How To: Swapping cracked panel core for earlier non-cracking panel

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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.

[njsteve]

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:

[njsteve]

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.

[RAIVJUDGE]

Nice work Steve. Is the SEM Landau black the same as you have used to restore Formula wheels?

[njsteve]

Yes, it is. That Landau Black is very versatile. I have also used it for repairs on radiator shrouds as well and it matches the black plastic perfectly.

It's like magic paint!