95/6 door swap questions

How difficult is this to do? I have an offer for the complete doors. Do the door panels mount up with no issue? Are the window motors and such the same? Will I need to do electrical work? I think the door panels work the same - the doors are on my friend's 91 wagon that he's parting out anyway - but I'm looking for confirmation.

I did a search but didn't find much. I really like the big mirrors. When I drove Pat's wagon, it was the first time I had ever experienced them. It's a big difference.

The door panels are different. The part that is up in the corner that meets the dash is shaped differently on the 94-96. Just use your panels. Electrics/mechanicals should be the same. Or, just swap the mirrors on your doors since you are doing body work.

I know the panels themselves are different. I mean like, I can put my 92 panels on the 95/6 doors.

Right? >_>

Yes,91 door panel,95 dash.

Awesome. That settles that part.

Now about the wiring... how is it done? Do I pull the harnesses out of my door and put them in the new door? Do they plug into the car somewhere and I can just remove one plug and pull the whole door and re-plug in?

You pull the harness out, and put it in the donor door. All of the doors are the same except for the small mirror mount on the 91-94s, and the bottom glass seal/trim and triangle on the 95-96s. All of the electrical connectors are the same as well, but you will be using your original interior panels, so that will not matter. The door harness is part of the cross car harness, and does not have a plug for the door itself. It would have been nice if GM had made it that easy.

If you are going to swap the hinges, you will have to remove the fender, because one of the bolts that holds the hinges on is under the edge of the fender. You can unbolt the door from the hinge, but it is a little tricky. You may have to make a "special" wrench to get to the bolts. If you choose to remove the fender, the door is a one person job...close the door, unbolt the hinges (and all the other periferal stuff), get a good grip on the door through the window and "open" the door...it will come off in your hand. It weighs about 50 puonds, so be ready for the weight. It is much easier to R&R the door if you remove the fender first. There may be a couple of screws holding the wiring tunnel to the door or body. It may take you less time, effort and frustration if you remove the fender, just experience speaking here. Practice on the donor car. If you swap hinges, remove the stops from the 94-96 hinges, to get the original opening arc of the 91-93 doors.

The 91-93 interior panels mount exactly like the 94-96 panels, the only difference is the top front part of the panel. They are designed to look like they are flowing into the dash where they meet. If you put the 91-93 panels in a car with a 94-96 dash, they look odd. The 94-96 door panels do not look as "odd" against the 91-93 dash, because the 91-93 dash extends a little farther into the car, and covers more of the front panel. The 91-93s tend to rub the 94-96 dash where they meet as well, because the 91-93s stand away from the door a little at that point.

While you have the door off, turn it upside down, and dump all the junk out of the bottom. it will remove some of the rattles.

You should swap your door locks so you are still keyed alike.

If you put the 91-94 glass seal/trim and triangle on the 95-96 doors, you can use tiny peek-a-boo mirrors attached to the door frame (this will probably not interest you, because you like the big mirrors). If the doors come from an RMS, they may have different run channels, and a chrome trim along the back edge of the window. Not all of the RMSs had them, but some did.

Okay so easiest is to remove the fender, close the door, remove hinges, and "open and remove."

Got it. I will be keeping my 1992 door panels, since they match my interior. Now that I know they fit on, I'm happy. The guy who I'm getting the doors from said he will help me R&R them from car to car since I offered to give him my old doors for scrap value (since he'd be losing about 100 pounds).

Thanks guys! Can't wait to get this mod done

If his rear quarter is good, maybe you could cut it out for use on your car.

Doing that too. :p

Well, the body guy is.

It's a little bit of a pita to push all the connectors through the rubber to pull them out, but you aren't taking the harness out of the car like I did (I pulled power seat/ mirror harness from donor RMW for 94 Caprice build). You just have to pull out of door which is much easier.