I'm restoring the door panels on my '86 GT convertible.
The door panel vinyl is in great shape, but like most of these foxes, the cardboard behind the vinyl and carpet has warped due to water damage. This also affected the door panel carpet, so that will be replaced as well. Someone before me had also removed both door lock switches and cracked both door lock bezels so I plan to replace a handful of hardware pieces. Lastly, there's the inner door felt strips. They seem to be in decent shape so I'm going to reuse them for now.
It's going to be a tedious process but I'm looking forward to it. I'm a big fan of the small details and love the little victories to stay motivated.
Here's the plan for the full door panel restoration:
Below are a couple of pics of the current state of the panels. I plan to share some photos of the progress and results.
Front of driver side door panel. (Note the large window switch hole for convertibles. I've already removed the metal frame hardware in order to soak it in some CLR to clean it up a bit.)
Cleaned up pretty nice. You can even make out the Ford branding, part number, and location reference (TOP) again.
Front of passenger side door panel
Back of driver side door panel. Obvious warping due to water damage.
Back of passenger side door panel. Same issues with water damage. (Note the remnants of factory sound deadener. I'll also need to find a new solution for sound deadener when I'm done with these panels. The original stuff ain't cutting it and I'm not putting it back in there with these new panels.)
If anybody has any questions or recommendations feel free to chime in.
Cheers!
The door panel vinyl is in great shape, but like most of these foxes, the cardboard behind the vinyl and carpet has warped due to water damage. This also affected the door panel carpet, so that will be replaced as well. Someone before me had also removed both door lock switches and cracked both door lock bezels so I plan to replace a handful of hardware pieces. Lastly, there's the inner door felt strips. They seem to be in decent shape so I'm going to reuse them for now.
It's going to be a tedious process but I'm looking forward to it. I'm a big fan of the small details and love the little victories to stay motivated.
Here's the plan for the full door panel restoration:
- Replace backing cardboard
- Replace lower panel carpet (Leaving out the map pockets. Not a fan.)
- Replace all damaged hardware (bezels, switches, housing brackets, screws, etc.)
- Reuse original vinyl
- Reuse original inner door felt strips
- Clean everything up
Below are a couple of pics of the current state of the panels. I plan to share some photos of the progress and results.
Front of driver side door panel. (Note the large window switch hole for convertibles. I've already removed the metal frame hardware in order to soak it in some CLR to clean it up a bit.)
Cleaned up pretty nice. You can even make out the Ford branding, part number, and location reference (TOP) again.
Front of passenger side door panel
Back of driver side door panel. Obvious warping due to water damage.
Back of passenger side door panel. Same issues with water damage. (Note the remnants of factory sound deadener. I'll also need to find a new solution for sound deadener when I'm done with these panels. The original stuff ain't cutting it and I'm not putting it back in there with these new panels.)
If anybody has any questions or recommendations feel free to chime in.
Cheers!