An Adorable Moment

[deguspice]

From Cars

It took me about 6 hours to replace the door on Ann's Mazda, including driving to Worcester to get a replacement door (no mirror) and vacuuming up the glass. Part of the challenge was getting the old door off, because the door latch wouldn't release with by pulling on the door handle. So perhaps I had a bit too much fun with a Sawzall-type saw to solve the problem.

The "new" door didn't come with an outside mirror, so I moved the mirror the old door (but I haven't yet removed the door panel to attach the wires). The door takes a little extra effort to get the door to latch. At the moment, a key can't be used to lock the door because the new door has a lock that uses a different key, so the lock needs to be installed.

Overall, I'd say that the transplant operation was an success. Now Ann can go back to using her car to drive to work (for daily driving, the truck is a bit too large for her) and we don't have to rush to find a new car to replace it. I probably would have replaced the door sooner, but it wasn't until Ann flew to visit her father, that I was able to reclaim my truck.

Given that the book value of the car is $1,500, and the estimate of the repairs was about the same, we decided to do the repair on the cheap (my rates are very reasonable :). In the Spring, we'll probably get a new car to replace the Mazda.


p.s. If you need to find a used car part, I recommend Car-Part.com. It's an inventory search engine for junk yards across the US. A friend who owns an autobody shop recommended the place (if you live on the North Shore, I recommend Thompson Autobody in Manchester-by-the-Sea).

p.p.s. The door got caved in when someone took a corner too wide and drove into the side of the car while I was waiting at a traffic light.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

clearly, it was your fault :)

mmm, sawzall :>

the fubar iii is a great tool for prying doors off :>

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[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I didn't know this before, but because the insurance company decided I wasn't at fault, they didn't withhold the deductible.

[c1.livejournal.com]

Quality time with the Sawzall, eh? I'm jealous.
I can't imagine it wasn't a stressful operation; how'd you keep from getting unhinged?

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Getting unhinged was easy, because of the way the door skin got pushed in the middle, it pulled the skin away from the hinges, exposing the bolts.

The problem was getting the latch to release.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

And I'll bet that the guy who hit you felt like a door-k. ;-/

Just glad you're ok. Geez that's a scary thought that you might have been hurt. We want you to be hale and hearty.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Cars always look so sad when they're crunched. Glad you were able to remedy this one.

[ceo]

Please tell me that the door is a different color from the rest of the car. :-)

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I found a cheap door, not to0 far away that was the same color as the rest of the car, but if it'll make you feel better, the interior of the new door is tan, and the rest of the interior is gray.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Nice work, that.
The book value on her car is only $1500?? That sounds low for that nice a used vehicle.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

In that case, would you like to buy a used Mazda? :)

Ann is planning to get rid of the car in the Spring. It has nearly 200K on it, but it's had "regular scheduled dealer maintenance" since Ann bought it (it got new rear brakes the day it got hit).

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Actually, if it runs well and our mechanic says it should last a while, I can categorically state that my household is interested.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Glad you were able to fix it!