[T3] El Cheapo Door Panels

["Andre and Holly" <shackedup@home.com>]

Here on the West Coast old VWs often come complete with door panels that
look as though they've been submerged for some time.  Since I'm too cheap to
consider buying a TMI interior for my (soon to be) driver, I'm in the
process of resurrecting the door panels from my '65.  First I peeled the
vinyl off of the warped pressboard panels.  I threw the vinyl in the tub for
a toothbrushing.  Very disgusting, but effective.  Next I put my warped
panels on a piece of gyprock (anything flat will do) and covered them with
an old sheet. I discovered that if you turn the iron on real high and lean
on it, you can flatten that panel and restore much of it's strength.  Turn
it over a few times and when you're done put something flat and heavy on top
of it.  Once the vinyl is clean and dry and the panels are straight you can
stretch the vinyl with heat (hair dryer or the iron and sheet again) back
over.  This part is tricky and a pain.  Use contact cement and spring
clamps.  Do one side of the panel, then the other (lengthwise) when that
side is dry.  Make sure you get enough stretch end -to-end before you do
anything else.  In the end you will have some pretty darn nice panels that
cost almost nothing.  Has anyone found a really good vinyl cleaner?

Andre Bailly
'63 Notch
'69 Notch
Fred Flintstone '65 Squareback

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