Custom door panel recondition/color change

[2oodoor]

I got the custom seats but now I matched the fabric, ordered it and now converting the door panels from brown beige to black/blue.
Carefully take apart the panel, keep in mind what you want the end result to look like. Remove staples, screws, and VERY carefully pull apart glued material being extremely carefull not to stretch it.

[2oodoor]

Cut out the old cloth material and trim it to become the backing pad for the new material. Trim off edges to be rolled over the fiber door panel because the new material will be folded over and stapled. Too thick and it will not fit in right.

[2oodoor]

Permatex fabric and carpet spray adhesive was used, SEM Color Coat and SEM plastic part prep aerosol.
Take care to keep glue off new material surface, squeegee with hand several times to form fit the material into the oem padding/pattern.
SEM color coat black was used to dye carpet and vinyl, this came out pretty good. The carpet should hold up since it is only decorative.

[2oodoor]

I still have to fix the vinyl edge of the carpet piece, it is not firmly down on the material. I will either use fabric glue in a tube that I can control or I may make a piece of moulding trim for the transition. I was going to have the original contour embroidery sewn in but I think just gluing it down in looks pretty good, I've seen Honda do this before without stitching.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010367.jpg

[King Peetis]

looks good Roo! that's still something I need to do.

[Dr_Snooz]

Painstaking work. Looks good!

[2oodoor]

Painstaking work. Looks good!

Thanks, hoping to get better with the remaining three panels. Also want to take better pics, maybe a video but the dang new puppy aggrivates me while im working lol.

[2oodoor]

Finished right rear panel ready to install
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010397.jpg

Right front panel, before the work
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010377.jpg

top rail removed, these things just come apart so neat but note the fronts are slightly different than the rears in that the bottom piece is screwed not glued and also they have the defroster vent and the top rail is two pieces.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010381.jpg

[2oodoor]

In this pic you see I am using wire strippers as a pry tool to get under the speed nuts that need to be removed to completley take apart the center section. I wound up only removing some of these because they are old and I actually broke one of the studs they attach with. See that in the second pic.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010388.jpg
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010390.jpg

In this pic, you can see the little bend tabs that hold the chrome trim on the upper rail, I took these off so I could paint dye the vinyl.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010387.jpg

Here you see the whole door panel taken apart except the lower part which I chose to leave on because it will work out better if I just tuck in the new cloth under it. This avoids breaking any more speed nuts, and saves a bunch of time. Again, I empathize to picture what your desired results are as you are doing this, keep thinking ahead because this project can have many steps. It took me about three hours to do one door panel, including the dye.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010391.jpg

[2oodoor]

Here, I trimmed off the oem cloth parts that I do not need to use as padding for the new cloth, as well, trimming off the sides prevents a doubling up of the cloth that has to be folded and stapled around to the back of the panel.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p10103jxj.jpg

This is the first draft of the new cloth piece cut to fit, more trimming is needed to get it to go in just right. The lower part of the cloth will be tucked under the lower panel, NOTE that I did remove just a few speed nuts on that panel to relieve strain and allow me to open up the gap to tuck in the cloth. Afterwards when the cloth is set I reattach the speed nuts to secure the lower portion of the cloth.
I then went ahead and stapled the sides around on the back side.
Spray glue the padding and back of the new cloth and squeeqee it down being carefull not to get too saturated or get any glue on the new surface cloth. This is a meticulous process and it is very easy to mess it up at this point.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010392.jpg
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010393.jpg
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Almost finished...drying out some before I attach the armrest. I have to buy new door pockets for both front doors because they get split from pushing the door open with feet. I will dye those black once I find some. That is Landau Black SEM Color coat, it has a slight gloss but not in low light... kinda neat, I think it is for vintage vinyl tops of the seventies.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010396.jpg

[2oodoor]

Ok I wound up having to do over the Right front panel, there was flaw. I took the lower panel completely off, sparing all the speed nuts with no casualties :D
I recut a new piece of cloth and glued/stapled it on. Here are pictures of front and rear of the upholstered panel and the final product.
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010398.jpg
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010399.jpg
http://3geez.com/uploads/images/p1010400.jpg

[MessyHonda]

SEM works good, but in heavy use areas like where the handle is or around the belt buckle the paint will scratch off easy. how many coats are you using?

[2oodoor]

About 3 sometimes a few more. A lot of interior parts on new vehicles have to be sprayed so professional products like SEM are very good and acceptable permenant coatings.

[J. McNeal]

Still the coolest Guy i know in town, you gonna help me with the coupe panels right?? LoL I still need to find a doner coupe for ALL the interior pieces, need a new dash too :\ messed mine up a few years back when i was doing my heater core at 17..

[Hazwan]

I like how you kept the stock pattern thing on the cloth (Y) They look too empty without them. Nice work!

[CSuprak]

This is so awesome!! I've been wanting to change the interior colors of my 89 from maroon/brown to black and grey. Was gonna keep it all original but swap interior parts from an 88 or 89 with the black/beige interior and have the seats I have just re-upholstered either black or dark grey.

[Dr_Snooz]

Roo, you take much greater care with those speed nuts than I did. I just went gonzo with a flat-bladed screwdriver. It popped halfway across the yard, but went back on again without issue. I broke a few in the junkyard when I was trying to be careful so now I throw caution to the wind and it seems to work. LOL

Amazing work you're doing. Are you using an adhesion promoter on the vinyl before you paint it? What are you using to clean it before painting?

[2oodoor]

Yes I used. SEM product plastic prep. One thing I am concerned with but will take time to find out and that is if Honda used stainless steel staples because I don't think mine were.

[ronniman]

Great thread can't wait to come back to this for guidance once I attempt this my self Kudos+

[apache07x]

Yes I used. SEM product plastic prep. One thing I am concerned with but will take time to find out and that is if Honda used stainless steel staples because I don't think mine were.

Center arm rest I just got the staples were all rusted so that's a no on the stainless steel staples. Now if I can get this panel off I'll be happy.

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