Anyone with experience swapping doors and door guts

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I'm about to (finally) put some doors on my coupe, but i'm looking for someone who knows how to convert a door from power to manual windows and locks. The doors i have are all power and i want manual cranks and locks. I've read that all you need to do is drill out the rivets and swap the whole insides but i'm looking for more detail than that and maybe a hand in doing so.

Alternatively if anyone has manual doors and wants power, i'd be happy to trade doors...mine are 100% rust free and in great shape.

[94cobra2615]

You are correct. I think there are 3 big rivets to grind/drill out. If you want an oem look/function, you will want to rivet the manual hardware back in when you swap. You will need a BIG rivet gun to do this available at harbor freight. I think you can also bolt the manual hardware in, but I never have.

After that, all you do is slide the inside gear out of the track and out the door. **Be careful when drilling the rivets out. KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAR and wear gloves. The hardware is spring loaded in there and it will be like a guillotine when you get it free.

To convert to manual locks, all you do is take the lock solenoids out. Instant manual locks after that.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

So is it a good idea to have the windows up when i'm doing this? Also do you know anything about maybe changing the dew wipes and side mirrors back to the older '86 and older style?

[Sparky]

It's been a while since I've changed on in a fox body, but you will probably need to have it rolled about halfway up. For safety sake, take some duct tape or equivalent and tap the glass to the window frame. The proper way to remove the rivets is to take a center punch and knock the centers out. The centers are made of steel and the rivet head itself is aluminum. Use a nice sharp 1/4 " drill bit to drill them out. You must knock the mandrels out of the rivet though (the little nails in the center). If the rivet is stubborn and wants to spin try to put some tension on the regulator assembly to make the rivet head grip.It is important to keep them from spinning too much because it makes the holes too big for a new rivet. DO NOT GRAB THE BACKSIDE OF THE RIVET WHILE DRILLING or you will have a bloody mess in your hands.....literally. The rivets you will need are 1/4'' peel type rivets and they require a special gun commonly known as a "Big Daddy" rivet gun. I don't know how much they are a harbor freight but I bought a cheap one at the paint store for 40 bucks. You should be able to find the rivets at NAPA or KOI. Hope this answers everything.

[Sparky]

Oh, and the hardware. All bolt on pieces from 79-93 in your doors should be interchangeable. The only thing I've run across is t-top/converible doors have a couple extra holes for window stops. BTW, what's a dew pipe?

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Oh, and the hardware. All bolt on pieces from 79-93 in your doors should be interchangeable. The only thing I've run across is t-top/converible doors have a couple extra holes for window stops. BTW, what's a dew pipe?

Dew wipes are those rubber strips that run along the outside of the window to wipe off dew, but more importantly they keep water from running down inside the door. On '79-86 doors, they had a cheaper/old school style, and they almost always dry rot and break up, and that lets water in your door which just sits there and rusts out the doors (like mine are). The newer cars got a serious wipe which is a lot bigger and stronger and i don't think i've ever seen one dry rot. The problem is they're totally different looking and stick out from the door, and sort of flow into the quarter glass, so without the newer glass behind the doors, you've got this big plastic strip sticking out from your door.

[Sparky]

You learn something new everyday. In the body shop industry we call those belt mouldings. I know exactly what your talking about now. The problem you have with switching back to the old style is when you slide off the outer moulding, you have a row of white plastic buttons sticking out of the top of the skin. You can knock them off easily enough, but then you have about 5 square holes to weld shut.Other than that, its a matter of swapping parts. I've seen the newer style rust really bad behind the outer moulding, It's kind of inevitable. There alot of cars out there with mouldings made the same way and I've seen them rust within the first year of their life. Does 5.0 resto offer new ones?

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

You learn something new everyday. In the body shop industry we call those belt mouldings. I know exactly what your talking about now. The problem you have with switching back to the old style is when you slide off the outer moulding, you have a row of white plastic buttons sticking out of the top of the skin. You can knock them off easily enough, but then you have about 5 square holes to weld shut.Other than that, its a matter of swapping parts. I've seen the newer style rust really bad behind the outer moulding, It's kind of inevitable. There alot of cars out there with mouldings made the same way and I've seen them rust within the first year of their life. Does 5.0 resto offer new ones?


I believe they sell both old and new style wipes, and i knew about the holes to weld up....my other problem is the side view mirror is different, along with the strip of trim that comes down the top of the window frame and meets the side view. Basically Ford redesigned the whole damn thing trying (i think) to solve the rusted out door issue.

I posted this problem on another site and i've actually had an outpouring of offers for the right year doors...unfortunately they're all like 4+ hours away, but i might jump on it if the price is right.

[glassman]

I can help you out with the doors but are you trying to keep the old style qtr window? To do the regulators the correct way you should remove the door glass. Then drill the rivets out of the regulator remove it. Do not remove the power motor the regulator is under a lot of pressure and the power is diffferent than the manual. The motor will be atached to the reg. and there is no need to remove it from the assembly.
I am in beechmont and have a pair of 86 manual doors if you want to look at them or if you want help with your doors give me a call.

Jason @ Auto Pro Glass 513-232-2110

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Dude...i would really just like to BUY YOUR 86 DOORS....lol


Supposedly some guys on another site have a set for me if i'm willing to drive to get them but i haven't heard any response as to whether this will happen or not...but if it doesn't i'll absolutely take you up on that help.