'79 door panel removal

[f4fntm]

Is there some trick to getting the '79 door panels off as opposed to the years with the lock in a more conventional place? I've dealt with the armrest screws, door pull bezel, mirror "triangle" thingee, and of course the panel clips. It's loose around the edges, but there's something holding tight in the upper middle that I can't quite figure out. Glass is up; I tried to lower it to see if that would help, but it's stuck in the raised position now.

Please help before I get out the sawzall...

[Travis T]

Everything should be loose by what you've described, but the door panels tend to get hung up on the door lock button on those cars, is that the problem?

[roughbutfun]

screws under the armrest pad?
the pad just slides back(or forward)
and lifts off exposing a couple of
screws. can get you a pic. if needed.

[f4fntm]

I thought the lock button might be it too, until I got it out of the way and it made no difference...

screws under the armrest pad? the pad just slides back(or forward) and lifts off exposing a couple of
screws. can get you a pic. if needed.

That was it. It's just one screw behind the pad. The pad pulls straight up, no sliding. Bad: the little clip that provides the "threads" for the screw wasn't working, so I eventually just grabbed the panel and jerked it off the screw head. Good: the panel is off

Thanks, guys.

[Travis T]

Didn't know about the screws under the pad, none of my 79s have had those, just the one in the upper part of the armrest.

[f4fntm]

Here's how it looked:

[Travis T]

That's pretty weird, I have several 79 panels, and they don't have that recess for the screw.

[Hissing Cobra]

That is wierd. I don't think that mine had that screw either (although it's been 5 years since I've had them off.) Glad you found it though and didn't wreck the door panel by pulling on it (I've done things like that before. )