Busticated arm rest in driver's door
 

Another adventure in Saturn Land... my SL1
I noticed when I would lean on the arm rest in the driver's door that it felt like it was going to collapse. I checked it out, pressing with my fingers and it felt to like it had some sort of plastic shelf that was broken. As it turned out, that's exactly what it was. I took some galvanized sheet metal and cut a reinforcement strip, and then glued it in place under the plastic, with each end tucked under the molded casing. Then took another strip and mounted it to the door in a vertical position to add more strength to the first piece.
What a nightmare getting the spring clip out of the window crank handle! I don't have any special tool to do that, so I had to do with what I had. I've taken a lot of those spring clips off over the years, but there is not much give to that Saturn door panel. That makes it really hard to get at that clip. And then there's the bout with the 2 rods that fasten to the door lock plate! HELP!
But all is well finally. I got the thing all patched up and put back together. I think I'll invest in a clip remover tool... :rolleyes:
I resized the pics so they'd upload okay. Hope you can see them all right. The door panel is upside down so you can see the reinforcements.

Nice fix! Thanks for posting that.

Press in on the door panel and spot which way the clip is facing. Turn the handle until the open end is facing down. Then, take a wash cloth and slide it in between the door panel and window crank. Use a side to side sawing motion and pull up on the wash cloth. Pops that spring clip every time. I've never owned one of those special tools and get the clips off like that every time I have to fool with one.

Just goes to show there's a solution for anything if you put your mind to it. Washrags are not in my tool box but I guess I should have one.....

Not even a grease rag? That's unfortunate... I do remember doing that when I had the door panels off the S series that I had(I was upgrading speakers)

Well, that's a new one on me! I'll have to try that. Wonder if my wife will let me use some of our wash cloths or if I'll have to go buy my own? Thanks for the tip!