So my 97 DX Hatch has some body damage, just in front of the door. I think I can do a pretty good job banging it back into reasonable shape if I can get the door off. I don't want to try to take the door off without some knowledge on how to do this first. I am pretty good with cars, but haven't really done much body work or major exterior part removal. Also, any advice on banging out the fender?

How difficult is it to remove/install a door? How do you do it? I really prefer to do this DIY and without replacing the fender, cause I hear that can cost a bit even at the picknpull


A few other random, mostly cosmetic things I got questions about if you got answers:

I get a lot of water in the back of my car when it rains, near the rear left side. No idea where it's coming from. Any thoughts? It's a 97 DX hatchback.

Can't get the hatch to pop with the internal release lever anymore. Any thoughts?

Thanks, ahead of time, especially about the door. Any advice on banging out the fender?

 

You don't have to take the door off to take the fender off. There are 3 bolts on the top of the fender, under the hood. Then there are two that are behind the door. Just open the door and look from the outside and you'll see them. Then you have to pull a couple of screws from off the front of the side skirt and take the little plastic fender well clips off, then unscrew the bumper cover. There might be another bolt somewhere around the headlight, but if you just look around, it's not hard to just pull the fender off and carefully tap a dent back out with a rubber mallet.

Water in the rear? Sounds like a classic case of a clogged drain hose. I don't know where it is or how to unclog it, but I've heard of that problem with the clogged drain being the cause. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

As for the hatch, most likely the hatch release cable is broken or misaligned somehow. I'm not sure how hard it is to replace something like that.

 

I have a 300ZX that would leak around the T-Tops during a hard rain. A friend of mine that works for a body shop told me to blow out the drains with an air hose. I was concerned about blowing the drain apart but he said they were put together very well and not to worry. They don't leak anymore. Maybe that helps. Don't know where they might be tho. Call a body shop and ask. Get someone to hold the release up for the hatch and you lift up the hatch. See if the release is working. I had 1 to get out of adjustment and would release but the hatch wouldn't move enough to clear the latch so when I released the latch it would recapture the pin.

 

I just bought a hatch and it had some minor leaks when it rains. I got this info from my friend who owned this hatch. I found the body seams that runs along the roof at the rear where the hatch hinges starts had cracks in them. I got some seam sealer and some matching paint to seal it up.