4REGT4

Been a long time since I've posted here, but thought some people may like to see what I did to fix the problem I've been having with my door panel falling off ('95). After taking it off, I realized the problem was that all of the plastic ribs were broken and leaving the door floppy so it couldn't stay engaged. As the picture shows, I riveted metal reinforcements and grinded them down to avoid any fitment issues. The fix was done a couple weeks ago or so and the door panel has been snug ever since.

1bdvet

Looks great, that will last longer than you!

JimiHendrix

Let me see if I understand what you are saying:

I know that when you install these door panels, you have to hook the upper portion to the plastic inner door panel. The two screws down by the idoor handle keeps the door panel hooked on the plastic ridge.

Did you rivet the door panel to make it stiff enough to stay on the plastic ridge of the innder door panel.

My passenger side panel comes off on the top. . .and for the life of me I couldnt understand why. I thought perhaps the door panel stretched top to bottom a bit and therefore could not stay hooked to the panel.

If this is the same problem that you had...Eureka!....I;ve found a fix...!

4REGT4

Glad to hear I may have helped solve your problem.

This fix was in response to the door panel falling off at the top where it meets against the window (sounds like the problem you are having, where it can "pop" back on and fall off after closing it one or two times). I'd read in the past where some people made makeshift hooks to fix the problem, but this maintains the strength of the door panel and allows it to hook up as it was intended.

If you get the door panel off, I'd bet your plastic ribs are broken as mine are. If you plan on doing this fix, another detail was that a large plastic quick clamp was used from the top to the bottom of the door to hold the broken ribs together while the reinforcements were added. After this method of fixing the issue, the panel will be better than the factory made it. The snug panel also got rid of the awful rattle I had when closing the door.

Jonnymac

Thanks I'll have to try this.

joecaver

I've seen a lot of makeshift fixes for the door panel issue in my years on this forum but yours is the best I've seen and the one that I'm very likely to try out soon. If you have more pics of the repair process I'd love for you to post them. Have you thought about writting this up and submitting it in the Tech Tips C4 section?

4REGT4

While I had done a very detailed write-up on my SWs header installation in the past, this time around, taking the one pic I did was an afterthought. My passenger side door panel is not nearly as bad as my drivers side was, but eventually it will get the same procedure. In which case, I'll be sure to take more pictures. Otherwise, knowing the end result, the process is pretty easy to figure out with the right tools. If anyone would like to use the picture or information elsewhere, that is fine by me.

96polovette

That's even better than my repair! Yours looks like the way Chevy should have designed the panels.

JimiHendrix

Sonofabitch......I did have the same problem. Thank goodness there is a fix. Damn panels are 500 a piece!

5speedC4

That looks great.

I tried the fix that is listed on this site.......it worked ofr only a short time.

I will give this one a try.

Where did you get the material?

Would a thick flashing be strong enough?

JimiHendrix

Used a piece of strap steel for the thickest rib. It was 1/8 inch thick. For the other ribs, I used thick flashing. doubled up on both sides of the ribs. Use thick gloves for that flashing!!! The whole job took me 45 minutes!! That sucker aint ever breaking again.

Cruisinfanatic

nice, neat job!!!!

jakers

This is a super repair. I did the L bracket fix a few years ago and alway that it was a Half-arsed repair. This is definately the way to repair these panels. Whe I was shopping for my C4 it seems I came across this problem in 75-80% of all the cars I looked at.

These drooping panels give the C4 a blackeye for sure. No potential car buyer, car show judge or other car club friend gets a good impression of your car if the first thing that created them upon opening a C4 door is the dreaded Door Panel Droop!

wmupaprmkr

Nice job and thanks for sharing!

20mercury

Ditto thanks, this looks like the best way to repair this problem.

Joe C

great job! i'll have to file that fix away for future reference. &

tim32920

Awesome fix! Thanks!

K.C.E.

Good post!

Thanks......looks like I may be doing the same fix......somewhat surprised at all the people having this problem.

K.C.

pivotpro

Thanks for the tip. I was close to posting a question about this for my own project.

rs/ss 67

Thanks for me also--My 92 passenger side suffers from the same problem--I had no idea this was a common problem