Restoring door liners etc

[gs.davies]

Does anyone have any tips or know of any 'how-to' guides for restoring the door liners? Funds are tight and I can't afford a retrim at the moment and whilst the vinyl is in reasonable shape, the door cards have rotted along the bottom. Wondering if it's easy enough to seperate the vinyl from the card, cut some new material, repair any major tears and stick the old vinyl to a new card..?

[Peter Laidler]

I've done what you're suggesting. But to strip the hardboard from the back of the trim stuff, I learned the hard way and tried to peel it away. Not a success so I left the door cards upside down on a sheet of polythene, raised a the edges to 3" or so and filled with water. The hardboard disintegrated and the plastic facing came away easily. I traced and cut-out a couple of new backers, and stuck the old facings onto the new backings. Worked a treat, especially if you mark out and try to follow the original heat-weld lines.

It was in the olden days when I did it - the mid 70's - and used a spray can of impact adhesive and sprayed a 1" wide line of glue onto each 'line', breathed in and pressed it down. My pal did the same too. Cheaper that starting new and we were able to scrub the facings clean with JIF before we dried them and stuck them down

[almond cooper]

Ditto as above.

I have done mine in the same way, with patience you can achieve a very acceptable result.

[AndyPen]

Same with me too as it happens

I am just about to use the very last of my 70s 80s letraset black board which was ideal as it was slightly more flexible, so what are people using for the board now? I am working on the old dash panels at the moment, the foam backed ones as per early cars. The one to the left is a reglued slightly later type with no foam - so just reglued to the original board.

dash-brocade-stripped.jpg

[Peter Laidler]

That's a good idea Andy. What about modern(?) 'foam board' which comes in many different thicknesses and the thinner you get, the easier to bend. Fairly cheap and easy to cut with a stanley knife and file the rounded corners. Might certainly make fitting door pads easy.

Thinking on my feet, I'm sure that foam-board is the answer to re-covering the door end filler pieces.

Anyone know the real name of this 'foam board' stuff?

Is that tongue and groove wooden toilet seat (see packaging...) a part of your restoration Andy?

[gs.davies]

Some great ideas here. I think I’ll give it a go with the worse one and see how I get on.

What sort of board should I get for the new backing?

[surfblue63]

If I was doing new boards I'd go to my local B&Q and get some of the 3mm brown hard board

https://www.diy.com/departments/buildin ... 291861.cat

[AndyPen]

Is that tongue and groove wooden toilet seat (see packaging...) a part of your restoration Andy?

Ha ha yeah, a genuine Cooper 'works' seat for one of those long rallies eh?

Just some card for overspray when painting

Card wise, foam board can crack quite easily, but the old Letraset Board was made for crafts so is plenty stiff enough, water resistant and cuts well. It feels ever so slightly waxy to the touch and less prone to cracking. The sheet behind the panels is my very last one, and it was especially brilliant for the door cards due to its flexibility.

Can't seem to find anything similar unfortunately.

PS The early front dash cards had foam like the parcel shelf. Later ones were just glued on directly.

[surfblue63]

Can't seem to find anything similar unfortunately.

This looks like a good substitute for the letraset board and is obviously more water proof than my last suggestion.

https://www.plasticsheetsdirect.co.uk/p ... lystyrene/

[Catmint]

Not sure how effective long term, but a colleague used some vinyl flooring that was left over from his kitchen, said it worked a treat.

[mnicoop63]

I don't know if you guys have a product available to you that is called ThermoPly but here in the States it can be found at some of the big home improvement stores. It comes in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets and is just under 3mm thick. It is the best product I have found to use for the door cards and the filet pieces etc. It is a little thicker than the original board and is stiff yet flexible enough to twist/bend and get into the doors and rear quarters. It is very similar in construction to the original type board except both sides are white. I am thinking maybe you guys don't have it over there because surely someone would have discovered it already. But if you do go get a sheet, it's perfect.

brian

[Peter Laidler]

I think that the stuff you talk of is FOAMBOARD in the UK. Which also comes in 3mm sheets and other thicknesses and plenty of colours too. Has a plastic facing either side and a heavy duty 'foam' inner. It's very useful

[gs.davies]

Well, I've had bit of a look at the cards I've got, or rather what's left of them!

3mm nominal thickness for the rigid board (looks like hardboard to me)

Staples are around 10mm long, 0.5mm gauge, 3mm legs

The worst of mine has already detached itself from the board on the inside and the foam backing along the fluted part has separated from the vinyl. There's no foam backing for the rest of the door card. I presume the foam backing is supposed to be stuck to the vinyl along the fluted lines and that was probably achieved by heat?

Tomorrow, if I get a chance, I'll remove all the staples and separate it all out and see about using some 3mm hardboard as a new former. Hopefully I can get a template out of what remains of the existing board.

Any tips for cleaning up the vinyl and repairing any tears?

[Peter Laidler]

I just used that sink cleaner stuff called JIF cream cleaner to get the deep ingrained crap out. Followed by a lemon coloured watery stuff poured into hot-to-touch but not boiling water. Worked a treat.

The trouble with hardboard is that there's not a lot of give. Just a tweak and it snaps. But with a bit of care........

[Pandora]

Foamcore board might be a bit susceptible to damp etc, and can be a bit easy to crease when wrestling it into place.

I'd suggest having a look at Corriflute board, the stuff Estate agents use for their 'for sale' signst, it's about 3mm thick (it comes in different thicknesses, and is essentially just plastic, so completely rot free long term, and stiff, but 'curvable' if you work with the flutes.

Al

[Minigman]

I’ve just done mine with Martrim millboard Gary.

[mnicoop63]

Here is a picture of the ThermoPly. It has a moisture resistant layer on both sides that has a somewhat waxy feel to it. The inside is much like the original board in that it is fibrous. It can be bent and twisted quite a lot before it creases. It is an insulating sheathing product that is very durable. After using it to protect new Hardwood floors on a jobsite I thought to myself "this would be perfect to repair my rotten dried out crumbly door cards" and it was.

I think that the stuff you talk of is FOAMBOARD in the UK. Which also comes in 3mm sheets and other thicknesses and plenty of colours too. Has a plastic facing either side and a heavy duty 'foam' inner. It's very useful

[jakethepeg]

The plastic board referred to above it what I use, estate agents use it. It is totally resistant to water, so the rain that invariably collects at the bottom of the doors has no effect.

[Peter Laidler]

Is that the FOAMBOARD you mean Jake? You're right, the estate agents here use it too for their for sale etc. signs. All different thicknesses and colours too. Impervious to water too so the 3mm thickness, being pliable would make good door and rear quarter liner backing. What is the real trade or commercial name........... anyone?