99 Diablo Door Panel Removal

Anybody have the trick to this? Search shows nothing useful.

 

I have all the bolts free from the door panel and the panel is swinging relatively freely. I've disconnected the speaker and the power mirror control. Two things remain which have me stuck since I don't want to break anything expensive:

 

1. Door handle - must be disconnected to let pull cable go back through door panel. I've removed the 3.5mm hex screw from inside the cup of the door handle and the cup will now pull out, but I can't figure out how to disconnect the cable. If you pull up the handle and look inside, the head of the cable comes through a hole, then there's a pin through it to keep it in, and the pin snaps into catches in the plastic of the door handle. Don't know how to remove this though. I could probably hook the pin with something and snap it out of the catches, in which case the cable looks like it would drop through the bottom. However, it looks like it would be nearly impossible to put back together then. Any suggestions?

 

2. Upper Panel where it hooks over the door frame. Is this just a pressure fit? Is it easier to remove with the window up or window down? Another forum showed a picture which indicated that you should pull out the rubber strip that contacts the window, but in my experience this is usually attached to the door panel and can't be pulled out separately. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks! Trying to change out my sticky exterior door handles (have nice looking MACarbon ones) and maybe look at the door switch that is killing my battery.

I found the picture from the other post. It's step 1 I'm suspicious of...

The door panel just lifts out. You do NOT have to remove the rubber strip along the top, as I suspected. It stays in the car. With some care, I was able to leave the door panel connected and get into the weather seal to change out the handles.

 

Now my problem is that the replacement handles seem to have had plastic poured into the metal inserts that are molded inside to secure the handle to the door, but that's a manufacturing problem...

http://www.lamboweb.com/Repairs_Section/Di...Door_Struts.htm

FWIW, SV owners should know that the SV door panel, unlike the standard one, is actually riveted in under the top seal. I kid you not. I had to drill those out to deal with a window motor.

 

Don't ask me why the designers thought this was a good idea. (Um, wait -- I know -- forces most people to end up at the dealership!)