I have a dilemma, I needed a door, found one, bought it, my wife graciously volunteered to retrieve said door, got home, door is perfect except for one thing. My 91 crx has door mounted belts, the replacement door does not. the question is, can I safely remove the skin from the replacement door and install it on the original door. I searched for several months with no luck finding a replacement. I worked in body shops when I was a teen in the late 70's and am quite capable of removing the old skin. I don't know how to remove the perfect skin from the donor door. Can someone shed some light on this please? Any and all help will be appreciated. I am trying to not damage the donor skin and leave the edge to fold over the original door. Thanks in advance.
Regards
Dave

 

First thing, you sure the skin is the same for both doors? Aren't the moldings different for 88-89 doors than 90-91 doors? There could be a difference in the body lines or such. Second thing, how bad is the damage on the original door? Can it just be straightened? Installing a door skin isn't hard, but a used one, I think it would be easier to fix the door if possible. That's what I would look into first. But to continue on with removing a skin to reuse it. They have specific pliers to unfold the rolled edge, I own one, but haven't used it yet. I didn't get them to remove an entire skin so I cant say how well it would work out. if you were able to unfold the whole outer edge, you will also have to do the area of the door where the belt molding goes on. Drill out any spot welds, or grind out any tack welds that could be on the door skin. Next step would be to break the glue bond between the skin and door frame along the outer edge. This will be a little difficult due to the edges being in the way and the fact your trying to not damage the skin. In a regular removal I use a chisel and hammer, or a chisel bit on my air hammer. The skin will also be glued to the inner reinforcement and some possible other spots. its a soft foam or urethane type glue that you can use a knife or razor to cut. If you get this far without damaging the skin to much you've done a good job. I would say you would probably have to do body work along the edges at the very least. That happens when installing new skins sometimes So it wouldn't be bad if it happens to a used skin. Hope this helps some. btw, I'm a collision repair tech. I've changed many skins, just never tried to save and reuse one. Not sure on how well it will work out. Good luck...

 

that is the dilemma, i have installed a few in my time, i just have never tried this. I remove the old skin using a grinder on the edge then remove the folded edge with an air chisel with a sharp bit. Kinda familiar with the process just not how to do this.
Regards
Dave

 

im in the body shop industry as well. and ive thought about doing that before. trying to get a good skin off to re-use on a door that needed a skin. but thought twice and said itd be a lot more work to do that then to buy a new skin. after trying to fold to edges up and re-doing it on the new door. there will be too much damage and will end in needing bodywork around to whole door. id say, get a new skin.

 

i made a thread on doing door skins. i'll find it and post it so you have an idea

 

door skinz - https://honda-tech.com/forums/paint-body-84/replace-door-skinz-3129662/

quarter panel - https://honda-tech.com/forums/paint-body-84/quarter-panel-replacement-2873399/