Shaved doors...

[Petos]

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen..
Well, the passenger door does not pop up at all at the moment - I press the button on the remote, and nothing happens.. I guess the electric lock just does not engage for some reason...
John, can you please comment on the "Some people with shaved doors adde a contact switch on the bottom so they'll have a backup if the remote doesn't work".. pardon my stupidity, but I'm not sure what the "bottom" refers to?

And even if I get it fixed somehow, there is still a problem with closing the door with the key (and the remote I use to pop the door) in the ignition..
Also, in Russian climate I may have the door freezing issue (rain + cold night later), unlike Texas where the VX used to be before...
Also, every time I want to let the passenger in from the inside, I have to lean to reach out for the inside handle and open the door..

referring to Wormgod's question, how are the doors shaved? Do people just put another sheet of metal on the doors??

thanks again for your support.. I promise to repay with some Russian drinks/food in Moab

[nfpgasmask]

What kind of labor does swapping doors require? How hard can it be?

I would opt for junkyard doors. Cart-part.com shows that Veldman's has both left and right doors. I don't know what color though. They are priced at $450 each, so you are looking at about $1000 to get the doors, plus labor to put them in and a possible repaint.

All that said I still think this is the best option. Veldman's is about 1.5 hours from Chicago. Its an easy place to deal with.

Bart

[Chopper]

Getting someone to swap is by far the easiest answer, but these have been repainted, so the tradee is still stuck getting the doors shot. Changing them out is physically easy, not challenging at all. And yes, metal is welded into the openings, then bondoed over ...the handle and mechanisms are then discarded the skins are a loss....so....a couple of door skins, whatever mechanicals that are gone, some paint, and the shop to put it all together is all you need. Trading or used doors are the only two reasonable answers I think

[johnnyapollo]

People will put a contact switch somewhere on the vehicle so the doors can still be opened without a remote. This can be a hidden button or whatever - sort of like adding the popper switch for the rear door, only it's accessible. The only issue is that the alarm still needs to be disarmed or it'll go off - but it does get one around a failed transmitter for the door actuator itself.

-- John

[creeg]

Yeah, trying to deal with these solenoids in the russian winter sounds like a big problem- my money is on swapping the doors with ones with door handles.

I'd be happy to do the swap with you if I lived closer.

Good luck!

[VCrossfan]

It would be easy switching doors but very tough to match that paint, except if Ricksters paint on the door skin is factory and only the candy type paint is on the cladding, you could pull the cladding off and install it on the replacement door. I would go the route of having the existing mechanics repaired, start with a hidden button to pop the door and a power shut off/on to that button to lock the VX, No power-No open...Good Luck...

[Knigh7s]

You could have two of these "Water Proof Switches"
installed. I was thinking about doing the shaved door deal. Two of these can be easily installed in the rear fenderwell on the drivers side. Its a perfect hiding spot for these. If the alarm is set and someone happens to find the switches, the alarm will sound.

Also, If your car battery dies, here are two more options below.
the first option you can find here. and the second option, if you look around online, you can find a kit that lets you hook up a 9 volt battery to a switch for emergency power to the solinoids.