How To Remove Front Door Panel 1964-66 Pontiac GTO

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In this video I'm going to show you how to install a door panel on a '65 GTO. Tools you'll need are a window crank and handle removal tool, a clip tool or a putty knife, and a Phillips screwdriver. I basically go through installing the door panel and then at the end give you some quick notes about taking the door panel off. Taking it off is just a reverse of installing it, and you just want to be careful not to pull the clips out the cardboard backing of the door panel.

Before you put the door panel on, you need to put a water shield on. This is very important. This goes and protects your door panel from the water. Not much water gets in here, but when it does you don't want to get it on the back of your door panels because the door panels are cardboard and they'll just deteriorate very quickly. A couple of notes: you want to put a sealant on here, and this is kind of like a 3M strip caulk that I put on here. You can use any kind of a thick latex caulk. You don't want something . you don't want an adhesive, but you want something that will come apart later but it's waterproof. Very important, what you want to do is have it slope nice and gradual right down into here. That way if water does come through here it has a nice even path and goes down in. Maybe they didn't take a lot of care when they did these things at the factory, and sometimes you'll see it's kind of wavy and stuff. This car actually had a big kind of dip down here so water could get held down there. Then, do the same thing over here. Make sure you have a nice gradual plane for the water to come right down and go into the holes here.

So, put this water shield on. You want to loosen your molding here. I'll speed it up here. You loosen the five screws that hold that top molding in, slip the water shield up in between the inner door panel and that molding, and then tighten those screws back up. That basically holds the top of the water shield. Then you want to start sticking it to the caulking that you put on the front and rear as well as make sure that the bottom goes down and into the slit that is along the bottom of the door to direct any water back inside the door.

Yeah, you're ready to put the door panel on. Make sure you have these clips, three in the front and two in the back. There is a larger spring that goes on, and you can actually kind of get in behind and twist it on so it stays in place. Okay. Then put your door panel up into place up into this molding. It should fit in there nice and snug. I'm just going to kind of look behind and make sure my clips are lined up pretty well, and then you have this little cone shaped spring. I'm going to reach up with that here on the door pull section. You want to make sure that the springs are lined up on your door panel. You then just kind of guide your pins in place. You might have to just adjust them up a little bit.

Now, if you're putting new panels on you'll want a sharp tool like this because you'll need to be able to find . and generally probably what you'll want to do is actually put the screws in the bottom in first. That way you can press the panel against the head of the screw and make a hole in the door panel. I'm just going to make sure my holes are lined up here. I'm pretty sure they are. I'm going to kind of fast forward and then explain what I meant. When you have a new panel, they don't come with the holes for those screws. Basically when these cars were put together at the factory those screws were self-drilling screws. So they just had a machine, they stuck the screws into the door panel, and then they drilled themselves into the metal and held the door panel. So if you want to put the screws in the same place that your car has holes, put the screws in, start mounting the door panel, and then once you get to this point, you press the door panel against a screw and you basically will make an indent where the Phillips head is. That's where you can put the hole in the door panel. So you take the door panel back off, make the holes for the screws, and then reinstall the door panel, obviously with the screws not in place and use those holes. So basically you'll probably want an awl or some type of sharp tool so that you can line up the holes with the holes in the door and then put the screws in.

Now here I'm putting the arm rest base on with the two large coarse thread Phillips screws. Here again I'd recommend having a long sharp tool like an awl to locate the screw holes. Actually, the best bet is to get one in and then locate the screw hole on the other one and then press it in and then tighten them both up.

For the handles, just make sure the clips are on. There's little, basically, bushings so they don't wear against the door panels. Push them on. Do the same thing here. Make sure the clip is on, on the bushing. Make sure one more time that that spring is in the right spot, and these things should go in nice and straight.

When you do go to take these apart, this is the special tool that works to remove the door handle and the window crank handle. Then, this just comes off with Phillips screws. The bottom comes off with Phillips screws. Then for these clips, what you want to do is you want to insert . there's actually a special tool that has a little cut-out, that's nice and flat, little cut-out that you're supposed to get around the clips, but it's also fine to put this in here. Make sure you put it in behind the door panel. Slide it down until you feel the clip that it won't go any further, and then pull real quick. That'll pop the clip out without pulling it from the door panel.

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