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Whats up Everyone?! So, this is my first post on this forum, so sorry if it is a little long, I am going to give you a rough idea what I am dealing with here.
I bought this 4 dr 2000 Civic DX from my buddy for dirt cheap ($350) and mechanically it is PERFECT, but he screwed up the car left and right, so it needs a paint job, the rear passenger door is dented, was missing a grille, someone backed into him, cigarette lighter broken, etc etc.

So I have replaced a lot of the little things, but now I am to the big stuff (car door and getting the hood all lined up), and I want to finish these things so I can get it painted and be basically done.

So the Door is dented and most mechanics I spoke to said I can replace just the front piece and be fine rather than replace the whole door, only from what I am learning, it seems like it would be less time and less hassle to just replace the whole door. A door skin I have found for around 100-200 bucks online, but at pick n pulls I can get the entire door for 50 bucks, I just have to find one. What would you guys recommend doing? This is all assumption, but it seems like swapping out a door is as easy as taking off a couple bolts and switching it out, am I right there?

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, When the car was b acked into it didnt do any major damage to the engine, it did break the AC fan, but I replaced that and the AC works great now, and I replaced the grille, BUT in doing so, I think I found a bigger problem. No matter what I did I could not get the grille to fit onto the top frame piece, so I had a mechanic do it and they put it on with the grille underneath the frame piece, and so there is a gap between the hood and the grille when it is closed, and I feel like it should be opposite. No matter how much I played around with it I could not get the hood to look right with the grille, and after talking to the mechanic they said that frame piece is just bent so much the best thing to do would be replace it or take it off and bang it straight and put it back on so that the hood closes properly and the grille fits on right. They said this isnt part of the MAIN car frame or anything so it can be done fairly easily. My question is, what is that piece called and how easy is it to remove and replace/fix? I really would like it to look nice and proper BEFORE I paint it so I dont screw around with it too much and risk messing up the new paint, but this has been driving me crazy.

Thanks for your guys time, and sorry for the crazy long post, I promise they wont all be like this!

Oh and on a side note, someone got me some nice looking gauge replacements, are those easy to install or should I have that done by a professional? I dont want to screw up the speedometer or anything messing around with something Ive never done before lol.


Here are the images btw, and I can always add more if someone would like to see more detail or something
http://s1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee435/p413943/

 
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doors are fairly easy to swap, but heavy. you need to have a jack holding it from the bottom (with a piece of wood and blanket) when you remove the hinge.

 
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Wow, I didnt really think they were that heavy, so as far as removing it from an old car it is probably going to be a two man job eh? How heavy would you guess they are?

 
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You can do the door with one man but, it's super easy with two. The doors aren't real heavy, maybe 50lbs. It's just that if you don't use a jack someone will have to hold the door up while you put the pins in and it gets REALLY hard to hold it up more than a couple of minutes. Just use a jack. Use your friend to hold it steady.

The "frame" piece is the core support or radiator support, people say it both ways. It's welded in so the easiest way to fix it is to replace it. Which means removing everything from the front end, drilling out the welds, removing and replacing the support, then welding it back on straight, then putting everything else back on. Your looking at about $500 at the mechanic or body shop for the whole job. Try taking the grille and bumper off and whacking the support until it's straight enough. You never know, it might work. *Make sure the hood latch stays in the same place/position.

http://www.certifit.com/default.aspx I wouldn't recommend their metal body panels but everything else is good. You can get a core support for about $50.

Try here for a door in your area: http://www.car-part.com/

 
Rep Power: 812

door is one of the heaviest single parts on the car, due to the metal and all the accessories and window inside. prolly around 100 lbs give or take for the average car. civic may be lighter. the other issue is its awkward, you do not know where the most weight will be, and even with two people holding it, you could still have an accident lol. the problem is nobody expects it to be so heavy and when its loose and youre trying to lift it, its a problem. also you need to have the door being supported by the jack at just the right height otherwise you will strip out the bolts removing them. people dont normally think about hoods, doors, and trunks because they all have hinges or springs/torsion bars so they feel much lighter than they actually are.