Door Panel Restoration ??

[Reno81K20]

I'm wanting to pull all the interior out of a power everything truck and put it in a manual effort truck. One of the issues that came up was I got to looking at the door panels out of the truck with power windows/doors. I noticed the PO had cut big holes for speakers in both of the door panels. So I thought maybe I could use the ones from the other truck. But those are way to grungy and dirty.

So now I was thinking that maybe it would be possible to fill the "power" door panels with plastic from the other truck then perform a restoration on them to try and make them look decent. Or should I just bite the bullet and buy new panels?

I attached pics of the bad panels and the dirty manual panel.

Any input is welcomed.

 

[donmateo]

I think it really depends how you want it to turn out. You could always fill the holes and throw an emblem over it. lol

Just curious, why the flip from power to manual?

 

[Reno81K20]

Actually i'm wanting to go from manual to power in my 81 K20 4x4. The donor truck is an 85 C20 Silverado. And from one of my previous post on here it was decided to not swap the cabs out due to possible legal problems. Vin's on cab and frame not matching sort of thing. So i'm just going to trade out interiors. And I was just wondering if it's a good idea to try and save/fix what I have or just buy new.

 

[smoothandlow84]

What about fiberglassing over the holes and upholstery over the plastic?

 

[firebane]

The problem with these panels is the pattern in them that will be lost when you try to do any work to them.

 

[smoothandlow84]

Then option B......buy replacement panels rather then trying to patch old ones. Lmc truck has them.

 

[donmateo]

Actually i'm wanting to go from manual to power in my 81 K20 4x4. The donor truck is an 85 C20 Silverado. And from one of my previous post on here it was decided to not swap the cabs out due to possible legal problems. Vin's on cab and frame not matching sort of thing. So i'm just going to trade out interiors. And I was just wondering if it's a good idea to try and save/fix what I have or just buy new.

Ah, I misread the initial post. My apologies. I vote new panels, I think you'll be happy with them.

 

[Old77]

Then option B......buy replacement panels rather then trying to patch old ones. Lmc truck has them.

Exactly this.....Any repair you do on those especially due to the size of hole the PO hacked up will be noticeable and the panel is probably more brittle now that it was when originally cut due to being weathered so who knows how well any patch would hold up. So I'd either find nicer OEM panels can could be cleaned and restored or go through LMC.

 

[Reno81K20]

Thanks for the replies.

Agreed, New panels would make things much better. And look nicer. I did pull one panel out of the truck with power everything and noticed a big glob of body filler inside the door. Further inspection shows it has had some serious body work done to the door. I pulled a small piece of trim off and then I saw daylight coming in from outside. HHmm wont be using that door anytime soon. So now I have to pull all the windows/door locks out of it and retrofit it into a new door shell. (Need to order the shell first) Also pulled the cab belt trim off and will be working on removing the dents from that soon. Now its time to get the LMC catalog out and dream of things I want/need.

 

[SugarCane]

I just finished restoring the door panels in my 86. They were worse than your tan ones. I degreased them, wet sanded with 60grit, 120, 220, 400 then degreased again. I used Duplicolor Vinyl spray paint and they came out great. I had previously tried some 2x as expensive vinyl dye (Color Bond) that was garbage compared to the duplicolor stuff.

This is after sanding them, I wish I would of took a pic with all the mud and grease that was caked on

You must be registered for see images attach

After, still drying

You must be registered for see images attach

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk