Door Panel Restoration Question

[Coledavis01]

I'm replacing the door panel fiberboard due to water damage on my 69 Bee and it's ready to put back together finally. Have a couple of questions for anyone who has done this already to save myself a potential headache.

For applying the adhesive to the vinyl it appears the factory pressed the embossed parts of the vinyl mechanically over the padding and that made contact with the fiberboard. I've already adhered the padding (used a thin type for sewing applications- believe it's polyester but will double check) to the fiberboard and cleaned off the old adhesive from the back of the vinyl since the below photo was taken.

The first issue is that with it looking like i'd only want to apply the adhesive to the embossed/"stitched" pieces, that a spray trim adhesive is not going to be ideal. Any suggestions for one that would be?

The other question for once it's in place, what size of staples has anyone used for the corners? Normal 1/4" appear to be too long, thought about clipping a few down individually but don't want to waste my time if they're readily available.

Thanks All!

Will post how I did it all over on my resto thread.

 

[PlumcrazyRR]

When I was re-doing the door panels on my 70 RR and I took the vinyl covers off of the fiber board, there was a piece of cloth material that was on the outside of the padding and the vinyl and that is what was glued to my board. The padding was between these two pieces. On the stitched parts, it was also stitched right through the padding and into that cloth. Not sure if you noticed anything like that when you were taking yours apart. I believe this is how they got the contoured areas to form right. Not sure if that is making sense. Sorry it was a long day at work.

 

[Coledavis01]

On mine it was just the one layer & it came off with the adhesive so don't think it was stitched in. How'd you get yours back together?

 

[PlumcrazyRR]

I was really careful taking mine off and it all came off in one piece. The padding was still good enough for me, so I left it all attached to the vinyl. The main thing I was concerned with was the board. It was pretty warped and bad looking. I think the worse part for me was getting all of the holes marked off properly and cut. The old board was a little warped, so all of the clips weren't lining up like they were supposed to, so I had to measure everything on the door and do a test fit before I put the vinyl on the board. Which reminds me, if you have the car nearby, it would be a good idea to test fit the board after you cut your holes to make sure everything lines up before glueing on the vinyl. Might save you a big headache later.

 

[Coledavis01]

Appreciate the tip on fitting it! Did you end up reusing the original staples once you had the vinyl back on?

 

[Photon440]

The staples might have been originally put on when the vinyl was stretched on but before the heat embossing. You could probably get away with not using them, instead use a hot glue gun and clamps.

 

[PlumcrazyRR]

I didn't use the original staples on mine. I am trying to remember now, but for some reason I can't remember if there were staples or not. My car is in Florida and I am stationed in Oklahoma, so I only work on it when I am on leave and I am usually doing a lot when I am back. So I get a little forgetful some times on what all was done and the little details. My dad actually has an upholsterer who does a lot of work for his cars that helped me out with the glueing the vinyl back on. So I cheated a little bit on that step