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240 door panels, all rotted

volvorod85

New member
Joined
Feb 21, 2003
Location
Sunny Socal
So my GF's 242 has a very rotted drivers door panel, the pass side isnt great, same with my 242. And 242's are harder and harder to find in the bone yards, let alone ones with door panels at all. Anyone made custom door panels, gotten custom ones made? pics, thoughts?

Mark
 
As awsome as that is, and ive seen i done, on rally cars...i need soemthing a little more refined

Mark

spray adhesive + cloth of your choice from local fabric store. :rofl:

in all seriousness, to prevent rotting, that's what I'd do. to make a nice panel, I would use the old one as a template, and use 1/8in aluminium, then a nice thin layer of foam and cover it with cloth or what have you.
 
Kill the rot with bleach carefully.
POR 15 will stiffen them up if they aren't totally gone.
Put it on thick,lay the door card face up on 5 mill polyethyline plastic,
and press with plywood and weights.
Cutting new masonite and splicing it in is another repair option.
 
This is what I did. It worked for me & no, I have no pics.

I took the door panels with the rotted pressed paperboard stuff. I put the panel on a table & laid it flat. I removed the loose material. I pulled the panel as taut as I could & laid a piece of fiberglass over the panel (the inside that is) & added the resin. I then laid a piece of this plastic window screen over that. The only way I can describe this material is that it's identical to window screen but the opening is about 1/8 to 3/16" in size and applied another layer of resin & fiberglass over that but not before I placed the push tabs in the correct location (based on the remains of the original panel)

Once it set the panel was just as solid if not more so than an undamaged panel.

Note: Don't do this in direct sunlight or on a hot surface as this can distort the vinyl side of the panel.

Once set, cut out the appropriate holes & remount on the door frame.
 
Cutting new masonite and splicing it in is another repair option.

Could you elaborate on the splicing? The driver door panel on my 242 is kinda crumbling off on the lower rear corner, and I figured some sort of splice would be needed. I figured I'd find something thin and strong and just use spray trim adhesive to apply it to both sides of the masonite. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em.
 
Id just make new ones outa masonite....but then i dont get the neat texture, teh ribs and the varing height that makes the panel nice, ya know....i could so just the flat panel, but i unno...the stiffening method sounds good, but unfortunatly the door panels are the wrong color anyway, so repairing them isnt much or an option...though the suggestions are awsome, ive got GT panels in my 242, and i want to save em, to prevent rotting the door holes will be coverd with plastic, as the factory did, but a little better obviously. And you you know how bad an aluminum panel will vibrate and rattle!? OMG, ya i said it OMG.

I could prolly make teh template though and glue extra layers in certain places to give the panel more depth...to try to match the original ones better
 
One of the aussies on this board did something cool. I forget which one, maybe Bruno? He has some custom door panels he fabricated. Might wanna check with him.
 
you could cut the rot out. and replace with some masonite board. Its almost the same material.

I used it in replacing my sis's speakers mounts in her 89 240
 
I bet you could take 244/5 door panels, cut them up, and splice them in. Should be the same shape, just not as long.
 
Here's what I did...1/8 Marine grade baltic birch covered with Thompson's water seal. Cut as others have mentioned. The ridge in the middle was made with some 3/8" particle board.

DSCF0015_001.JPG


Covered with 1/8 foam. I then built up the top (once the metal part was re-attached) with 1/2" foam.

DSCF0001.JPG


Then I stiched up some leather and faux suede panels.

DSCF0002.JPG


Then I added a 1/4 polished stainless trim piece and built some new speaker grills...done - new leather door panels. Before I attached everything the doors were covered in water-proof sound deadening material.

DSCF0001_001.JPG
 
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