Thread: Project Log - Aluminium Tail Door Card Replacement

Hello Discoverers,

Finished off this project today and thought I would post a little write up. Took me about 6 hours all up.

Materials:
$17.30 - 2 mm aluminium sheet 1200 mm x 520 mm (I bought a 1200 x 2400 sheet for $79.77 for my drawer project too, but this is how much I used for the door).
$8.50 - 20 x M6 Rivnuts
$20.84 - 20 x M6 25 mm SS Bolts
$8.90 - 20 SS washers
$6.98 - Foam tape
$62.52 TOTAL

Tools:
Overalls, boots, safety glasses and ear protection. Sunscreen and a hat - safety first!
Jigsaw
Trestles, clamps and some wood offcuts
Drill
Homemade Rivnut Squisher (Mine is a length of aluminium bar with a 35 mm M6 bolt, nut and 3 washers at one end and gaffer tape at the other end for paint gentleness. Use with two 10 mm spanners) Or the proper tool if you want to pay for it.
Orange Power and Rags
Needlenose Pliers
T17 Torx
Phillips Screwdriver
Flat Screwdriver
10 mm socket
Flat file
Rats tail file
Punch and Hammer
Sharpie
Tape measure

Process:
1. Remove the grab handle from the tail door (two bolts)
2. Remove the plastic surround from the tail door latch (phillips screw).
3. Remove the door card (20 plastic clips, I prised them out with a flat screwdriver, 7 of mine survived unbroken, but we aren't re-using them so it doesn't matter)
4. Remove the mounts for the door handle.
5. Tear off the watershed vinyl film.
IMG_0302.jpg
6. Go to town on the sticky residue (or the leftover sikaflex from when a previous owner had the back door trip off) with orange power and a rag (seriously this stuff is AMAZING for adhesive residues).
IMG_0303.jpg
7. Remove the tail door latching and locking assembly (See 76-1-13 in Workshop Manual) need the Torx for this. You could possibly do this without removing, but you will be drilling very close to it and I wanted to give mine a clean out anyway.
IMG_0305.jpg
Gary spent his adolescent years living in Karratha and has plenty of red dirt on the inside. Cleaned up and hopefully good for another 236 000 kms!
8. Use pliers to remove plastic rivet inserts that those black trim plugs were fastened to.
9. Drill out the mounting holes (20) to 9 mm - or you could probably do less than all 20, seems a bit overkill, but I was having fun and had the materials so did them all.
10. Insert and squish the rivnuts in the bored out holes.
11. Unscrew the plastic box from the door card and remove all the black trim plugs - you just made a template for the aluminium!
IMG_0309.jpg
12. Sharpie around the perimeter and the door latch hole (and the mounting bracket holes for the handle if you want to re attach the handle) then go to town with your jigsaw. If you do it right (not like me) you can keep two straight edges of the sheet. Test fit and trim as required. I like to mark and work on one side (the inner side) and brush swarf and filings away regularly to try and keep the finish nice-isn on the display side).
13. When the panel fits, put your template back on and punch where each of the trim clips was (the smaller hole of each barbell looking pair). These should line up with your rivnuts (mostly, I managed 14/20 on the first pass).
14. Drill out where the punch marks are. I went to 8mm... If I did this again I might do a smaller hole and use it to inspect the true location of the rivnut, then mark and drill properly... You might learn from my mistakes!
15. Test mount the panel. Bolt with washer. Sharpie where any holes that don't line up are supposed to be. Get that rats tail file happening and make all the bolts work. I had two goes at it for 14/17/20 bolts going in.
16. Make a new edge seal with foam tape (I have left the top side non-sticky while I decide if I want to mount anything else in or on the panel.
IMG_0311.jpg
17. Re-install door lock assembly (yes it does just fit past those two rivnuts). Mount the panel and tighten all the bolts. Re-attach door latch.
IMG_0312.jpg
18. Tidy up, pack away tools, walk in just in time for dinner.

Trying to decide what I might mount in or on the door panel now. Have seen cool fold out table and kitchen setups.

Next project is DIY drawer slide and drawers, made the frame today, will probably start a new thread for that project.

Originally Posted by ScotchRocks

Rivnuts are love. Rivnuts are life.

But they have the possibility to be the work of the devil if they fail then slip and won't undo.
Check twice.