I'm finally prepping my 2002 X-Type for paint. I want to remove the exterior mirrors first. I see the nut enter the upper door trim plastic, but it's not clear how to disconnect the wiring harness. Is it necessary to pull the interior door panel to access it? I'm obviously looking to avoid this if possible since removing interior door panels invariable result in a bunch of broken clips and other hassles in my experience, but I couldn't find a definitive answer in search. These are the standard power mirrors (no memory or electric folding). Thanks!

 

XTypeHI, yes, unfortunately you will need to pull the door panel. The plug is down far enough that you are not going to just reach in and grab it. Not to mention I seem to remember the door panels hook on the top of the door, so, pulling the top out is not an option. New tabs are not that expensive and can be bought at any auto parts store. For something like this, I wish I was still on the island. I would come over and help you out. Help out the ohana.

 

Thanks for confirming I'll need to pull the door panel, Thermo. I'll order a few of the new clips. It doesn't sound like it's too bad to remove, I think I'm just having flash backs from the last one I removed on an E36 BMW where the clips holder tend to snap off the door panel and have to be epoxied quite precisely back into place.

I certainly could use a hand on the paint work. I got started on sanding today and hope to have the paint on by the end of the weekend, though it will still need a good wet sanding and polish at that point. I'll be sure to post some before and after pics.

 

XTypeHI, I would say to spend a few bucks and get one of the special tools that gets under the door panel and hooks around the fastener. That way, if you break something, it is the fastener, not the clips in the door panel itself. Yes, it will cost you $10ish dollars, but it will also give you a bit of peace of mind knowing that when you hear the snap, it is the fastener breaking and not the door panel. From there, you just reach into the door panel and pick up the broken plastic so it doesn't rattle around.

 

Thanks, Thermo. Got the door panels off. There was evidence of them previously having been off with some broken bits of the door panel epoxied back together with mixed results. I had noticed the drivers door was a bit loose at the top. I'll try and repair as best as I can before re-assembly.

Paint went on the car yesterday. I'm pretty pleased with the results given it was my first time painting a whole car and done in my duty carport with very substandard equipment. I think with a wet sand and buff it should look pretty nice. There are unfortunately quite a few scratches and marks that are showing through on the hood. I really should have done a fuller prep job on it, but I mostly did this as a learning experience since the car could never justify a professional job and it certainly looks much better than it did.

Well post some proper before and after pics once I'm done with the wet sanding and buffing.

 

XTypeHI, ah, the joys of painting in the hawaii weather. I helped out a friend that messed up the fender and trunk on his car. I ended up repainting them for him. Once trick I learned during that was that you can do some wet sanding on the spots that have scratches that show through and then just spray right over where you sanded. Worst case, you can redo say the whole door or whole hood, but in reality, thin the paint down a little bit and just cover a little bit beyond where you sanded and all should be good. Save you some time and will get rid of those spots that are bugging you.

By the way, are you using a 2 part or 1 part paint system. From the looks of things, you are doing a 1 part paint system. makes things a little more difficult for what I mentioned, but still doable. I am surprised you left the tail lights in the car. 3 nuts for each and a plug, they would have came out. Took you longer to tape them up than it would have to remove them. But, too late now.

 

I used base coat/clear coat and put on three good layers of clear knowing I would need to do some wet sanding to get the orange peel and dust out. Thanks for the tip on the hood, I'll give that a try. I'm not willing to totally re-do it but I'd be up for sanding down the scratches and re-clearing. I'll start working on the wet sanding tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

Paint work is all done. Wet sanding and buffing took several full days and was a lot of work, but it was necessary for a quality job as there was a lot of orange peel along with some dust and dry looking spots. There are a few things I would have done differently, I would have fully stripped and re-done the hood and done a multi-stage buffing job starting with a more aggressive pad and compound as some sanding marks show in certain lighting conditions and angles - black paint really shows everything, but overall I'm happy with the job. I didn't know what to expect as it was my first paint job, but I think it shows a quality job can be done at home on a budget if you're willing to put the time and effort to wet sand and buff.

You can check out some more before and after pics at this Link:
https://imgur.com/a/Z1cWw1Y

I'll also update my original thread to wrap it up.

 

I’ll too be doing the mirrors hopefully this weekend if the rain will stay away long enough. I’m taking them off of a parts car to swap over to mine beings one of mine was broken when I bought the car. Luckily if any clips break I will have some to rob from the other car lol

 

Hi Tony, good luck with the mirror swap. On mine the clips held up fine, but it was clear the door panels had been off at least once before and the brackets for some of the clips in the doors had been broken off and epoxied back together, with mixed results. I ended up having to re-epoxy some and some were beyond reasonable hope, however you can get away with a few missing. Hopefully yours goes more smoothly - I do think the hot climate out here is extra hard on plastics - but you might end up needed some epoxy to piece things back together