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Very Nice...Ernie in Arizona

Today I painted inside the doors as best as I could. I had previously cleaned off the old sound deadener (it was all falling off) and cleaned up the rust as much as I could reach. Same with the painting.

Then I put on patches of sound deadener (Noico) to reduce vibrations. The panels don't need to be fully covered. If I covered more it may be slightly better, but with what I have on there right now there is a big difference.

I'm currently attempting to get the cracked driver's window out of the frame so it can be replaced. The local glass shop quote me a lot of money to remove and replace due to it being very difficult to get out. I'll give it a shot and see. So far I got the bottom piece off, but not the stainless steel frame. The glass is cracking like crazy so I may not be able to save it as a pattern.

Lastly, I'm gathering the rest of the the materials I need to redo the door panels. The door panels themselves were originally 1/8" hardboard, so I picked up a couple sheets of it at Lowe's for like $15 a sheet. I also picked up some other tools like punches, a jigsaw, etc.

The rear panels appear to be a different backing material. Only one is original, the other was poorly attempted with foam board. It appears the original is some sort of cardboard, also 1/8" thick. I'm assuming the hardboard will work fine on these rear panels as well.

-Kevin

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  Sound deadener on doors.jpg (108.20 KB)


  Eighteth inch hardboard on door panels.jpg (89.24 KB)


  New hardboard.jpg (87.30 KB)


  Backside of rear panels.jpg (94.16 KB)


  Looks to be cardboard.jpg (70.45 KB)

Got the glass out of the frame last night. That was a chore. The setting tape had essentially petrified, and the window was already fragile. I broke a couple of pieces on the bottom edge that I will need to glue back on so the glass shop has a pattern.

To get it out, I used a combination of Freeze-Off (like PB Blaster), heat, and physical removal of the setting tape with razor blades and putty knives. Eventually I got enough of it out, and the rest of the rubber was softer and wet, that I was able to pry the glass out.

I'll drop it by the glass shop tomorrow for them to cut and set a new piece.

I need to figure out what window channel I need before I reinstall the window.

-Kevin

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  Door glass removed.jpg (124.36 KB)

Are you sticking with the green tint or going clear?

The side windows in the 37 were also that green tint, but I went clear when I recently replaced them as the windshield is clear.

I'm going to stick with green tint. My windshield is clear (as is my backup replacement) because that's all I could find. But all the other windows are green tint. I would need to replace all of them with clear if I went that way, and I really don't want to do that.

On my car the clear windshield isn't as noticeable because of the roof. If I had an open car like yours then I would for sure need everything to match.

-Kevin

I pieced together the window as best I could last night, should be good enough for a pattern. It gets dropped at the glass shop today, along with the frame.

After cleaning up from that mess (glass shards and melted rubber everywhere), I started the process of reupholstering the door panels.

I chose one of the rear panels, the one that was in slightly better shape than the other. I pulled the stainless trim off, but the tabs on the backside were very rusty (not stainless) and I'm not sure if I'll be able to use them again.

I was surprised to find staples holding all the vinyl pieces to the board underneath the stainless. I hadn't planned on doing that when I made new panels, but now I'm thinking I should. I can see that the stainless trim is not going to be very strong, and the staples will hold the fabric down nice and tight. Just not sure what gun or staples to get.

Interestingly, they didn't do two separate panels of blue. Instead it's one big panel with the ivory panel stapled right over the top.

-Kevin

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  Rusted tabs.jpg (103.51 KB)


  Staples.jpg (71.22 KB)


  Patterns.jpg (79.08 KB)

Quote:
At least you have found enough unfaded vinyl to know the true color.

As to the staple gun, if you want basic that can be used anywhere probably any of the better quality hand types will do. A step up might be to get one of the relatively inexpensive air driven types from Harbor Freight or Amazon. Electric types I have tried don't seem to have as much driving force as the air types.

Depending on how hard and what type panel board you use, no matter the type stapler there is a good chance several of the staples will need to be driven home by hand. Depending on the board and material thickness you might find quarter inch or less in length will work as is but any longer and they will probably be too long and will need bending over on the back by hand.

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The color of blue vinyl I got is slightly darker than what was hidden underneath. Can't take it back now, and the blue I got matches the real color for the seats better anyways.

I may grab a staple gun from Sailrite, then find some 1/4" staples. I do think it will be easier and longer lasting with staples plus glue, rather than just glue.



Driver's side glass got replaced. It was more expensive than I was hoping, but I'm glad I removed the glass myself. Took several hours of my time, but saved my easily $200 in shop time for them to do it. I'm waiting on new glass run channel before I can install the window.

Also started tracing patterns for the rear panels, but realized I don't have a battery for my jigsaw. So I get to drive back to the store this weekend and pick one up.

Lastly, here's a close up of the tabs on the stainless trim. They don't look so good. I'm considering options for fastening the trim if I can't use the tabs again.

-Kevin

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  New glass.jpg (112.50 KB)


  Rusted tabs 2.jpg (123.15 KB)

I've used a cheap pneumatic stapler from HF with good success. They also carry staples.

Can those ones handle the short 1/4" staples? It was unclear when I was looking at the website.

If so, then it looks like I'll be making another HF trip tomorrow. I picked up a bunch of stuff there last week too. For projects like this the cheap tools make sense. If I was doing this professionally I would invest in the good stuff.

-Kevin