Celica Forums General Discussion General pros and cons of vertical doors conversion on 2002 Celica GTS

Are the doors easy to open and close as compared to the original. Is the install of the doors easy and how long does it take? How high do they sit when open? What about a powered kit versus a gas shock kit. Thanks for any info... viperman gts

Go to a local meet and try it out!!

:google:

Yes, they are abit harder to get in and out of. The sit fine as long you installed them right. Install takes about 10hrs. Just a lot of little work and lining this up. Good Investment if your going for a show car. Just make sure your passenagers know how to work them

If you looking for a kit PM me im selling mine

yeah i would love to have a set also but i'm still debating it seems like it could cause unwanted avoidable future problems, but they are PIMP

make sure they know so they dont push out

I wound up getting the GT-Factory Vertical Door Kit...

It took about 5 days installation from a professional because he REALLY had to modifiy the kit & the inner fender so it would be a true bolt-on...

...on, BTW: Don't believe anything you read that says "Bolt-On" because 99% of the time it isn't! Mind had to be really modified so it did become a bolt-on so it's 100% reversable now. The kit itself had to be modded to fit in the small space between the fender & the frame.

When it was done, it looks sweet. It goes up almost the full 90 degrees, but only goes out about 30 degrees.

So it looks sweet all the way up, but it does rub a little on the rubber molding right above the door, and that has worn out a little... still a small price to pay for a nice show-car.

Closing the doors, however, can be a little tricky at first, and a little un-nerving with passengers. You get the feel of it after a number of tries... but because it's not a true lamborghini, it doesn't seal when it comes down, you still have to push it in, which means that you have to make sure it's lined up with the catch in the door & the frame. My gas struts sometimes wanna make the door go up a little so I have to match it up just right... this is especially true for the passenger door where you have to push down a little to get it to hit just right... but I have had a number of instances where it didn't catch right... and WHAM!!!
...paint chips off right above & below. Thank God for touch-up paint!

Anyway, your doors may also eventually sag... so you may need to eventually re-calibrate them which is good if you have it done professionally with a guarantee that they'll fix it if there's any problems.

I wasn't too happy what I paid for installation, but I certainly couldn't do it myself after checking out all the work he had done!

^^^ could you post some pics please if you can?

Good Post!

Just understand that everything will haver its problems

Well, in my profile (just click on my name) I have a couple pics of the car right in there (the yellow one, not the black)...

I'll post a larger one if needed both an "in progress" installation as well as the finished product as it lifts up almost 90degrees...

The 2 gas struts really help out raising the doors with ease, plus if one goes, the replacement is like maybe $15.00 vs. other gas struts which can run $100 or so per strut.

you say good investment if your going for a show car, so would you guys say for daily driving they are not worth getting, i want a kit bad, a little help please!!

I got mine for day-to-day driving, and it's VERY much worth getting if you want to draw attention to yourself. Especially here in the NorthEast, it's not all that common of a sight, so when getting in & out of the car in parking lots, it really sometimes make people do a double-take.

...plus, despite a stock body, it really makes it stand out & will get a lot of praise.

...the only bad, as stated before, is that there is a learning curve when closing the doors because you have to get use to where the catch lines up when shutting the door. After awhile... it becomes 2nd hand... just warn anyone who enters your car not to let the door fall down on its own... that'll just make it sag & also throw it off balance in which case it'll eventually have to be recalibrated.

Check below, that's how it was changed from a weld-on kit to a true bolt-on kit. There's 2 struts on this kit which makes it a little more powerful than others, but be forewarned... professional installation to make this a bolt-on ain't gonna be cheap!

seems like a lot of hassle

i wanted lambo doors sooooooooo baaaaaaaaaad... but i didn't have enough money when i was buying all my mods for my celica... then a few months later, after my car was finished, i realized i will never be able to get them now because we molded my body kit together so you can't take the fenders off... yeah that was smart...

^it's ok my uncle ACTUALLY dry-walled himself into a room one time. No it doesn't just happen on comedy shows and commercials...some people really ARE that dumb

but from what I've been reading...it looks like a REAL hassle unless you have a serious showcar. the closing of the doors part with possible chipping and stuff has me very nervous...lol.

Well I know it is cost a lot but did you'll but the hindges and had a pro put them on or did you just buy the entire set?
Also i like the look of seeing verticle doors on celicas because if you read a lot of import mags most of the cars they show as a display for the pic in the book are celicas.

That's friggin hilarious. Oh man, sbocaj, you made my day

lol hahahahaha dry walled into a room hahahahah lol made my day too lol im crying with laughter hahahaha

how much it cost if you dun mind me askin?
im thinking about getting it done mabey weld on though.
soo how much for weld on?
how much for true bolt on?
thx lalalala yay

oi moderator guy satoshi can you pls help me? i wanna change my screen name i tried sending you some pm you wont answer plas help

Unlike some people (myself included), Satoshi doesn't spend all his time on this site.

Also, if you post something in one thread, keep it there. You posted the same thing in about your name in another thread. I know you're excited to learn about modding your car, but you gotta calm down a bit.

Mine ran $1500 for the installation alone.
The guy who I had do it had a lot of experience in vertical door installations, and even was fimilar with the GT-Factory installation. The last one he installed was on the Saturn Ion, but never did a Toyota Celica. The space difference between the Celica & the Ion were worlds apart, as the Celica was much smaller.

First of all, the instrutctions alone show you how to WELD it onto the car. It came with a CD of pictures of the installation & it was showing you how much you had to cut from the car & weld it right in there, so it was in fact not a bolt-on & therefore, not reversable (despite the claim that it was).

So instead of a possible 2-day install, it wound up being closer to a week. He customized the GT-Factory Vertical kit by altering a few parts so it would fit in the small space between the fender & the frame. Some of the fender had to be "roller", but was cut instead... then after the kit was altered, it was set to be bolted on as indicated by the pic from my last post.

It now fits just right & can be adjusteed if needed with no hard work. It's official bolt-on now, so I could sell it on E-Bay if I wanted to and say it's a bolt-on especially for the Celica because it will fit right on no problem now & is also 100% reversable if I ever choose to go back (hell no!).

You can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1500 for a job like that. Mine was on the higher end because of all the extra work needed to get that kit to fit in the small are on the Celcia between the fender & frame!

I have the c2gas lambo door.a local body shop in sacramento charged me $250.00 for installing the lambo door,installing my VIS invader hood and balance and alignment.It took them 3 hrs to do everything and they did an excellent job on the door.

damn sabrewolf you say hell no... was it that bad of a experience having the doors?

No, I don't say hell no... I say hell yes...

It's very worth it when all is said & done. Again, my kit required a lot more modification than other VDC kits out there.

The only bad experience was the amount of time it took (nearly a week w/out my baby) and a large price tag...

...but there's other kits out there that'll install cheaper, but you won't have the benefit of what mine can do, which is go up a full 90 degrees... and that makes getting in & out of the car VERY very easy, especially for larger passengers.


A small example of what it looks like on a car.

The only reason I'd never convert is the issue with them not latching when they are pulled down. You have to pull down, match the door to the frame, then pull in. It looks nice when they are up or opening, but closing looks sort of stupid (to me). It is a way to make the car look VERY exotic though.