[Rob Keller]

Hey

Any one have any recipes for repairing those brittle interior pieces on Old GM's?

I have been contemplating reinforcing the back side with fiber glass resin.

I would like to know your methods & Ideas

Thanks

Rob

[stitcher_guy]

I cover then with interior matching vinyl. I've not had to prep really bad ones for paint, but would think resin on the topside could be sanded smooth and painted.

[OneMoreTime]

I would try hot glue and use some fiberglass screen to fill in any holes then cover the pieces with thin stretchy vinyl..some fiberglass resins may eat the plastic used in those..

Sam

[Chevrolet4x4s]

Not sure if its the same type of plastic or not Grille Repair
Shane

[Rob Keller]

Their in pretty bad shape .

I don't get how I could cover this with vinyl.

Maybe the pillar posts.

But the sail panels would crumble trying to glue & stretch anything over them.

Ill take a pix of them.


R

[Chevrolet4x4s]

I don't see why you couldn't reinforce them with fiberglass. They also make an aerosol dye for interior pieces/upholstry. If you want to go that route instead of replacing everything to get a color you like more.

Shane

[DanTwoLakes]

Originally Posted by Rob Keller

Their in pretty bad shape .

I don't get how I could cover this with vinyl.

Maybe the pillar posts.

But the sail panels would crumble trying to glue & stretch anything over them.

Ill take a pix of them.


R

You would not be able to cover these with vinyl just by stretching a single piece over the plastic. It would have to be cut apart and sewn in some places. Even if you could cover them with one piece, if the plastic is brittle, it would get destroyed trying to stretch it on without reinforcement. Why not use the old plastic pieces as molds for new fiberglass pieces? Then you could paint it whatever color you want. Have you looked into ABS replacements for the plastic pieces? The rest of the door panels look like they're in good shape, and the carpet strips at the bottom would be any easy thing to replace.

[71-78malibu]

just a guess but would your car be a mid seventies el camino? If so we are in the same boat. For what it's worth here is what I did, I took all the dry rotted pieces out and sanded/scraped them down to existing stable plastic. then repaired totally destroy/rotted sections with dura-mix plastic repair then sanded that to the right shape. I then cleaned them with a good plastic prep then shot two coats of urethane primer and let them sit for a week. sanded that smooth. I wanted some sort of texture as the smooth panels didn't look right to me so I sprayed some krylon "texturizing" paint on them. Not totally thrilled I LIGHTLY sanded the tops of the texture down and it made a world of difference. I followed that with some SEM interior dye and the panels look as good as they did the day they rolled out of the dealership. I hope this helps you out .....good luck!

[Rob Keller]

No Sorry I should have been more informative .
Its a 1975 Grand Pontiac LeMans.


Now that is very creative

71-78malibu ,Can you post some pixs of that ?

Now you got me wondering what if there is any interchange ..for the interior & exterior.

Thanks to all for your input


Rob

[71-78malibu]

I don' think here is any swap over, the parts I did are for a 78 Malibu . I'll get some posted up this weekend.

[66GMC]

I was going to recommend much the same thing as "71-78 Malibu" except that I would have suggested Norton Speedgrip instead of Duramix .

The reason is that the Speedgrip is compatible with all kinds of plastic, whereas the selection of Duramix product (I believe) depends on the type of plastic ... especially TPO.

You still have to use an adhesion promoter on TPO, but other than that ... it's "one size fits all... like pantyhose."

Norton lists a #06116 "Flexible Parts Repair Adhesive and Filler – Epoxy" ... but I have seen guys that just use 04616 which is "SpeedGrip Structural Adhesives – Urethane" for everything. It sands out quite nicely and is also paintable.

I used 04616 myself, to repair a GM truck console which had cracked apart where the two pieces overlap and rivet together.

A friend used it in several places to fix cracks and DEEP scratches in motorcycle parts. He even used it to fill in a few areas that were completely missing ... and was very impressed with the results.