1998 SC1 door replacement
 

Greetings!

Question: What are the implications of replacing my driver side door with manual sideview controls with a door from the same model with electronic sideview controls?

Back story: The driver side door on my 1998 two-door SC1 was damaged in a slow sideswipe yesterday. While the door is destroyed and will no longer close, it appears that only the door itself was damaged, nothing on the frame. I would like to replace the door with one from a local salvage yard, but the only one available has electronic controls. I'm assuming I can simply remove the electronic controls from the replacement door. Also, I live in Interior Alaska, and the nearest exactly matching door is 300 miles south.

Thanks,
Chris

300 miles, huh? Long way to drive without a driver's door, and besides, winter's coming on ...

I guess none, but I've never taken the time to open the two doors and study them for differances. So again .... none I guess.

Your car won't have the harness to plug the mirror into in the door jam, but you can always move the electric mirror manually.

Thank you. I may give it a go rather than storch the regal Saturn into the Tanana.

Archer, if you do television, you should check out "Trailer Park Boys" re: the possibilities of driver doorless driving.

I'm pretty sure you can just swap the doors. And your mirror will most likely swap over too. Remove it from the damaged door and keep it, just in case.

^^ this will work as well. Simply find another door skin. You can swap door skins in about 10 min.

You may find that the three cables from your current manual mirror (if that's still intact) will fit through the local door if you use the plastic interior piece from your current door. You know the one, where your adjustment knob sits now, in the corner by your dashboard. It depends on the structure of the door, but I can't see why Saturn would bother making one frame for a door with electric mirrors and another for the manually operated ones when it's simpler to just change the interior panel and run some wiring.

Really though, electronic mirrors move fairly easily with some gentle prodding if you can still roll down your window. Just be careful with the wiring between the car and the door.

The only electronic controls are some motors controlled by a switch your car does not have. Just remove the donor mirror and wiring harness and swap in your original manual one. Or if your old one is toast you could spring for a new manual mirror and swap it in and have it be just like old times.