Rover 400/45 and MG ZS Door Card Removal/Refitting guide.

[Gareth1982]

See a few people asking about to remove the door card on the Rover 400/45 and MG-ZS. I went out to check my window mechanism and thought I would do a guide to the removal of the front door card.

My car is 1996 Rover 414 with electric front windows. I assume this method is very similar if not the same for newer cars.


Tools Needed: Flat blade screwdriver and a Phillps screwdriver (magnetic one if possible)

Time: 30 minutes max...I did this in 10 minutes, but for first timers round its quite awkward as I found.


The guide:

#1 Open the window fully (you will see why later) and start by unscrewing the screw on the door release handle:



#2 Slide the handle to the front of the car, thus unclipping it from its housing. You should see the rod going to it with a plastic clip. With the Phillips screw driver, push the BOTTOM of the clip..not the top... round so you unclip it from the rod. Do this carefully as these are buggers for snapping. You should now be able to remove this handle.





#3 Unscrew the two screws in the grab handle:



#4 Now just remove the small plastic screw from the top corner of the door card. It is a posi screw, but I found it easier just to pop it out with the flat blade.



#5 With a flat blade screw driver, carefully push it between the door card and the door and lever it towards you. The bottom is just popped on, so you should hear it "unpop" from the door. Once you have got it half off, you can then remove it with your hands.




#6 Finally unhook the lock pin from the door card.



#7 If your car has electric windows, you will see two wires clipped on to the door card

Alarm LED Wire


Electric window switch wire


Unclip these to free the door card.

You may notice that my door hasn't got the plastic sheeting. I found this to be a pain and just removed it. I haven't seen anything untoward happen, i.e leaks, from removing it. So its up to you if you want to keep it on there or not.

Refitting.

This can be very tricky first time. But I found a trick/workaround to the problem.

#1 Remove the mirror backing


#2 Line the door card "front" end to the front of the car. (This is why its good to have the window open makes life easier)


#3a Line the door lock pin back up with the hole.

#3b then move the rest of the door card onto the rest of the door (don't worry if the pin falls out, you can rescue it once you got the door card back on) The pin should be lined up nicely like this


#4 Screw the grab handles two screws back in. (this is where the magnetic screw driver come in )

#5 Try to find the door release handles rod, once you found it, use a flat blade screw driver to lift it up and into the hole on the handle itself and then with the posi driver scew driver or your hands, rotate the clip and pop it back on the rod.


#6 Now give the bottom of the door card a couple of thumps to "pop" it back on the door.

#7 Now you should be able to clip the door release handle back on and scew that in.

#8 Going from the bottom up, put the mirror backing back on. This is a bit fiddly, but you should get enough play from moving the door card towards you a bit to get it on.


#9 Finally, put the plastic posi scew back into the corner of the door card.

Job Done

[Chrisund123]

try it with a tweeter on the wing mirror, much more fun

[Scarab]

great post! I'm taking mine off this Sunday so this is very timely indeed.

Alex

[HotTubRepairer]

Thread has been moved to the 'How Do I' section.

Great guide Gareth. Thank you for taking the photos and doing the write-up. It's little guides like this that help make the forum great.

Ian.

[Gareth1982]

Originally Posted by Chrisund123

try it with a tweeter on the wing mirror, much more fun

I have just put tweaters on mine...and to behonest its not much different.The tweater fits just as well as the one with the stick. Just remember to plug the wiring first