I looked in the workshop manual, but it's not there (maybe my workshop manual isn't' for touring. It's just a PDF.)
I was wondering how to remove the rear wiper, as I was going to paint the arms.

I'm GUESSING I have to remove the hatch underside trim and i unscrew it/unbolt it from there?

If that's the case.. how do I remove those panels anyways?
In my manual it says there is clips to turn, but they're between the body and the trim.. So how am I supposed to reach them?

 

Open your hatch, right ned to the hatch struts, there is a piece of plastic that you pull inward(towards the inside of the car) ince these have popped out, then just carefully pull down on the plastic piece to undo the spring clips. Once the spring clips have let go, unplug the wire to the hatch light and the wiper motor will be exposed. From there, it should be self explanitory to remove.

I'd suggest just buying a wiperless hatch, though. It's just easier that way.

 

There is no need to remove the motor!

At the base of the arm there is a cover, lift it up and it will expose a nut. Remove the nut and lift up on the arm if it hasn't popped off.

 

OH.. I see, where the hing is it flips up on the other side.
Wouldn't have guessed that.

I live in Florida and find the rear blade actually very useful.
I'll remove the stereo and headlight cleaners before the rear wiper..


And anyways, for future reference, you mean those round plastic things, that look like they have a plastic washer around them?
I have some f those in the front interior that won't push back in. Makes me worried about pulling them out.

 

 

aye i figured it out.

Wasn't noticeable since it uses the same hinge the arm uses. :P

 

I also need to paint the key/door-handle thing on the outside.

On the opposite side of it is just a solid peice..
Do i need to take off the inner door interior first?
Or does that part on the inside behind the lock/handle pop off by itself somehow?

Or is it incrediably hard to get off and i should take off the molding, tape off areas, sand, then paint?

To me it's favorable to take it off for painting.

 

To remove your exterior door handle assembly, first open the door. Remove the plastic trim on the back side of the door handle. This is not attached to the rest of the door trim and just pops off. Be careful, as always, to not rbeak the plastic/clips.

Once that's off, there are two 10mm nuts that you have to remove. After those are removed, carefully separate the assembly from the door from the outside. Once it's separated a but, slide a screw driver or pair of pliers in to undo the two clips. One clip holds the lock cylinder to the actuator, the other clip attaches the door handle mech to the latch. To undo these clips, simply push them off the rods they are attached to. They rotate, they do not come off.

Once you've got the rods detatched, you'll then have to carefully snip the alarm and key hole light wires. 4 wires total, make sure they label them before snipping them.

To reinstall, just reverse the process.

Both doors have the same process, only difference is the passanger door does not have a key hole light.

And I sincerely hope you're painting them black. In my opinion, and most other FD owners opinions, they look horrible painted body color, but to each their own.

And while you have it apart, you might want to pick up a set of aluminum door handles from JKL Racing Engineering. Best upgrade you could do to your car.

 

Yes i'm painting them black Instructions sound good, i'll see how it goes.. can't get my car in my garage now so I'm doing wipers first.

My wipers have some minor rust and some pretty bad fading. The door handle thing has a lot of chips.

But despite this my paint is in really nice condition except one spot..

I might have the black be a little glossier than normal, but they'll be black.
I hate color matched wipers, front spoilers, wheels(except maybe around the rim), so on.

I don't think color matched door handle thing would look too bad though, but I'm doing it black. Even if i did it the same color, it'd look terrible if not OEM color and just a rattlecan.


Why would i want the aluminum door handles?
So I don't need to use plastic primer? OR just because they're sturdier?
http://www.jklre.com/index.html doesn't work.

My plastic handles seem fine.. HOWEVER the plastic for the keyhole cover has broken off on the driver side a year ago, and the passenger side just this week! -_-
So my keyholes have no cover against the rain and stuff :/


/edit I found JKL ebay store.
$160 for door handles is too much for me.. Powder coated is great and all.. but $160 still. Theres a lot I could spend $160 on.
I was looking for a new set of suspension bushings all around.(suspension squeaks a little, so i need to relube anyways I guess) I see they have those, but damn.. $515! FC's bushing are what, like $120? :/
I could just buy new heim-jointed suspension arms!

 

wait I don't get how you take off the trim piece inside the hatch... there's 2 little circle clips I see that hold it on on each side, I think, I'm not sure how to get those off

 

The plastic ones have a nasty tendancy to break, right at the spot where it pivots. When you take your handles off, you'll see the two circle hooks with the rod that goes through the center.

$160 may seem like a lot for a couple of aluminum door handles, however when you look at the price for new OEM replacements at around $280 per door, it is a very reasonable price.
The FDs suspension is much more complex than the FCs suspension. Keep in mind the FD has 8 control arms, 2 sway bars, etc. The FC has one very meager looking control arm on each of the front wheels and I'm not sure they have rear control arms at all.
Are you talking about the part where you fill the washer tank or the part that has that hatch light?

For the one with the hatch light, there are a lot of spring clips that hold it in place, you have you just pull it. Be slow and very careful, as you don't want to break the tabs that hold the clips. It's the same method used to hold on the dash interior pieces. They are completely concealed and there are a lot of them. Maybe 10 or so. Be sure to go to the spot where the other trim meets the rear piece and separate them first.

 

The part with the hatch light yeah

That's all you have to do? Just tug on it at the edges and pop out all the clips?

 

Yep, that's all there is to it.

 

/edit

nevermind i got the covers off.

Pretty tricky looking down in there. :x



And yeah I know the FD's suspension is much more complicated, but still 4x as much and its' not 4x the pieces :P
For $515 I'd rather look at new arms with heim joints than new bushings for my old arms.

 

The catch with heim joints is that they have to be replaced much more often. Heim joints are basically metal on metal(like pillow *****). Figure $515 ever 120k miles or however much it would cost to replace all of your control arms, toe links and trailing arms with heim every 30,000 miles or less.

 

True, but 30k miles isn't a long time on these cars. :P

And i got those lock guards off. Shame it takes so long to wait for paint to dry right.. now i can't use the car for a while since i can't lock my doors.

 

lol you could lock your doors...just push down on the metal linkage that's poking up...

But anyone could walk by and pull it up to unlock the car lol...though that'd set off the alarm, if you still have one.

 

I'd set off my own alarm since i can't put the key in the lock.

Putting the key in the ignition doesn't turn the alarm off last i checked.

 

no, it doesn't, but there's a fuse you can pull lol

 

heh.


Oh how do i remove the door handles?
I see there is a spring on the end of the mechanism for the handle to make it go back in place..
I tried unscrewing that, and i unscrewed the two latches that are over the pin the handle pivots on..

But i can't lift the pin off from where it's set still, and it doesn't' seem to slide in either direction to pull out from the latch and handle.


NVm i got the pin to push out.

 

I took that exterior nut off my wiper and the damn thing will not budge... any ideas??? I think it's rusted or stuck on somehow as the car sat for a very long time.