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Well, as the title suggest, I'm having door panel problems. The top of them pop loose when I close the door. What can I do to fix this? For those who don't know, I'm new to Corvette's. So I don't know if there is something missing, that the previous owner might not have put back. The screws on the door hole, where you pull to close the door, are there. Same with the screw behind and next to the door handle. The push-in's at the bottom of the door are there too. So I don't think they are sagging any.
It's a '94 coupe.
Last edited by 96c46speed; Mar 16, 2021 at 10:31 PM.
Take the door panel off. There are vertical stiffening ribs molded into the back . My guess is some of those are broken. I had the same issue, and it's a common problem. There are several ways to fix. I followed the advice of another thread, drilled some small holes on either side of the split, and used zip ties to cinch the split back together. I imagine you could also epoxy or plastic weld everything back together.
When I took my panels off to replace the window sweeps, I found one of the small ribs of the door broken. I used epoxy to reinforce it with the help of a clamp.
Last edited by puterami; Mar 17, 2021 at 10:40 AM.
Well, as the title suggest, I'm having door panel problems. The top of them pop loose when I close the door. What can I do to fix this? For those who don't know, I'm new to Corvette's. So I don't know if there is something missing, that the previous owner might not have put back. The screws on the door hole, where you pull to close the door, are there. Same with the screw behind and next to the door handle. The push-in's at the bottom of the door are there too. So I don't think they are sagging any.
It's a '94 coupe.
There have been a number of different solutions offered on the forum for this common problem. I tried a few, but this method in the link I have below is simple, cheap, and very effective. It worked great on my 93. See the pictures in the thread that is in the link. All you need are a few metal "L" brackets as shown.
Other methods using velcro, glue, zip ties, rivets did not seem to hold.
There have been a number of different solutions offered on the forum for this common problem. I tried a few, but this method in the link I have below is simple, cheap, and very effective. It worked great on my 93. See the pictures in the thread that is in the link. All you need are a few metal "L" brackets as shown.
Other methods using velcro, glue, zip ties, rivets did not seem to hold.
I wish there was a more detailed write up with multiple pictures....
It has been a while since I did it, but really just use 1" L brackets and use the existing bolts as shown in the picture.
The door panel will hang on these with the L bracket on the inside of the door panel. It is pretty straightforward.
It has been a while since I did it, but really just use 1" L brackets and use the existing bolts as shown in the picture.
The door panel will hang on these with the L bracket on the inside of the door panel. It is pretty straightforward.
Thanks, do I need to repair the "ribs" or is this it?
Hello all. Back in the C4 world after 12 years. When I sold my '93 in 2009 it had not yet developed the loose door panels .
Anyway, I tried the L-bracket fix. I got a bit nervous when loosening the bolt at the back of the door (as shown in the link to an old thread) because the "nut" (there's a holding tab on it) became loose and started spinning around; I did not want to take any chances of it falling in the door and lengthening the job (which should not not require door panel removals)
So, I used the two bolts toward the middle of the door (see one L-bracket attached; the second was placed just further forward -- you can see that bolt just above the L-bracket in the picture). All you need to do to get started is to just keep pulling the door panel once it has lifted off the edge; no more pix needed as it really is that easy to find the bolts!
I used 3/4" brackets in this spot and actually ground them down another 1/8" (I found in the middle of the door even the 1" brackets were far too long; I had tried those first). So far appears to be holding the panels in quite tightly. I'll be back to report if this VERY EASY fix fails at some point.
Door panel woes
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