Door Inner Panel Covers

[Ken's 57]

Hi Everyone

I've removed my door trims and the access hole covers in order to check for rust in the doors. No rust, but I am having a cow of a time with replacing and adhering the covers. The original covers appear to be made of an aluminium foil backed with a coarse fibre and tar. It was a shame to remove them as they were still in good nick and sealing well but getting them off has basically destroyed them. I have no idea whether this material is still available to buy so I'm trying some plastic sheeting which I bought off the roll from Clark Rubber. But nothing I use will stick the plastic to the door. After an hour or so, the plastic just curls up. According to the Selleys help line, it is because most plastics are made from polypropylene which resists adhesives. Can anyone offer a solution to what should have been a straightforward half-day job? Is there a better material to use than plastic or is there a glue out there that will work? Ideally I'd love to refit the aluminium and tar material that came off if it is still around.

Thanks.....Ken

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

I used some black plastic glued on with some contact adhesive, not the best adhesion, then when I removed the door cards the other week I used some of the 3M contact adhesive Rares sold me for the door rubbers.
If you grabbed a metre of trimming vinyl from Spotlight, Clarks or a Motor Trimming supplier, it would be easier to glue as it has the cloth lining. Never tried it myself though, I'll save that thought for the next car.

[craiga]

Which material is it you are referring to?

There is a plastic (opaque) that covers the access hole in the frame, this is easy to replace using the plastic material used by brickies (its usually black or orange though) and using Sikaflex to glue it in position. If you do remake it then replicate the flap that goes over the lower edge of the access hole, preventing water from coming up underneath the plastic. I've seen a NOS one of these recently and the flap is genuine.

If you are referring to the material fixed to the inside of the door skin (only used on FE's as a rust promoter ;-), replaced on FC's with spray on material) then I'd recommend that you chuck it to the sh*&house and use the spray on sound deadener available in most auto parts stores.

Cheers,

Craig.

[Johns]

Ken, the liners you refer to are different for FE to FC. They are well made however, they become very brittle with age.

I suggest you make new covers out of plastic and use 3M spray on adhesive, this should work provided you wipe the doors down with Prepsol before spraying.

I will shortly post some photos of these early liners - sometimes if you have an original rust free car its just as well to leave it alone and keep it dry.

Having said all that, I have to have new door cards made for my very early blue FE. A look inside the front doors reveals, red lead (or something) half way up the frames, but NO paint whatsoever above this. No wonder they rusted so quickly

Regards
John

[RET]

Here's another good trick when replacing or fitting the plastic liner around the access hole (and I'm not sure if this is what Craig was referring to).

1. Cut the plastic sheet cover about 2" wider and 4" deeper than the hole. Glue or sikaflex (even tape if you want) the upper edge of the plastic to the door.
2. A few inches down from the upper edge of the hole, put a horizontal cut in the plastic on both edges, about 1.5" wide.
3. Feed the section of plastic below that cut inside the door.
4. There is no step 4, although you can put a bit of glue and/or tape down the vertical bit of plastic that's on the outside of the door if you want. You can also put a bit of tape at the inner end of each cut to keep it from tearing further, although it's not really necessary.

This 'shower curtain' method is better than gluing the lower edge of the plastic down on the outside face, as any water which does get into the door is directed down to the drain holes, not pooling between the outer edge of the access hole and the glued plastic, and dribbling out onto the back of your trim.

Hope that's helpful.

cheers
RET

[Ken's 57]

Thank you all. I have decided to use PVC which I bought at a tarpaulin/canvas business. According to the Sikaflex rep, clean the metal first with metho, rough up the surfaces with emery, then do the PVC and the metal again with Sikaflex 205 cleaner. Next, apply an even bead of Sikaflex 227 and glue together.

For what it's worth, if anyone needs to glue any type of modern plastic sheeting onto metal, apparently the only thing that will adhere decently is a rubber compound called Butyl Mastic. It's made by Selleys.

Cheers......Ken