem (you would just need to get stronger poppers). Or, the motor (or is it a solenoid?) to the door lock might need to be replaced. And lastly, re-lube everything. Its amazing what a little grease in the right spot can do.

good luck!

[johnnyapollo]

Any cutting that would need to be done to restore the handles and locks would require repainting and some finish work - I still think it would be less expensive to locate doors (the labor would equate out to the cost of the doors in my opinion, but I'm no expert).

-- John

[Petos]

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen..
Well, the passenger door does not pop up at all at the moment - I press the button on the remote, and nothing happens.. I guess the electric lock just does not engage for some reason...
John, can you please comment on the "Some people with shaved doors adde a contact switch on the bottom so they'll have a backup if the remote doesn't work".. pardon my stupidity, but I'm not sure what the "bottom" refers to? :confused:

And even if I get it fixed somehow, there is still a problem with closing the door with the key (and the remote I use to pop the door) in the ignition.. :(
Also, in Russian climate I may have the door freezing issue (rain + cold night later), unlike Texas where the VX used to be before...
Also, every time I want to let the passenger in from the inside, I have to lean to reach out for the inside handle and open the door.. :(

referring to Wormgod's question, how are the doors shaved? Do people just put another sheet of metal on the doors??

thanks again for your support.. I promise to repay with some Russian drinks/food in Moab :)

[nfpgasmask]

What kind of labor does swapping doors require? How hard can it be?

I would opt for junkyard doors. Cart-part.com shows that Veldman's has both left and right doors. I don't know what color though. They are priced at $450 each, so you are looking at about $1000 to get the doors, plus labor to put them in and a possible repaint.

All that said I still think this is the best option. Veldman's is about 1.5 hours from Chicago. Its an easy place to deal with.

Bart

[Chopper]

Getting someone to swap is by far the easiest answer, but these have been repainted, so the tradee is still stuck getting the doors shot. Changing them out is physically easy, not challenging at all. And yes, metal is welded into the openings, then bondoed over ...the handle and mechanisms are then discarded the skins are a loss....so....a couple of door skins, whatever mechanicals that are gone, some paint, and the shop to put it all together is all you need. Trading or used doors are the only two reasonable answers I think

[johnnyapollo]

People will put a contact switch somewhere on the vehicle so the doors can still be opened without a remote. This can be a hidden button or whatever - sort of like adding the popper switch for the rear door, only it's accessible. The only issue is that the alarm still needs to be disarmed or it'll go off - but it does get one around a failed transmitter for the door actuator itself.

-- John

[creeg]

Yeah, trying to deal with these solenoids in the russian winter sounds like a big problem- my money is on swapping the doors with ones with door handles.

I'd be happy to do the swap with you if I lived closer.

Good luck!

[VCrossfan]

It would be easy switching doors but very tough to match that paint, except if Ricksters paint on the door skin is factory and only the candy type paint is on the cladding, you could pull the cladding off and install it on the replacement door. I would go the route of having the existing mechanics repaired, start with a hidden button to pop the door and a power shut off/on to that button to lock the VX, No power-No open...Good Luck...

[Knigh7s]

You could have two of these "Water Proof Switches" (http://www.kmwperformance.com/product/S7.aspx)
installed. I was thinking about doing the shaved door deal. Two of these can be easily installed in the rear fenderwell on the drivers side. Its a perfect hiding spot for these. If the alarm is set and someone happens to find the switches, the alarm will sound.

Also, If your car battery dies, here are two more options below.
the first option you can find here. (http://www.kmwperformance.com/product/SVERKD.aspx) and the second option, if you look around online, you can find a kit that lets you hook up a 9 volt battery to a switch for emergency power to the solinoids.

[Rene M]

I would just replace the doors with pull offs and e bay your shaved doors.
Look here for replacement doors.

www.car-part.com
its a parts inventory of every salvage yard in the US and Canada.
I have orderd lots of stuff for my VX from yards all over the US.

[Rene M]

I would install a battery back up for the door/alarm system any way.
Its very simple and cheep to do:
You install a very small 12volt battery " one for emergency lighting because they are all 12 volt and gel cell" then solder a diode between it and the power supply from the truck. the truck can replenish the battery but it will not drain when the batt in the truck goes dead. Ta da problem fixed.
You can always get in your truck even if it does not start.
Most of my expensive cars have these and i installed all of them my self.



Is the issue that the electronic locks aren't engaging, or is the problem that the popper mechanism doesn't have enough power to push the doors open? It's usually the second issue - I'm solving the one on the rear door on my proton by adding a second popper. Some people with shaved doors adde a contact switch on the bottom so they'll have a backup if the remote doesn't work - that's another option.

-- John

[WormGod]

I am surprised that Rickster never had a fail-safe mechanism put in. I have done shaved door handles for customers in the past and every kit always had a manual trigger located under the drievrs side door to open the driver's door, IF the alarm was off/door unlocked. My guess is, he didnt use a kit and probably did some custom setup of his own.

And yes, a door swap is your best bet, even though paint matching is NEVER gonna happen with that custom job. Reworking your existing doors to grind out the plastic and cut out the spotted in sheetmetal is far above and beyond a simple fix.

I would just get a shop that deals in automotive electronics to see if they can find and resolve the existing problem and live with the shaved handles. Its not gonna be an easily reverse engineered solution since you are dealing with that custom paint. :(

[Petos]

Hey, gang

Thanks again for all the suggestions, extremely useful!

Here is what I have decided:

1. I will replace the existing 2 TV screens located in the airbag section with an original airbag (got one from e-bay for $200), so the battery charge hopefully stops leaking :)

2. Will check why the left door does not pop (hopefully, will be able to find a shop dealing with these types of issues in Chicago area..)

3. Will install the Back Up Button - thanks Knigh2s! "Two of these can be easily installed in the rear fenderwell on the drivers side" - so I need to order 2 of those?
Also, item description says "Even in the event that your car or truck's battery dies, if you mount the S7 in an elliptical hole you'll be able apply a twelve volt battery directly to the S7's terminals to activate your solenoids", so I guess I dont need to buy the "Autoloc Deluxe Emergancy Release Kit"?

4. Will install a very small 12volt battery (thanks, Rene!).. any suggestions on which one to buy?

5. Buying new doors for $1,000 sounds a bit expensive at the moment.. But I will be happy to swap if anyone is interested (e.g., when we get together in Moab?).. Yes, the cladding is painted, so it will need to be swapped backwards.. I will post pictures in later to see if anyone is interested..

Thanks a lot again, guys!