McNord

iTrader: (1)

What is the best way to disassymble my door panel? I want to seperate the top from the bottom, and remove the armrest. I know I could drill the melted plastic on the back that holds it all together, but I think I will need to reuse those tabs when I reassymble. Is this correct? Is there another way to do this & what am I missing in this process?
Thanks guys-

VIP1

I have a Firebird, but the principle should be the same....




Here is the link with the instructions that I followed:
http://www.lastofthebreed.com/Instal.../DoorPanel.htm

Except that instead of re-melting the posts, I used a blob of LockTite Plastic Epoxy on each post and kept some pressure/weight on the panel to hold it together until the epoxy hardened. I didn't use contact cement for the whole thing either, only the edges that get folded over so that I didn't get any glue bleeding through the cloth. I used some "carpet tape" also around the edge that doesn't get folded over to help hold things in place.

I also covered the center console lid in the same silver cloth.

McNord

iTrader: (1)

Very heplful, thanks!

VIP1

You're Welcome.

SVT THIS

iTrader: (27)

What do you plan on doing to your door panels? FYI I took my Camaro panels apart to wrap in leather and it was such a PITA I never put them back together. I just bought TA door panels.

McNord

iTrader: (1)

I am going to do some paint work, I am going to recover the fabric with black leather, and paint the top half or the door matt black keeping the texture, and paint the bottom half charcole with the texture sanded down smooth. I was also going to make the arm rest hard like the rest of the plastic and smooth it out & paint it to match the panel behind the door handle. I am on a tight budget on this. I would like to get a set of TA door panels, but I haven't found any cheep enough. (new baby on the way)

SVT THIS

iTrader: (27)

If I were you I would run a search in the Appearance forum for "VHT Carpet Dye". That was the title of the thread. Inside the thread though, a local F-body guy and someone I would say has quite a bit of interior mod experience named BigMike2000TA or something along those lines chimed in about a particular automotive interior dye. It is an actual dye that penetrates the hard plastic in our interior and actually chemically alters the pigment of what is being painted. I actually used Krylon Fusion in Satin Black on my TA panels. I did not take them apart, I just sprayed the **** out of everything. I was just curious as I intended on having an upholstery shop tackle them, but, for $12 in paint it turned out nice. The armrest part was a bitch though. It does like to move so the paint would chip. My fix was spraying it with fusion, then, I got a hard acrylic style clear coat that I sprayed on top of it. That made it hard but it was glossy so I fusion'd the top of it. On a scale from 1-10 I would say other overall effect of the door panels appearance is about a 2. The factory shithold Z28 panels are better than the horrible thing I created.

So, I would look into a hard plastic dye instead of a paint. You may test a few spots on the armrest with the dye, it may work on it since it actually alters the chemical pigment of it. As far as hardening it down, you could probably just paint on some fiberglass resin in a series of coats and then sand it down when it hardens. I do not believe you would actually have to glass it as the resin should make it hard enough (just apply a lot of THIN coats so it will adhere).

When you try to smooth the tecture out it may be easier to do it with the thin coats of resin. I used a primer (a thick, building primer) and used a LOT of coats on a few of my other pieces. I got them sanded down and painted. 99% of it looked great, but there were a few places that had minitaure "chunks" of primer missing. They were really small but gave it an imperfect look. The best description I can think of is someone who is in the 30s and is a super fine *** chick. Then, you get close to her and she has a few chicken pock or acne scars that she has tried to cover with makeup. Still a fine chick, but, you can obviously see the imperfections.

Good luck man I'd love to see pics of progress!

McNord

iTrader: (1)

A lot of good info... The main reason I want the arm rest hard plastic like is so I can get rid of the texture, I am worried about flexing & cracking, I wonder if I could sand down the texture as is (leave it rubbery) to get a smooth look and then dye it to match?