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When I did mine we noticed that the area around where a window crack would be is actually slightly concave so we couldn't get the carpet to sit the way we wanted (tight to the panel) without spraying a little glue in that general area, otherwise it bridged between the chrome trim and the bottom of the panel and was sort of "baggy" regardless of how tight we pulled it. If your cardboard had the concave shape already in it that wouldn't be an issue
Now these are repro panels so maybe yours are different and you will not have that issue. We also used a little along the edge where the chrome strips are to help hold it in place.
Back when I tore the interior out of my car I think I remember the carpet was glued to cardboard, not actually to the door panel. Is that right?
I think I'd rather do that with a door panel I'm working on now. Any reason not to?
In the older days when no vendor made a deluxe panel, we'd buy the new lower carpet boots from ACC and then we'd convert them ourselves. To do this, we'd remove the upper carpet trim molding and then pull the old one from the back side. The door panel carpet had a vinyl boot at the bottom, this boot vinyl was stapled on the back side of the door panel, then the upper chrome molding trimmed off the top (an old company named Johns interiors now defunct, used to sell a carpet with no vinyl boot... and they sucked because you can't really install it this way).. So if you remove the chrome molding and align the new carpet boot to the panel, then staple it to the back side, then apply glue to the panel, apply glue to the back side of the boot and allow both to dry... (like contact cement). Then apply another coat to the carpet boot, lay it down on the panel and then install the chrome trim.
I use a glue called weldwood, but I buy this in bulk because we use it for softtop installations, carpet installations and other projects... we have a single spray gun here we use to spray it with... but for you, 3m fast tack trim adhesive will work just fine. It's not as good of a glue as the weldwood, but it'll do just fine in this application.
Willcox
Last edited by Willcox Corvette; Jul 16, 2018 at 10:55 PM.
Well, I ended up glueing the carpet to cardboard and left a little bit of cardboard showing across the top for the chrome strip to grab.
Bending and rolling the cardboard gave it an acceptable concave shape in the area of the window crank.
This was a standard NOS panel I was converting to deluxe. Changing carpet will be a breeze if I ever have to. However...
My rookie mistake was that I just lined up the chrome strip with the edges of the panel and then trimmed the carpet to fit.....without taking into consideration I have crank windows and the proper location of the chrome strip seems to be about a thumbs width below the window crank.
I was just thinking I don't like how the chrome strip hangs over the edge of my other panels without thinking it through.
I came about 3/8 of an inch of just throwing this panel away.
But since I also dyed the panel black and fixed a tear before I dyed it, I already had it in my mind that this was just a step above a reproduction panel but not the panel that would be in my car forever.
Last edited by BarryB72; Jul 17, 2018 at 08:20 AM.
Still venting - this has been the fifth driver side door panel I've had on this car.
1. The original, which was good for its age but just had too many cracks and the biggest issue was the blown out lower clip holes.
2. A new reproduction I got off eBay that ended up being made sometime in the 90's I think. It did not fit at all and if had actually been dyed black. Still in the bag, But had been in the bag so long that when I took the foam off the corners it took some dye with it. Took off the trim. Threw it away.
3. A newer, used repo standard door panel I was going to switch over the deluxe trim but I had the knife slip when I was trimming out the door handle area and put a 1 inch cut in the vinyl. Probably could have fixed it to where someone could have used it but at the time, I was done with it. Took off what I could. Threw it away.
4. The new reproduction that was on it just now. Nice but the foam is too thick, the lock **** hole doesn't quite line up, and to make it line up I had to shift the door panel back to the point where it squeaks as it rubs against something back there. Now a backup.
5. The one I just spent a week on to find out I'm not satisfied.
Oh well, at least they're easy to change.
Last edited by BarryB72; Jul 17, 2018 at 10:58 AM.
I feel your pain.
I installed the deluxe trim on mine a few years back and although the door panel fit (repro from years ago), it quickly went sideways after that https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-for-once.html
And I'll say it again "...getting so tired of having to adapt/refit/adjust/alter/doctor or remake what seems like even the simplest part these days"
Your's looks good in the picture but of course it doesn't show much, what's causing the grief with this panel?
M
Thanks. 99.9% of the population would not notice anything. The only problem is it doesn't have the EXACT same gap between the crank and the chrome strip as on the passenger side. But that's more of a me problem, not a door panel problem.
I hear you, OCD and C3 old vettes is a bad combination
Don't suppose there's any adjustment on the window crank position that helps your gap and doesn't screw up the window operation at the same time? Mine's power window so I've not dealt with that area
M
No, I think the crank regulator is held in place by 3 bolts and it is an exact fit.
If I REALLY wanted them to match I could raise the trim on the passenger side but I don't know if I could punch holes in a perfect GM door panel to make it match a dyed, repaired door panel.
I guess to wrap this up, I just decided to take the NOS panel off my passenger door and the carpet was actually sewn to cardboard and then the cardboard had a a little bit of glue splattered on.
It was also stapled through a hidden flap of carpet into the vinyl.
After assessing the situation, i also just decided to raise the chrome strip on that passenger panel because I was able to keep the original carpet and I only had to punch 2 new holes and enlarge a 3rd, so in my mind I justified it by saying the chrome is still within factory allowances.
Here's a before and after.
Last edited by BarryB72; Jul 20, 2018 at 09:34 AM.
I'll add another set of images from an original set I have that show the same where the carpet / vinyl / cardboard were sewn together and also those staples in the end
72 door panel carpet
