doors can you swap

are side and back doors interchangeable

pretty sure they are interchangeable

They are, but there are some small differences.

Rear doors have letters on the outside. Each has 2 holes for the attaching pins.
Side doors have both inside handles so you can get out from inside. Rear doors have only the second handle so you open the first from the outside, then reach in and open the second. The latch with the inside handle stud is a booger to remove and install!!!
The side door also has the lock button (part of the latch) and hole for it (the inner door structure), so it can be locked/unlocked from inside.
That's what I've found and what others here have confirmed.

thanks rod i want the rear doors to have windows not the side

If you do swap the doors, it might be worth keeping in mind that there is a very good reason that the factory mounted rear doors that could not be opened from the inside.

^^^ Please enlighten us my friend. Ive been thinking I want both rear and side cargo doors to be able to be opened from the inside, and I'd probably find that information very useful before i make a mistake in the line of safety.

If you were driving down the road let's say with young one's and they were playing around and opened the side door handle from the inside the wind would help keep it closed. if the sice doors were on the back the kids or dog could open the door and fall out. But if you had a bed in the back and you were camping you could open it and climb out opposed to climbing over your gear or partner,

I found this topic of interest but I had to go out and take a couple pictures before replying to ensure that I had my facts straight.

I personally had chosen to use a set of back doors I picked up as my new side doors but did not notice an obvious difference between the front and back doors from a latch stand point other than a missing hole for the lock button. To show what I have found I've attached a few pictures.

This first picture shows the outside of doors with the original side doors on the ground next to the "new" side doors which were back doors. The blue glaze on the mounted side door on the right is over the weld filled holes for the letters that use to be there. No other visual differences.


This second picture shows the inside of the doors. I did transfer a pop-out window latch area from the original to the "new" doors as the replacement were not set up for windows, this may be due to the "new" doors were from an earlier A100 or because they came off a panel van.


This third picture shows the hole in the original side door for the lock button.


This final picture shows the "new" door without the hole for the lock button as I have not drilled it out as yet.


As far as the layout of the inside of the doors there are no differences and there are not two handles on the outside of either the back or side doors. The bottom line in my opinion is that I saw little to no difference between the back and side doors that they could not easily be interchanged. Sure there are a few holes that need to be welded or drilled but other than that they are an easy swap. That's my two cents and also my approach. Scott...

thanks guys scott the pictures were very helpful.Dix my children are all over 18.The wife wanted a van to relive our youth thats why i have 5 children now a van back when we were younger Guess we have to make our own grandkids now

Awesome info! Thanks for the pix too!

i don't know if the later years were any different but my 69 the rear doors were drilled for the windows all ready. all I had to do was take the hinge out and put the window in the back. I will let you know that with the rear door windows open it sucks the exhaust inside the van depending on where your exhaust exits.

I agree, my original doors also were drilled for the windows even the back that came with the fixed glass in the back doors. The "new" doors pictured and used above were off a 67 or 68 van and they were not set up for the pop-out windows so I had to transfer them from my original to the "new" doors.

This is what the original "new" door looked like before tranfering the latch area from my '69 door latch area to it. You can see the difference. Scott...

Before:


After (Before all cleaned up):