NB door removal

[Tigger]

Well, I've managed to get my hands in some doors from a very generous forum member, and I've going to remove mine, aaaaand they bolts that can be accessed (on the door) are tack welded.
This leaves the ones on the other side of the hinge.
Do I seriously have to remove the front quarter panel to remove the door? If so, how?
Thanks

[KevGoat]

Never done it myself but found the following here: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=391616

"The fender does not need to be removed.
If you are replacing the hinges...remove the door from the hinges first. Mark the location of the bottom hinge before removing it. This will make realigning the door much easier. The hinges can be loosened on the body side with the door installed using a box wrench for final alignment,but its a tight fit.

I found it best to support the door with a jack before removal. When the door is free just lift it off the jack. This way all you'll need to do is set the replacement door on the jack,install the bolts,and it should be very close. Pretty much the bottom hinge is the only part adjustable. The top hinge has a washer tacked inplace on the upper bolt that aligns the top hinge to the door. As well the top hinge has an alignment pin on the body side that aligns the hinge to the body. The top alignment pin is held inplace by a nut in the center of the 2 bolts that hold the top hinge to the body. There is no need to remove this nut to remove the hinge. It just holds the alignment pin,but has the look of nut that would be holding the hinge in place.(sure you'll see what I mean once you have removed the door.)
You can either unplug the wiring going into the door from inside the door,or by pulling the boot between the door and the body off of the body side and unplugging the connectors just inside the pillar.

Good luck"

Hope it helps

[gee]

The weight of the door is a huge pain when trying to remove the bolts. I suspended the door on a couple of ratchet straps from the ceiling and propped it up on some cushions which made it slightly easier since the straps let you control how much weight you have on the hinge.

[Tigger]

Thanks guys. I saw that post actually. Unfortunately my doors have a tack welded on the bolts that attach the door to the hinge. I had a thought that I might be able to remove the wheel arch lining and get access to the other bolts from there.

[hks_kansei]

Make sure to remove the roll pin from the door limiting strap first.

You'll need to do that to not bend it anyway, but it also allows you to open the door further to give you more room to get tools in.

Just make sure you don't open it into the guard if the old door is being saved.

[Tigger]

Ahh, that would be really useful. I'll take a look. More space is always good. Like removing the tire to change the oil filter lol.