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tricks to fit circa 2000 slider door to '93 van.

4K views 8 replies 2 participants last post by  billbrasky 
#1 ·
hey guys i have two 1993 white cargo vans. One door got rusty and i went to the u pull it yard and got a door of a 2000. Then learned they changed a few things like the rollers are welded on my 93, they are bolted on the 2000, so i had to go back and get the rollers off a second van. Then turns out the top inside roller the bolt holes are spaced different. Also the panel that the door handle mounted to changed. Darn you GM. And most importantly the striker bolt location at the back of the door moved. Does anyone know the trick to positioning the stiker bolt correctly ? Is there a tool or somethign i can make out of scrap steel. I am not a body guy, but i would buy any tool neccessary. The door i have is mint, its paid for, non returnable, and i didnt like my odds of finding a rust free circa 1993 door at the u pull it yard. Can i make this 2000 door work with out spending hours and hours refiting or drilling my C pillar into swiss cheese to refit the striker bolt ?
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Gary said:
billbrasky said:
hey guys i have two 1993 white cargo vans. One door got rusty and i went to the u pull it yard and got a door of a 2000. Then learned they changed a few things like the rollers are welded on my 93, they are bolted on the 2000, so i had to go back and get the rollers off a second van. Then turns out the top inside roller the bolt holes are spaced different. Also the panel that the door handle mounted to changed. Darn you GM. And most importantly the striker bolt location at the back of the door moved. Does anyone know the trick to positioning the stiker bolt correctly ? Is there a tool or somethign i can make out of scrap steel. I am not a body guy, but i would buy any tool neccessary. The door i have is mint, its paid for, non returnable, and i didnt like my odds of finding a rust free circa 1993 door at the u pull it yard. Can i make this 2000 door work with out spending hours and hours refiting or drilling my C pillar into swiss cheese to refit the striker bolt ?
"Circa"?.Not being a jerk.I don't understand that word and I am considering a upgrade of the same type slider door on my 1985 "Ole Yellar" Astro van.Plse get back to me.
no offense taken, circa means roughly or about approximately etc. You will see artifacts and stuff say roman coin circa 200 bc. Stuff like that. I dont know for sure the u pull it yard had three white vans all new ish, i was like dang these vans are nicer than mine, why are they here wonder what year, looked at door and they were all 99-2001. I forget which model year my door came off. Anyways from the outside the door skin is the same, same belt line stamped line, same shape etc. Only difference are the way the rear upper roller is attached. welded on my 93, affixed with three bolts on the newer one, the inside handle panel is removeable on the old unit, new one is one piece built into the interior door skin/panel. Also the upper roller the shape is the same, they simply moved the bolt holes on the interior of the door, simple fix to tap a new hole. Ohh and the hard part is they moved the striker bolt, that i am not sure me being mr amateur body guy, that i can make that work and be reliable. Hope that helps, i can take pictures if you guys want.

Did i get some sort of freakish mistake door? I\
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Gary said:
Now I am really confused about this.I looked further into this and went to http://www.car-part.com

This is a j/y web page.I plugged in a 1985 Astro no window slider door into the search.It came up with models that go beyond what is normally the break point in changes of 1995.In fact it went as late as 1997.Then I plugged in a 2001 Astro for the same thing and it went as low as 1997.Kind of my way of cross matching parts.

The first link is for the 1985:

http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

Then the second one is for a 2001:

http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

Kind of confusing.
makes sense to an extent, though i made the mistake of taking the new door off at the yard, it had a removeable roller for the middle above the rear wheel, i said to myself i dont need that my roller at home is fine. Well when i got around to putting the door on i was like WTF thanks for changeing the mounts form welding to bolted, go back of course the van is now stripped clean, and the others were crushed up. High turn over yard they do a 1,000 vehicles per month. So i look around at older vans, there were some mid astro life cycle vans with the new front end and the factory body kits, that had welded on door hinges. They added the new front end in 1996 i thought ? Ohh well if your interested and frequent u pull it yards take a look around at the sliders next time if your interested. I have no idea why they would change it more than 10 years into the vehicles life cycle ? Do you guys think it was minutely cheaper? Maybe better in roll overs? thats all i can think of.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Gary said:
I picked up my 2001 no window slider and really haven't done much with it yet.It is slated for "Ole Yellar"(a 1985 high top Astro).The slider is cherry and I am really excited about the prospect of having on Ole Yellar.

I was wondering if you have done anymore with yours??.Plse post either way.

Thanks,

Gary
I never resolved it, i have two 1993 vans, one i drive every day for work, the other is a back up van. I am fixing up both of them this summer. Albeit very slowly, good thing i still have lots of summer left.

I ended up taking the good door off the second 93 van, putting it on my daily driver, putting the late model year door on my back up van, and my original rusty door is in my garage. Well i should say i "put the late model door on the back up 93 van installed ghetto style, with a rachet strap wraped through the tilt open window then wraped around the B biller lol to keep the door closed. Very ******* or very ghetto. No one can see it but me so i guess its all right as it is parked just sitting there.

I can take pics to show you guys if that would help someone in the future. In all the year this web site has been around i am the first to run into this ? Damn i really do have bad luck. I think i am gonna go to the pick and pull and bring my grinder and cutt off a patch panel or order one from sherman auto parts. Then i will just sell the mint late model door on craigs list. I jsut dont know how to possibly center the striker bolt on the C pillar. I use this van every day for my business and cant mess with a door jamming up on me and me not being able to get tools and equipment out, so i dont feel like experimenting.

Ill get pics for you gary that way youll know what your up against. I am sure after a half dozen times mounting your striker bolt in new location it would be fine for you ..... I jsut dont want to mess with it not being reliable. Looks like you are yellow custom paint, so i doubt you want to keep welding up holding and re drilling the striker bolt.

Such BS, i want to kick some engineer in the junk.
 
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