NavyP503 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 This is my latest project and I've already been working on it a couple days. I bought a new stereo and speakers because the old one barely worked. I just went with a cheap Wally World deal, Pioneer deck and 4 speakers for under $100. Someone had previously run new speaker wire but didn't do the greatest job. I pulled the front seats and dash to better get at all the wiring. My drivers side door panel was in a pretty poor state. The backing board had ripped in a few places and most of the clips that hold the panel to the door had ripped out. I've been to the junkyards but haven't found a door panel in decent condition. So my project this weekend is to replace the backing board. I've already removed the plastic trim and cloth from the board. I'm going to pick up a new board today, and new clips. I'll update this post as to how well this works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyhayseed Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I've been considering something similar by attaching the lower plastic assembly and arm rest to a sheet of aluminum. No more stained upholstery no more soggy ripped paperboard. TerranoNZ replaced his will aluminum, but I can't find the pics now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teixeira Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) This will be interesting to follow. Good luck and keep it going. Edited January 30, 2011 by teixeira Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I busted the upper platic part of the panel all up on my 88, so I removed it from the panel and reinstalled the panel on the door, I then took an outside bottom window seal and clipped it on the inside to steady the window. There is just exposed painted steel between the seal and the panel now. Tried to find a pic, but I don't have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyP503 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 The stereo install went great! It sounds a million times better then a messed up deck and two blown speakers. The door panel replacement however didn't turn out very well. I laid the original panel over some hardboard and clamped it down. Using a drill and some files I matched all the holes on the hardboard to the original board. I used spray adhesive on both the board and the cloth sections and lined it up as best I could. The finished door panel looked ok, the cloth wasn't as stretched as I would have like it to have been and a lot of the little plastic pins that hold the plastics to the board were broken, either by me or were already missing. But when I tried to install it, I found that the cloth had shifted and now I couldn't get the curved section to fit on the door and line up the panel clips with the holes in the door. Also a lot of the panel clips didn't line up directly with the holes in the door. I was rushing a bit yesterday when I drilled out the board, trying to beat the snow. I have another piece of board I can try again with. Or as some have suggested I might look into just attaching the plastic to some aluminum. If anyone has pictures of that I'd be interested in seeing how it turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northernpathy Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Never seen someone rip out the entire dash just for radio wiring before. But I guess this way you will be able to clean everything up really well while you are at it! Keep it up. Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now