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93-02 General Tech/Discussion 1993-2002 Firebird/Trans Am General Tech/Discussion

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  #61  
Old 04-12-2015, 11:44 AM
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The boy and I decided to tackle the cracked driver's side door panel that has been annoying me since we got the car. Last year we removed the panel, glued the cracks, removed and reinstalled the window felt, and reinstalled the panel but it was still an eyesore, especially since I had to look at the damn thing every time I was driving the car. (The passenger side panel was perfect - but I did remove it and reinforce the crack-prone areas with flexible body repair material and removed and reinstalled the window felts in a "looser" position).

So we decided to replace the panel. We all know how hard an uncracked 2001-2002 ebony panel goes for, so I went for the alternative. The early cars - up to early 1997 used a different plastic material for the panel which doesn't crack when exposed to heat/cold cycles like the later panels do. The only problem is that they are grey and not ebony. So we found a really nice 1996 grey panel with a cloth insert and started the experiment.

Since the panels used multiple parts that were plastic welded in place at the factory we used a heat gun to soften the melt points. The cardboard backed cloth panel then pulled right off the tabs. I actually trusted my son to wield the heat gun...lets just say he needs work on his aim...and I need to wear asbestos gloves.



Here is one of the tabs before heating. After each one was softened with the heat gun, I just pulled the panel off one tab at a time. After the entire cardboard panel was removed I reheated each tab and squeezed it with a wide flat toothed pliers to remake the tab into something that would easily engage into the ebony cardboard panel's slots.



And here is the plastic panel after the cardboard-backed upholstery panel was removed. I will tell you that the arm rest mounting points are much harder to heat as they seem to be of a harder white plastic material and not polypropylene. (this photo is actually a couple steps ahead and shows the ebony arm rest and map pocket set in place. Note the color difference).



I went ahead and removed the arm rest and the map pocket as I wanted to install as much of the original stuff from my 2001 ebony panels as possible. Most people could stop at this point and then dye the panel as is to get ready to install the ebony leather interior upholstery panels.

Last edited by njsteve; 04-12-2015 at 11:59 AM.
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  #62  
Old 04-12-2015, 11:44 AM
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Here is the grey donor panel after everything has been removed.





And after I scrubbed, cleaned and redyed the panel with SEM Laundau Black interior dye. This stuff is wonderful and I have used it for all sorts of black interiors over the years. Its a great match for the ebony panel color.

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Old 04-12-2015, 11:45 AM
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Here is the ebony upholstery panel from my cracked door panel:



With the ebony arm rest and map pocket in place, now came time to plastic weld the map pocket in to place. The arm rest has to wait until the cardboard upholstery panel is in place as its mounting tabs are melted over the panel.



I used a plastic welder with a flat tip (basically just an overpriced soldering iron), to melt the tabs back into the panel and bond them together.

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Old 04-12-2015, 11:45 AM
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Once the map pocket was welded into place I reset the ebony upholstery panel onto the mounting tabs and heated each tab in order to retain the panel in its original position. Once again, the large, white plastic plastic tabs for the arm rest are the hardest to heat and manipulate due to whatever plastic they are made of.



And then the insulation is reapplied. It was rather easy to use the heat gun in order to reactivate the existing sloppy application of glue all over the back of the panel (all the circular squiggly lines are glue). The insulation then stuck right into place.



I also reinstalled the original window felt using the wire from large paperclips. I cut them to a horseshoe shape and then bent them to form the new replacement staples. This allows the weatherstrip to flex a little and not bind the panel on hot/cold days.

And here is the finished job:

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  #65  
Old 04-12-2015, 11:46 AM
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And here is how it looks in the car, when compared to the original ebony passenger side panel:

All in all the grey 1996 panel cost me $75 plus shipping and the can of SEM Laundau Black interior dye was $12. Sure beats $300 for a used ebony panel that is already brittle and ready to crack.







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  #66  
Old 04-12-2015, 12:16 PM
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Looks sweet!! You two could get a business going doing this!! I have had those seats in my 4th gen Birds. Liked em so much I put them in my driver Bird.. I think the white is nyloc hot glue . After your son has some sweat in the car, he may take better care of it himself.
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Old 04-13-2015, 05:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S Courter View Post
Steve...Did you finish the roof replacement or give up on it. My 28k original mile 2001 WS6 suffers from the same malady but I am too afraid to have anyone mess with it. Could end up looking worse then having pimples in the paint.
Your posting got me motivated about getting this done. I stopped by the bodyshop today to get an estimate for replacing the "targa panel" that has the factory defects from the adhesive bleed-through. I left the replacement panel with him so he could start prepping and painting it. Here is a shot from when I spent several days last summer removing it from the sawed-off roof section of a donor car. The bodyman indicated that it will be much easier for him to remove the existing panel from the car since it does not need to be salvaged and he can use heat from the painted side to loosen the adhesive.

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  #68  
Old 04-15-2015, 08:05 PM
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I tackled the spark plug and wire set challenge yesterday. Boy is that an insane job. Plugs 1,3,5, and 7 can be done with a minimum of effort, while lying across the front end of the car with your arms pretzeled along the side of the engine. Plugs 2, 4 and 6 require the smog tube to be disconnected from the manifold to give you some room to get your hand in. Luckily the bolts came out without breaking due to the low mileage.

Number 8 has to be done from under the car, sticking your arm straight up alongside the block. The hardest thing is using two fingers (because that's all the room you have) to pull the plug wire off the plug and coil. I could have used some of Bruce Lee's "One Inch Death Punch" training to get the finger strength to work in that tiny work area.

And of course, GM had to sharpen all the edges of every pointy piece of metal and shielding in the general area of the plugs and wires. At the moment, my right arm looks like it lost a fight with a rabid honey badger.

The original Denso PTJ16R15 12563707 plugs were still in the engine. They look like they were burning nicely but the gaps had worn to over .060 in 14 years of running. I replaced them with some regular copper ACDelcos. She idles much more smoothly now.


Last edited by njsteve; 04-15-2015 at 08:27 PM.
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  #69  
Old 04-15-2015, 11:19 PM
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I pray you used some never seize, hopefully copper. I think last set I did before I got hurt was iridium plugs. Fixing the gaps makes a big difference, and it helps fuel economy as well. Glad you got it done!!
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Old 04-15-2015, 11:22 PM
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Yup, I put a dab on the threads, being careful not to get anything on the combustion chamber ends. This avoids any future fault codes from the O2 sensors.
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  #71  
Old 05-28-2015, 06:51 PM
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The WS6 is currently at the body shop getting the replacement roof panel prepped for installation. He was able to remove the old panel in one piece with heat and wire.

The underside of the new panel all prepped:



The steel support panel getting cleaned up:



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  #72  
Old 05-28-2015, 06:52 PM
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The trunk lid edges also needed some paint attention and the paint flaking on the tips of the spoilers as well.





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  #73  
Old 06-01-2015, 05:25 PM
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In the paint booth now, all painted up.

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  #74  
Old 06-01-2015, 05:27 PM
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NICE!
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  #75  
Old 06-01-2015, 06:00 PM
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Appears you may finally be having a good body shop experience Steve
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  #76  
Old 06-01-2015, 08:38 PM
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It's a local collision shop that did the work on our Impala SS and did a very good job under budget, and on time. The guy works 7 days a week. Amazing work ethic.
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  #77  
Old 06-03-2015, 08:14 PM
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And here she is all finished and back on the road today. The paint and bodywork came out wonderfully.





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  #78  
Old 06-03-2015, 08:41 PM
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Looks Hot!!, Grats!! T top cars always require the extra work, but its worth it
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  #79  
Old 06-03-2015, 09:30 PM
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Very nice, lucky kid.

All I got for wheels from my parents was my first bike!
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Old 06-03-2015, 09:41 PM
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Me too. Here it is back in 1970 and now, hanging in the basement.
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