Removing the rear interior quarter panels (they're BIG) and Doorpanels

January 7, 06

Well, by the end of today the car was pretty well empty inside. It was mostly a case of loosening things, and wiggling them to figure out how they were still attached. I find it's wise to go slow and be patient when removing interior parts. You only have one chance to see how it comes apart, and you should take good notes for when the time comes to put it all back together. Many things overlap and have to go on in certain order, and it can be a real headscratcher come reassembly time.

The rear quarters won't come out easily until all the fold-down back seat pieces are out of the way. Then, remove all the screws holding the quarter down. There are some going into the floor, some in the door jamb, some going through the quarter into the pillar.

To remove the quarter you will need to remove the upper trim piece, which covers the edge of the headliner and goes over the door. It is held in by three screws.

One in the back covering  a little stub that sticks up from the quarter.

One of those screws is directly below the seatbelt upper mount, and hidden under the B Pillar trim. The B Pillar trim removes with two screws. Then you can remove the roof trim piece.

The last screw is in the front.

Now you have about a dozen screws on the bench. Bag & Tag! In about an hour you won't remember where those came from. Trust me!

Pop out the seatbelt trim for the lower backseat seatbelt. Mine was brittle and broke :(

Now, unless I forgot anything,  you should have the quarter free to lift, shuffle, and gently pop out and lean towards the center of the car. It will still be held in by the seatbelt. Unbolt the Seatbelts using a Torx size 50 bit. Remove the whole assembly from the car. Because my seatbelts were damaged and need to be replaced, I just grabbed a box cutter and cut them to free the quarter.

The padded rear armrest panel is attached by a bunch of tin nuts from the backside of the panel. It looks like the woodgrain insert is attached that way as well. It looks like two tin nuts hold the seatbelt trim to the padded panel. Those would have to be removed to get the seatbelt out without damaging the panel. The padded panel is also stapled at least on the doorjamb edge, so don't try to just pry it out.

Behind the quarter is some thick sound deadener.

I am surprised at how much sound deadener this car has. Apparently Ford really wanted to make these cars quiet. Even the rear backseat piece which folds down has a strip of the thin rubbery stuff under it where it bolts to the floor of the hatch. The spare tire has sound deadener under it as well, and of course the whole floor is pretty sell covered in it.

I spotted something odd under the sound deadener in the backseat and carefully pulled it out, thinking it might be another buildsheet type thing. Nope, it was a piece of 240 grit sandpaper. What were they doing with that on the line? A little finishing up by hand?

Doorpanels

Who hasn't removed their doorpanels? When I was a kid I had to remove them to replace the plastic rollers in the window mechanism. It was my first real car project. I did it in the parking lot at Grandpa's shop (the bays were full of paying customer's cars so I had to work outside), and I kept running inside and asking questions and borrowing tools. The folks at the neighboring shops would wander by and tease me "Hey, young lady, why are they making you work on that car?" "Because I like to!"

When I needed to write a technical paper my senior year in college, it had to be about a mechanical procedure, or something you could break down into a procedure. I chose to document the window roller replacement. The step by step doorpanel removal gave me lots of steps to document, and I even made illustrations - A+! Hey, maybe that's why I enjoy doing this website.

Well, that was many years ago! Time to remove the doorpanels again.

For those who haven't had the pleasure...

Remove the door lock knob (it just unscrews)

Remove the crank and the inside door handle. Both are held on with Phillips head screws. On mine, only the window crank has a plastic washer behind it to protect the doorpanel from where it turns.

Remove the two bolts through the underside of the armrest. They have 3/8 inch heads, and a deep socket will help.

Take a door panel tool (this is very handy to have, though you can do it with a big screwdriver if you're careful) and slide it between the doorpanel and the door. Scoot it along feeling for the fasteners (little metal clips which are attached to the panel, and fit into holes in the door). When you find one, use the door panel tool to gently pop the fastener out of the door. Be careful you don't damage the panel, because it's just cardboard.

If you have courtesy lights you might want to reach behind the panel and disconnect them before you have to do it while holding a loose panel.

When you have everything disconnected, pull out from the bottom, and lift up, and the panel should come right off.

That was easy! Between the panel and the door should be a waxy piece of paper held on by black goop. That's a water shield to protect the cardboard panel from water that sneaks in. The bottom of the door should have drains to let the water out. Hopefully yours are open, else the area tends to rust out. Mine are open and everything looks good there.

Tip of the Day: I bought a pair of Mechanix work gloves, and I love them. They keep my hands clean, and protect me from holding cold metal tools and most sharp metal edges. I can even pick up small screws in them and write in my notebook. Worth every penny!

stefrobrts@stephanies-mustang.com