posted
Can someone tell me how to remove the the Camaro upper door panel? You know, the soft vinyl padded part just below the window.
The reason I ask is because I've located light gray perforated leather virtually identical to light gray inserts on my 35th LE seats and would like to have the upper door panel reupolstered in it. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get the door panel off.
Thanks.
-------------------- John Corpany 2002 35th Anniversary LE Camaro SS Convertible w/ M6, Bilstein suspension, Dual/Dual exhaust, SLP 345hp OE Airbox, Premium Floor mats, 35th Anni Car cover, ATM, 35th Anni Grille, T/A Bezel, Custom CAMARO SS Window Banner, Painted calipers w/ CAMARO decals & SS centercap decals by Mark IXZD 150, Custom 35th Anni LE Dashplate, Simpson Five Point Harness Carseat(for the Lil Guy, Custom Upolsterd Door Panels
SLP Build no. 1505 Chevrolet 35th LE Build no. 367 of 3,369 built 1 of 609 35th Anni LE Vert M6 built SSOA Member #F02-1505
posted
You'll need to pull the whole door panel. Once you do that, you'll see that the vinyl part is held on by plastic pieces that have been melted at the ends to hold the pad in place (I don't know what this process is called). When we looked into replacing our gray vinyl with white, a local automotive upholstery shop said they could get them apart, but they would be cutting the plastic studs and replacing them with screws.
posted
It's called "heat staking". Used to heat stake switches onto front panel PC boards at work many, many moons ago. Shove the plastic peg through the hole, then stick a hot soldering iron type contraption on it until it looked like a pancake, et voila! It may be possible that GM has some left over or their supplier. Screws would be easier to come by, though.
Posts: 58 | From: Vancouver, WA | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Actually, we decided not to tear apart the extra set of door panels we bought to replace the gray vinyl with white. What we did instead was clean the vinyl well and Steve masked it off and sprayed it with white vinyl dye. It turned out pretty well and has held up so far. We figured it would be easier to spend $10 on vinyl paint/dye than $75/door panel to recover it. If it lasts, great. If not, we're only out a few bucks and we can recover it down the road if we want to. For what you want to do, (other than take an ice pick to your vinyl to make some holes), it sounds like recovering is your only choice. The shop that we asked about doing it is Classic Soft Trim. They have an installation center near us. There's a locator on their website.
I'm not sure if anyone took pics of our door panels in Bowling Green. Dennis Barker's wife, of Berger Chevrolet, had white vinyl on her door panels, too. It looked like they had a bit of trouble tucking all the material in to look like it was stock.
If I remember, I'll try and take some for you of ours this weekend.
Posts: 7198 | From: Near Portland, Oregon, USA | Registered: Feb 2000
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
