E30 Zone

My rear near side door has got a big dent below the door trim and so one option is to simply replace the whole door.
Is this an easy job? Will the wiring for the central locking simply plug into to a donor door (assuming the donor has central locking)?
Cheers
Chris

easyest job on the car to do if your new door has c/l. if you open the door on your car the wires go into a plug on the piler pull back the rubber over it squeez the 2 tabs together and pull out the plug . the hinges are also very easy on the top of 1 hinge and the bottom of the other there is a 10mm bolt undu these and lift off the door job done in 5 mins

Cheers mate, I was hoping it would be that easy

You might have to do a bit of jiggling on the hinge bolts to get it closing correctly and to get the panel gaps right - be careful opening the door the first time as it could foul on the front door.

Good advice, cheers

nothing to align if you look at the hinges they are in 2 parts the pin bit is a bolt on both top and bottom hinges just undo that and lift door off dont undo the 13mm bolts that hold the hinge to the door and pilar or you will have to adjust the gaps i know how easy it is to do i have just removed 2 doors from a scrapper and fitted them to my 318is in under 20mins

all I need now is a door!

paulisa wrote:nothing to align if you look at the hinges they are in 2 parts the pin bit is a bolt on both top and bottom hinges just undo that and lift door off dont undo the 13mm bolts that hold the hinge to the door and pilar or you will have to adjust the gaps i know how easy it is to do i have just removed 2 doors from a scrapper and fitted them to my 318is in under 20mins

You still may have to adjust the door for fit. I wasn't suggesting that you remove the 13mm bolts, but split the hinge as paulisa suggests. But all cars, and all doors, are not the same, that is why there is adjustment built in.

I just swapped passenger front doors on the touring by splitting the hinges, the 'new' door was miles out and fouled both the wing and door frame despite fitting perfectly on the car from which it was removed.

guess i was lucky then changed both doors from a scrapper to my 318is and both fitted perfect with good gaps and lined up well .

paulisa wrote:easyest job on the car to do if your new door has c/l. if you open the door on your car the wires go into a plug on the piler pull back the rubber over it squeez the 2 tabs together and pull out the plug . the hinges are also very easy on the top of 1 hinge and the bottom of the other there is a 10mm bolt undu these and lift off the door job done in 5 mins

REARdoor! The wiring plug and socket for this is clipped inside the C pillar, so the trim will have to come off. Other than that, it just lifts off and on as above, but adjustment may be needed to get the gaps right.