I installed some Mr. Mike’s lower door panels today and thought I would pass along some things that I learned while doing the project. I have decided to make this its own thread for future reference. Please forgive me for posting two related topics about the same project. This one is the “How To” and “Avoid My Mistakes” version for those of you who want more detailed instructions.
First, a note about the panels from Mr. Mike. The stitching is arrow straight and shape was a perfect fit for the contour of the door. The panels are three layers thick. There is the leather, a cloth and padding layer, and the cardboard layer. 1st rate quality.
***Mr. Mike’s Instructions***
“1. Remove the door panel from the car.”
– Nothing to add to that. Straight foreword.
***Mr. Mike’s Instructions***
“2. Remove the old carpet by spraying it with starting fluid spray”.
– Soak it. It makes the glue let go fairly easy. I wore a respirator and still held my breath. Gloves are a must. Do not smoke during this step.
Be careful on the backside of the door so as to not damage the upper part of the lower door panel when peeling the carpet away. I used a large piece of cardboard cut to fit the top of the panel where I did not want spray.
Carpet peeled away with the cardboard shield in place.
“3. Spray glue the cardboard of the door panel (even though it is sticky), and the back of the new lower leather panel”.
-This is another place where the shield came in handy. I wanted to get the glue all the way to the top but did not want to get it above were the leather would be. Glue at the top is good. You do not want the top of the panel to separate from the door because you did not use enough. Spray the edges of the door panel.
Don’t worry about spaying the last 1 inch of the sides and bottom of the leather at this point. It will give you a clean place to hold on to it in the next step.
“4. Position the top edge of the leather panel to the bottom of the original vinyl top. Press on”.
-Be very careful to line it up right. Having to pull it back up at this point is not good. Your hands will be a little messy from the glue at this point and you do not want to touch the front of your leather if possible. I used my forearm to smooth it and roll the material over the sides to avoid touching it with my hands.
***Mr. Mike’s Instructions***
“5. Lift up on the leather, lightly spray the foam with glue, smooth out the leather”.
-I messed up a little here but fortunately it turned out well anyway. The bad area was covered by the armrest.
The key word it lightly. You do not want to saturate the padding between the leather and the cardboard. Use only enough to hold the leather in place, otherwise it will glue the foam padding flat and you will be able to see dimples in the finished product.
Be careful not to pull the leather up too high. You will seperate it from the cardboard where it is guled to the armrest hole.
***Mr. Mike’s Instructions***
“6. Turn the door panel over. Glue – wrap – and staple the edges. Trim around the slots for the door panel clips”.
- The edges that hang over the back should be fairly glue free if you followed the earlier suggestion. This is a great time to trim around the door panel clips as stated by Mr. Mike.
- Once you are satisfied with the fit, spray the edges of the leather that hang over and the area on the backside of the door where it will be folded over. Leave as much leather as you can because this will give it more area for the glue to stick. I sprayed it liberally.
- Be aware that the spray glue is web like and may have stringers that fall over the edge onto the other side. Be careful not to let them stick to the front of your panel.
- Use short staples if you can. The tendency is for them to go through the door and try to punch out the front. I avoided punching holes in the front of the leather by stapling at an angle and was successful.
- Working on a sawhorse kept my work off of the ground. I believe that it prevented contamination.
See the evoloution of my interior.
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87 Fiero SE
[This message has been edited by RACE (edited 09-16-2005).]
After that it will be very pleasant. When I did the seats it was the same story
