front panels...

After driving through a couple of hard rains, the panels looked even more worser than normal.  I undid the one screw and pulled off the moldy, lumpy mess so many of us see.  Inside the front bottom was puddles of water.  I have leaks I need to address.  I cleaned up the mess, and pulled the fake leather cover easily off the moldy, half broken cardboard backer. Time to replace this with something more substantial ( not terribly more substantial, but more none the less...Below are the pictures of the process:

Set the fabric on the new material, in this case, old thin home paneling.  like 1/8th in thick. This is easy to cut, yet stronger and flexible. Trace it and cut using sabre saw.  Sand, and use spray adhesive to connect the fake leather back on top.  If you do a good job of cutting it fits back in pretty easy.  I am adding r-13 house insulation to this cavity while I am at it.  I also am adding another screw at the top, just remove one of the screws from the heat system and tie into that with a long screw. this adds strength, and helps the new material bend to the curve easier.  Net result:  Not much difference visually, but its insulated and stronger for many years to come.



the cruddy cardboard.  What a strong material for a car!  NOT!





the empty cavity.



Tracing the fake leather.



Cut out of thin paneling.  Sand.



New start with a new starter

Greasy and oily, but not too hard a task. Replaced the starter with a Bosch.

Fixing the front door handle and greasing the lock

It is always a little scary when you start pulling out what seems like perfectly good parts.  But when I bought her, this door did not work.  I had to open her up and figure what was going on. I removed the interior door lever and window winder, then I used a screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape to wedge under the pins, then put the panel aside.  Unscrew (unallenwrenched) the handle, and lo and behold, the lever to open the door on the outside was split in half.  JB weld.  no. Broke again.  JB weld.  No, broke again.  Cut down scrap metal and JB weld with patch on the outside.  Let cure for 48 hours.  YES!!  I have a functional door!  Reverse everything, get her looking pretty again.