Method of mounting an outer skin to an inner panel of a vehicle door

DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to the teachings of the preferred embodiment of this invention, a modular door is formed of an inner panel made up of leg portions providing a peripheral frame conforming to a door opening in the vehicle.
An intrusion beam is fixed to opposite legs of the inner panel adjacent the inner side thereof and carries operating hardware for operating various components associated with the door.
The door hinge assemblies and door latch portion associated with the door are secured to the inner panel and intrusion beam so that impact loads are transmitted to the vehicle body.
The window is carried in a window track member nested in the inner panel adjacent the outer side thereof.
Suitable guide means are provided adjacent the outer side of the inner panel for guiding the opening and closing movement of the window.
With this arrangement the window is substantially flush with the outer skin of the vehicle body.
The window track member is more rigid than the inner panel and is initially mounted in the inner panel to pivot slightly about an axis through the belt line.
Thus, the inner panel can be adjusted relative to the vehicle body to provide a tight fit with the seal therebetween by pivoting the upper portion of the window track member and thus the inner panel.
After the adjustment, the lower portion of the window track member is fixed in place.
According to other teachings of the preferred embodiment of this invention, the door latching means including a handle is entirely attached to the inner panel so that the door latching hardware can be assembled and tested off line prior to attaching an outer panel to the inner panel.
The outer panel has an opening aligned with the door handle to provide the user with access to the handle after the outer panel has been attached to the inner panel.
Preferably, the door latching hardware is assembled to a module which contains most of the door components except for the outer panel and inner trim panel.
In such manner, off line testing of all of the door components can be accomplished and the module easily mounted during conventional on line assembly