August
19-23, 2002
I knew from having previously cleaned the original door panels
that they were basically in good shape - no cracks or deep
scratches. But after 30 years they were discolored and had
stains that cleaning wouldn't remove. If I was going to use them
I would need to recolor them. I remembered a few posts in The
1967-1972 Chevrolet & GMC Pickups Message Board where guys had
used SEM vinyl dye to recolor their door panels and other plastic
parts, so I decided to give that a try.
I searched the internet and found a
site named autotrimstore.com
that carried the SEM product in a large variety of colors. I
looked at their on-line color chart but none of the colors was named
"parchment", which was the factory name my interior
color. The did carry a "phantom white", which I
thought might be the correct color. The manufacture's
tag on the reproduction door panels I bought were marked
"phantom white" even though they were sold by the dealer as
"parchment". I was hesitant to order this color though
because it's hard to tell the true color of anything on a computer
screen The web site said they would mail a color chart on request, so
I requested one.
I got the color chart in a couple
of days and took it with me the next time I went to Dave's to work on Maych.
Dave and I both agreed that the closest match to the new seat covers
and the sun visors was a color named super white. You would
thing a color name super white would be very, very white but there
were actually 4 whites on the color chart that were "whiter"
than super white - go figure. Anyway, super white was the
closest match to parchment that they made so I ordered two rattle cans
of SEM #15103 Super White and
one can of SEM Vinyl Prep.
The vinyl prep is supposed to condition the plastic so the dye adheres
better.
August
24-25, 2002
The order arrived on Friday, so I was able to work on the door
panels and arm rests that weekend in Grand Island. The first
thing I did was wash the door panels and arm rests with Dawn
detergent, then put them in the sun dry. When they were thoroughly
dry I sprayed them with SEM Vinyl
Prep, according to the instructions on the can. Then I
applied very light mists coats of the SEM
#15103 Super White to the door panels and arm rests. Seems
the more coats applied, the better they looked. I wound up
putting about 6 coats on the door panels and about 8-10 on the arm
rests because they were more worn than the door panels. They
came out looking beautifully. My wife couldn't believe they were
the same pieces - of coarse she also questioned why I thought I
needed to buy new door panels and arm rests in the first place.
I successfully avoided the question.
August
26, 2002
I went down to Dave's after work with my restored door
panels. I still had to remove the woodgrain trim panels from the
reproduction panels and install them on the originals. I was a
little worried about this part of the operation. The
woodgrain trim panels are held in place by a stainless steel trim
piece. The trim piece attaches with metal tabs that go through
slots in the door panel and are bent over to hold in in place.
Having already removed and reinstalled this trim piece once I was
afraid one or more of the metal tabs might break if I did it
again. No one makes a reproduction for this trim piece and used
ones are extremely rare. I had no choice though, so I went to
work. Turns out my fears were unfounded
(like most fears are). The metal tabs on the trim piece are very
ductile and I didn't break any of them in the process of taking the
trim piece off the reproduction door panels and reinstalling on the
original door panels.
After installing the
woodgrain trim, I installed the corkscrew fasteners
in the panels
and
popped the door panels onto the doors. What a differ-
ence.
Unlike the repro- duction door panels, the originals fit perfectly
(duh!) and they looked brand new as well.
All that was left to finish
the door panel installation was
install the window cranks and door handles. When I
replaced
the old woodgrain panels
I noticed that the woodgrain behind the
handles was worn away from the rubbing action of the plastic escutch-
eons
behind the handles. To help minimize this wear I put a thin
piece of black felt behind each escutcheon. To do this I cut out
a small square of the felt slightly larger than the escutcheon,
applied spray-on adhesive to the felt, stuck the felt to the back of the escutcheon,
then trimmed off the excess and cut out the hole in the middle.
Once the felt was applied to the escutcheons, I
installed the window cranks and door handles. A couple of things
to keep in mind when installing the handles:
-
Position the window crank so it is pointing toward
the back of the cab when the window is fully up. This keeps
it out of the way of your knees.
-
Put the spring retaining clips on the cranks and
handles before installing. Then simply push them on the
shafts until the springs snap into place.
-
Position the spring retaining clips on the door
handles so they can be easily removed. If you position the
spring clip so that it has to be pushed from the side of the shaft
facing the armrest it will be very difficult because there is very
little room between the armrest and the door handle shaft.
With the door panels installed, the
interior is now finished. It
was more work and expense than I antici- pated, but it sure looks
great. I can't wait to get behind the wheel and take Maych
out for a cruise around town. But first, I have to install the
exterior trim and then start work on the engine.
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