Door Reinstallation

Tiny
TOMSHANTY
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 BMW 740
  • V8
Hi. This is sort of a long story.

BMW 740iL was in a car accident and damaged the driver side front door and driver side back door. The collison was a side swipe. The other driver's insurance paid wrote a check that covered the cost to repair it. Anyone who's bought any part for a BMW knows it's expensive and I found 2 doors in perfect condition at a scrap yard which I think is rare for this model bmw. So I took on the venture of replacing the doors myself and saving some money.

1. Now I have some road blocks. I usually try to find a Haynes manual before starting on projects, but Haynes doesn't make one for this car. So one mistake was not scribing the hinge to provide reference for reinstallation. So, I already know that I should have marked the hinge. Lesson learned. I've tried every which way to reinstall the door by guessing where I should place the hinges and I think I'm close.

2. The second problem is the frame has minor damage. The dents on the door frame are almost invisible unless you compare it to the other side of the car.

I haven't started on the back door yet, but as far as the front door is the dillema is the door doesn't seem to close tightly. It will close and seem to fit, but still seems loose. So I'm wondering if this could be a result the first problem or if it could be a result of the second problem. I will try to post pictures in a few hours.

Thanks.
Thursday, April 28th, 2011 AT 6:37 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
If your frame is screwed up then none of your sheet metal will mount correctly. The front doorshould be put on last not first. Everythinglines up with the reardoor when a car is assembled. But don't take thedoor offnow. Yu can adjust the striker for the door to close tighter. But try doing your adjustments through the hingesfirst. If your "B" pillar was hit as well you'll have to straighten that first before you do anything. The "B" pillar is the column between the doors.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, April 28th, 2011 AT 9:38 PM
Tiny
TOMSHANTY
  • MEMBER
  • 34 POSTS
I just realized that even if I did outline the hinge for reassembly, it wouldn't have helped because the hinge bolts to the door and is welded to the frame.

I'm considering taking it to a body shop to have them repair the frame because the "B" pillar is damaged near the hinge.

A mechanic that I know looked at it and said that I should try to move the hinge back into place. He doesn't do body work so it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. Here are some pictures. I put white out where it looked damaged.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 AT 12:37 AM
Tiny
TOMSHANTY
  • MEMBER
  • 34 POSTS
Oh, and the pictures of the doors are the ones that I found at the scrap yard installed on my car.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 AT 12:40 AM
Tiny
HMAC300
  • MECHANIC
  • 48,601 POSTS
There are a few tricks to doing door alingment. Not beign able to be there you are better off having the body shop give you an opinion.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 AT 12:41 AM
Tiny
ROGERPETERSON
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I had the same thing happened to me I was sideswiped on the freeway but the guy ran into me on purpose yeah a little road rage going on so as you can see in the pictures he caved in both doors front and rear passenger side I've been able to pull out the passenger rear door not so sure I'll be able to save the front door but as I'm living on a budget and don't have the money to buy all the parts
this is about me skinning my b pillar.
I was able to get a replacement B pillar/column for 85 dollars at the local wrecking yard I had to go and cut it out myself there's a couple pictures in there of me stripping the B pillar out getting all the interior guts out of it I found out the top portion (pictures in the diagram number 16 )of the pillar on the inside is glued in the you will need a blow torch burn the glue out in a screwdriver to pull it out as it'll be hot I use some spray paint remover so I can find all the spot welds drill them out on the replacement B pillar you wanna leave all the components for the upper hinge on the inside In place so don't cut or drill out those spot welds (keep in mind this is how I'm doing it ) so now basically your replacement the pillars should be gutted and ready to use keep in mind there are 2 support pieces 1 on each side of the b pillar approximately a foot and a half or too out along with the spot welds they also have foam glue thim in.
Tools I use to 12 inch long dual metal hacksaw blade, air powered cut off wheel, electric grinder for half inch, a porta power,and miscellaneous and tools found my most handy tool is a rather thick high quality puddy knife/puddy spreader inch in a half.
when chopping out the B pillar on the car cut it out sections at a time so you can reveal what's left of what you might need to see being careful not to cut too deep to damage the floor or the side panels buy a spot weld removal bit at a self punch or just use a punch in a hammer cut out to B pillar in sections like showing in my pictures the top portion of the inner B pillar is glued to the outer skin once you cut it where you want it replaced on the upper portion just use your puddy knife once you get the sides cutaway and separate the glue cut around the hinges with your cut off wheel and then cut the upper hinge out using the sawzall blade to make room for the 1 you left in the replacement B pillar now this is as far as I've gotten so far but I cut off to lower hinge and grounded it completely off using the welder to fill in any spots or gaps the last couple pictures are me dri fitting the peace with out the ends cut to size I hope to add on to this in the near couple weeks
(my plans are to trim the ends by overlapping them a 16th of an inch once I get I get it trimmed and put in place use clamps to hold it in place and spot weld it and my plans to secure the bottom hinge are to drill for holes in it and weld and feel those holes firmly to the inside of the pillar I got the diagram pictures from this website http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=GJ83&mospid=47531&hg=41&fg=20 )
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012 AT 2:15 PM
Tiny
ROGERPETERSON
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I could not post my pictures so heres a link to my photo bucket pics of the car http://s1173.photobucket.com/albums/r583/peterson006/
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012 AT 2:58 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links