Bodywork removal guides - doors, tailgate etc

[ColonelKernel]

Hi all,

New member here - hello!

I bought my Bongo a couple of weeks ago and, well, its a bit of a fixer-upper.

The previous owner clearly loved it but perhaps didn't care for it in the way that I would have liked. Normally I am super fussy when it comes to buying vehicles but I got so caught up with all the excitement all of my normal rules went out of the window!

A few days after I bought it, the driveway was covered in oil and all the rust suddenly started to look at lot more terrifying than I did when I went to look at it.

So, I took it to the rather lovely people at ADS Automotive in Bristol who kindly gave it a once over and made me feel a little more confident that I hadn't bought a *total* lemon. And, of course, I chucked a bunch of money at them to make it mechanically sound.

That does still leave the rust, though. Arches aren't too bad but there is some some surface corrosion on the sills which I am hoping can be cut out (ADS didn't flag up any terminal chassis rust though) and a few scabby panels.

Rather than bother with trying to remove, repair and paint said manky bits on the doors and tailgate, I figured it would be easier to swap them over.

So, now I have finished rambling - are there any step-by-step guides for removing doors, slide and tailgates?

I've done a forum search, checked out out the member guides and looked into buying a service manual (which doesn't cover bodywork anyway, apparently) but not found anything to help. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[dave_aber]

Sliding door is easy.

1. Remove the inside handle (Concealed spring clip, like old-school wind-up window winders) and then remove the door card - take care, as it's easy to pull the clips through the board. Refit the inside handle so you can open the door!
2. Before you get out, unbolt but leave in place the rear slider from the rear edge of the door.
3. With the door 3/4 open, unbolt the bottom guide from the door.
4. Slide the door closed, making sure the rear slider doesn't detach just yet, and when you get to about 8" or so from closed, there is a cut-out in the upper guide rail. drop the door upper roller through the cut out.
5. Swing the door open 'suicide doors' style, so it's about 90° to the body, and pull it away from the rear slider which will stay behind.

Refitting is the reverse of removal etc.

HTH
DA

[Northern Bongolow]

i wish i had asked you for that dave, ive just swapped mine over and it wasnt that easy the way i did it. . 2 man job to lift, fix and adjust .

if your doing the rear tailgate watch it is bloody heavy once you release the gas struts, the front door wiring loom splits/unplugs just inside the body near where your feet go and the front wings just unbolt

[ColonelKernel]

Thank you for your assistance. Well, that certainly sounds like the sort of thing I could do.

I'll let you know how I get on!