tdellaringa

Thanks for the clarification, it helps. Tried to bid on some manuals on eBay but like someone said, with shipping the bid keeps going over what a new one would cost anyway. I'll just get them new.

LAAllison

A low cost option is the Haynes Manual. It's not as good as the real thing but it gives a lot of good info. Bought mine at Books A Million right after I got my 89 back in 2000. Also Newton's 101 Projects is good bathroom reading that will help.


Art


Roll Tide

tdellaringa

Thanks for the tip!

Travis93

Yours do not look as bad as mine were but this will show you what the ribs are and how they crack. I would be tempted to reinforce them even if they are not cracked yet, because eventually they will.

Door panel repair

tdellaringa

Thanks Travis, very informative! What did you cut the aluminum with?

Travis93

Glad to help. Sheet metal sheers.

96polovette

That's the same way I cut the little brackets I used. I purchased a small square piece of sheet metal that had small holes equally spaced throughout. This was at the hardware store, it is like a metal plate maybe 6 inches by 6 inches. I have no idea what its really meant to be used for, all I know is I didn't have to drill holes through the sheet metal as they were already there. I cut the rib brackets out of it with shears, drilled tiny holes in the plastic ribs to line up with the brackets and bolted the brackets on. I believe Travis93 cemented his aluminum ribs on. Either way the door panel is as good as new as far as structural rigidity. Next time I have my passenger side door panel off I'm going to give it the same treatment.

Greg Gore

Another thing to consider is the quick setting 5 minute epoxy is not as strong as the 24 hour cure type.

mfi

After trying ALL these ideas I gave up and shot 2 screws down through the top of the panel right into the door. Since they are down where the window felt is, you can't really see them. THIS worked and is holding for about 1 year now.

tdellaringa

Well the door is getting a lot worse due to it closing over and over and being loose, so I'll have to try something this week I can peek enough inside now to see that at least the outside rib is cracked.

Greg Gore

The door panel is still as flat as a flounder though with the cracked ribs on the backside. When the ribs crack the door panel loses some of its formed shape, spreads out and sticks up at the top over the door sill.

tdellaringa

Ok, I'm getting ready to do this and I am gathering up my materials. I have the JB Weld and some cardboard to protect the door while strapping. I'm going to grab some straps this week. My neighbor said he has a ton of pop-rivets I can use. So I think the only thing left to get is the aluminum to shore up the ribs and the brackets.

What thickness aluminum should I get? Is this something I can pick up at a big box hardware store?

rickneworleansla

Let us know how it goes with pics if possible. I would think not too thick becuase you may have difficulty bending it. I have not done this yet but I need to soon. I'd also like to know what brackets to use. I read 1" L-Brackets but is that 1" horizontal or vertical on each side of the L? How many are needed to do both doors?

Thanks

tdellaringa

I plan on trying to document it when I do it. So I should have pics for sure.

96polovette

I believe they are 1" metal L brackets that can be purchased at any hardware store. If they determine the size by the diagonal distance between the ends they may be called 1.5". The ones I installed are about an inch on each length of the bracket. Anything smaller will not fit the bolts on the top of your door. Anything too big and your door panel won't fit properly. They're so cheap you could purchase a couple of sizes and use the one that fits best. Be sure to bend it towards the interior of the car once installed with a set of pliers. You may have to adjust it a few times to get the best angle to fit the door panel. I put one on the rearmost bolt and one about in the center of the drivers' door, so I did 2 per door. The key is to get a bracket that fits into the door bolts. You're just providing extra surface area for the door panel to grab onto.

Travis93

The stuff I used was about 1/16 thick, I just grabbed some scrap laying around so not sure where to get it at. I would emagine most hardware stores would have something you could use. It would not have to be aluminum that's just what I had on hand.

skybolt31

Do you have any pictures of this? What type of screw did you use?