View Recent Cars  | This article is one in a series that have been released in conjunction with Wayne's new book, 101 Performance Projects for Your Porsche Boxster. The book contains 312 pages of full color projects detailing everything from performance mods to changing your brake pads. With more than 950+ full-color glossy photos accompanying extensive step-by-step procedures, this book is required reading in any Boxster owner's collection. The book is currently available and in stock now. See The Official Book Website for more details. Click here to order! If you are not the original owner of your Boxster, then chances are that there are quite a few things wrong with your car, and you wonder how they got broken. There probably isn't a place on the car with more gadgets and devices that break than inside or on the door. Not only do you have window glass and seals that leak water, but you have door handles, mirror switches, window regulators, door stays, and door panels: all of which are very susceptible to damage and breakage.

Even if you work on your car only moderately, there is a very high chance that you will need to dive into the door to fix something that has broken. This project shows you how to remove the door panel, specifically so that you can get to the door lock assembly and the window regulator (see Project 78 and Pelican Technical Article: Window Regulator Replacement / Window Switch Replacement / Window Motor Replacement, but because there are so many moving parts on the door, I'll discuss just about everything else as well.The first step in working on just about anything on the door is the removal of the door panel. Photo 1, 2 and 3 detail the process of the door panel removal. The toughest part is pulling the panel out from the door: it is attached with nine plastic clips that can be difficult to snap out of their home in the frame of the door. With the door panel removed, you should see a foam covering that is "glued" onto the backside of the door. A black sticky goo is what attaches this to the door: it can be removed and reused again if the gooey material is still pliable.

Be careful not to tear the foam covering when you remove it.With the panel removed, you have access to a whole lot of items inside the door. garage door openers horsepowerThe door stay can be simply unbolted from the door frame and removed. door handles melbourne lemaarThe plastic door handle can easily be swapped out. garage door parts huntsville alabamaThe window regulator can be removed or repaired (see Pelican Technical Article: Window Regulator Replacement / Window Switch Replacement / Window Motor Replacement). wooden exterior doors halifaxAny door seals or channel guides that need renewing are available to you as well. outdoor patio furniture colleyville tx

If one of your door mounted speakers are broken, don't forget to replace them while you have the chance.Closing up the door panel is straightforward. bobcat forestry door for saleI always like to use new plastic door panel clips because new ones are cheap, and the old ones get brittle and may break in the very near future, causing an annoying rattle. Don't forget to install the foam covering: it's common to accidentally leave this on your workbench, only to discover it later on when you're putting your tools away! Shown here are the fasteners that hold on the door panel. Pluck out the small airbag emblem and remove the screw underneath (green arrow). Remove the small screw underneath the trim clip on the pull handle (purple arrow). Under the plastic trim that surrounds the door handle there is a screw that needs to be removed (yellow arrow). Remove the screw inside the door pocket (red arrow), and the one behind the inside of the door handle pull (orange arrow).

The Boxster panel is attached to the door using plastic clips (green arrow). To remove the door panel, simply pull on the panel near where the plastic clips are located, and they should pop right out of the holes in the door (one shown by the yellow arrow). Use Photo 3 for guidance on where the clips are located around the outer edges of the door panel. With the door panel loose, pull it out from the bottom, and release the door lamp bulb from its holder (red arrow). Pull the panel off of the door and then reach around the rear to disconnect the door handle cable (purple arrow). You may have to clip a zip tie in order to disconnect the cable. Shown here is the backside of the left, driver's side door panel. There are nine plastic clips that attach the panel to the door. You need to remove each of these clips from the holes in the door prior to removing the door panel. It will feel like you're breaking the door panel, but you will need to apply significant force to pull off each of the plastic clips.

Use a stiff plastic spatula to wedge the door panel out without scratching the paint on the door. With the door panel off, disconnect and remove the airbag. Be sure that you disconnect the battery and wait about 15 minutes prior to disconnecting the airbag (see Pelican Technical Article: Battery Disconnect Switch / Battery Buddy Installation). The airbag is simply attached to the door using four screws (green arrows). The speaker located in the lower corner is attached to the door with four screws (blue arrow). Remove the screws and then unplug its speaker connection. All that remains is the foam moisture barrier, which is removed in the next photo. The pre-molded foam moisture barrier is glued onto the door with a gum-like adhesive. You should be able to carefully pull it back without damaging it. Use a plastic spatula and take your time: it's very easy to rip or tear it and a new one costs about $70. As you can see, with the moisture barrier removed, you can access all of the door components underneath (see Project 78 for the door locks, see Project 77 for the window regulator).

The mirror switch simply pops out of the door panel plastic trim piece. If you need to replace this switch, simply pry it up out of the door and unplug it. Be sure to install it with the left/right switch on the bottom: it's very easy to install it upside down. If you need to pull off the triangular panel, pull on it from the bottom and slide it up. There's a small tab on the top that breaks very easily (red arrow). The good news is that a new piece is only about $10 if/when you break it. With the door apart, it might be a good time to think about replacing your door seals. At the time of this writing, the door seals are super expensive (over $200 each!). However, I expect the costs of these to come down as more and more of them start to wear out and the aftermarket manufacturers start making replacement reproduction rubber available. The door stay is another item that you can replace with the door panel removed. Disconnect the stay from the body by removing the pin that holds the stay to the body (red arrow).

Then remove the two bolts that attach the stay to the door. Finally, remove the stay from the inside of the door by reaching into the forward access panel in the door. The procedure for removing later-style door panels is significantly different than for the early ones. Begin by prying out the mirror triangle piece and unplugging the harness (yellow arrow) and removing the door panel screw behind it. Then remove the screw inside the door handle pull and remove the handle piece (green arrow). Behind the door handle, there is an oval trim piece - gently pry this off and then remove the screw behind it. The red arrow shows the handle trim: gently pry this off and remove the two screws underneath. The orange arrow points to the end trim which must be gently pried off: remove the screw underneath. With all six screws removed (including the one holding on the door handle), you should be able to pull off the door panel. Looking for more photos? Click to see bonus pictures for this project.