Door Panel Repair

bytor

Well-Known Member
Wondering whats the best way to repair the interior door panel cover on my 1987 C4 Corvette. The door panel covering is seperating just beneath the upper panel trim piece. I was thinking some super glue or epoxy stuffed behind the separated section and stuffing it back in place. Or, am I better off taking the door panel off the doing the repair.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzz1Du3TgRw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy_4PbtPG70
 

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I can tell you from my sons past experience , trying to fix the door panels on his 1992 corvette door panels that (SUPER GLUES)going to do more harm than good if his experience is any measure.

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll ... 1~cadegiga
these guys linked above are fairly expensive but quality seems decent
http://www.corvettemagazine.com/tech-ar ... placement/

http://www.mamotorworks.com/Corvette/ne ... 87&G=C4&C=

http://www.mamotorworks.com/Corvette/su ... -panels-c4

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/tech-ar ... placement/

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5998

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2621

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=103

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2807
 
Got the panel off last night and found a few issues.

First noticed two big cracks in the plastic door panel backing. I guess GM didn't run these things through any computer stress modeling analysis and tried to use as little plastic as possible. Man this stuff is thin and brittle. Could just be age I guess. Decided to try and repair them to get a bit more life out of them as these are expensive to replace and new tires are next on the procurement list.



Flipped the panel around and noticed the cracks went all the way to the top of the door panel.



Took a piece of aluminum and riveted it in place across the top cracks to keep them from expanding.



Next, took a piece of scrap plastic and made a support that I could epoxy over the crack on the panel backside to secure it.



Epxoy and clamp support into place and let cure.



Both big cracks repaired.



Here's a better look at where the door covering is separating from the panel. I put epoxy in the opening and clamped in place over night.



I don't have a picture yet but the results looked OK. I'm not sure how long it will last because the covering backing is foam rubber and the covering had developed a memory because it would not lay down on it's own. It look OK for now though.
 

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even if it does or does not work I have to give you a (A) for effort here as most guys either give up without even trying and order expensive to buy but cheaply made, import replacement parts that seldom fit correctly, or don,t think thru the repair process and simply slather glue over the cracks which generally makes thing look worse


heat guns can at times be useful to allow you to bend plastic panels
http://www.harborfreight.com/1600-watt- ... 69342.html
heatgunx.jpg

heatgun.jpg
 
Looks good. Heat gun and a wet towel may help you get the covering back where you want it.
 
c4 door panels are a fortune, put new ones in the callaway and can verify we had to find our own speaker hole but other than that installation was pretty straigh forward and easy... but it wasnt cheap and they were a deal on ebay.
 
Got things all buttoned up and it looks good. Now time to do the passenger side this weekend. It's not as bad as the drivers side was.
 

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