Removing Front Door Panels

[Brett Dikeman]

At 7:44 PM -0700 1/1/04, Grant Dion wrote:

>I found 2 philips screws on the edge of the
>upper panel. I also found that the armrest has 3 allen head screws

Yes- and they only need to be loosened.  Then pull the armrest 
off(may need a good tug).  The mounting system is kinda hard to 
explain, but basically, there are tabs that come out of the door, and 
after a half inch, get wider.  The allen screws actually tighten 
clamps that latch on to the half-inch-wide part.

If I remember right, it's easiest to pull the back out slightly 
first; it may be just my car, but the front tabs were angled slightly.

>. Are
>these the only things standing in my way?

No.  Remove all the electrics(they're all unique, don't worry).  Then 
you also need to remove the screw in the inside door handle(open the 
door handle, you'll see it).  Once that is removed, remove the whole 
door handle assembly and detach the cable clip, cable, etc.

Then, there's ANOTHER Phillips screw under there(I think) that hold 
the panel to the door in the center.

Then(are we having fun yet?) take a screwdriver, fairly wide, wrap it 
in some thin cloth, and work your way around the door, popping the 
plastic fasteners(they never break, don't worry).

Once they're done(they go virtually all the way around), pull the 
bottom of the door panel out and push up(remember, you have to pull 
out enough to get around the speaker, which is attached to the door, 
not the panel; only the grille is part of the panel).

>and Is there a trick to get the
>arm rest screws out? Also I will be installing 6x9s in the rear deck
>openings. I understand that I will need to cut a bit to make this happen. Is
>there a way to get the rear deck covering off so I don't damage it during
>the cutting operation?

You can install 6x9's handily using the original frame from the Bose 
system(they're standard 6x9's).  Unless you're concerned about the 
opening, but Bose didn't seem terribly concerned about it, and I 
think a fair number of people keep the stock opening, if only for 
stealth("don't steal me") purposes.

The driver's side speaker is best dropped from the top, then putting 
back in only what you need; the passenger side is best detached from 
the lower half of the hardware, which is accessible from the bottom, 
and then you attach the 6x9 to what's still attached to the car.

  This is due to the trunk lining/shape preventing access to one or 
two of the bolts from the underside.  A ratchet-end wrench works best 
for getting the speaker out if you're going from the top, other wise 
it's a LONG job getting those locknuts off.

Brett
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