Will an 85 Vanagon Sliding Door fit a 90 Vanagon?

[bugpartslou]

Does anybody know?

[bucko]

Do a search; this topic has been brought up. I know there are differences in the early to mid 80's, but I'm going by memory.

The search should help you. Here's one I found by searching "sliding door":

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295375&highlight=sliding+door
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Current VW drives: 1984 Westfalia

Past VW drives: 1967 Beetle, 1973 Beetle, 1977 Bus, 1971 Military Type 181

[Terry Kay]

No it won't---

80 to 85 are all the same, 86 to 90 share all the same hardware & mounting points.
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T.K.

[Wellington]

1985 was the transition year, I have a 1985 with the later style door, so you will have to check yours and see which one you got.

[Christopher Schimke]

Wellington is correct. If the '85 door in question has the short outside door handle (easy identifier), it will fit. The earlier '85 doors had the early style long handle and therefore the early style latches, guides, etc.
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[hiram6]

[kevtherev]

fairly easy to fit a late slider on an early van or vice versa
just need small mods to the latch area of the pillars!
dosn't take long! couple of hours should do it

opening size is the same

[Christopher Schimke]

[ChesterKV]

[beatrich]

Check the 85 door handle against yours- If it's a match, then it works, right? Wish there was a place to get a used Vanagon part within 50 miles of Spokane.

[Terry Kay]

It's pot luck on an 85 door fitting.
If you can get the build date of the donor Van--sometimes they'll fit, sometimes they won't.

Depends on what inventory they line was using that day--late door's & hardware or early hardware--
Whatever they happen to have at that time.

You could remove & replace allof the lastch mechansim, & striker plate off of a later modal Van and maybe get it to work.
I have never seen this happen though--
The mounting screw holes aren't lined up right to accept the later hardware in the early door.

You'd be much better off bumping your side door find to an 86--then it will fit for sure.
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T.K.

[Wellington]

[hiram6]

Those of us with an 85 should have our own support group.

"Hi, I'm Hiram, and I own a transition year Westy" "Hi, Hiram"

Seriously, it does make it a challenge to find the right part sometimes, but I look at it like this.

While I may have the old style fuses (-), I also have the round headlights (+).

While I have the 1.9L (-), I've got some stouter engine internals (+).

While I've got steel pipes (-), hey I've got UNRUSTED steel pipes (+)

I've got the tach, the rear wiper etc., but it's obvious, as Terry said, VW just grabbed whatever was on the shelf to attach to the van sitting in front on them on the assembly line at that moment. Kind of like each one is a custom job!!
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1985 Westy, 1.9L automatic (Daisy)
1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited

You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning.

[erdonline]

I had to replace my slider a few months ago. I have an '85 and it is the newer style, and the door I found fit fine. I did have had a chance to compare the two styles, though, and there seem to be these differences between early and later doors: Different handle size; different latch on the front end of the door and pillar; different latch on the rear end of the door and pillar; different size window. The window on earlier doors is the same size as the driver side window. The window on later doors is about an inch narrower left to right. Does anyone know why the window size changed when they changed the doors? I haven't looked very closely at the inside without the interior panels on, but it seems that the hardware is all below the windows, so I don't see the reason for the change.

Also, others have mentioned swapping earlier and later doors. It may only take a few hours, but it would require welding the rear latch pin on, and welding is a skill that some of us have not yet acquired (but I hope to learn.)

Ed in CT

[tarandusVDub]

[morymob]

Right, the earlier rear latch mounting spot different than later so not switchable.