After looking for a while at door card options to replace the scummy ones I have, and wasn't impressed with the results. I could buy a set for $300 on eBay in worse shape than the ones I had, or buy replacement masonite that would fall apart in a fast fashion once I replaced it.
I'm writing this guide mainly to allow people to see the time-consuming but easy process, while also learning from my mistakes. I only saw one person who truly did a rework of the cards like I did, butIf you are a better craftsman than me, or just smarter, you'll surely make something better than what I made, or at least have an easier time of it.
What I used:
-Jigsaw
-Dremel with carbide bit and cutting cone (I used this a LOT)
-Staple gun
-Two-Part Epoxy
-Spray Adhesive
-Drill
-Sandpaper
Down to brass tacks. The masonite on these door cards were gross. Crusty, moldy, and falling apart.
I wanted to make something that would hold up better than the almost-cardboard crap Volvo supplies. Orginally I wanted to use plastic sheeting, but the sizes offered from McMaster were too small and the prices insane. I went with pine cabinet sheeting. The wood is supple but not so delicate it would fall apart or crack under stress.
I pulled all of the push pins out of the cards since I'd need them later. Some were missing or broken but between these and my other panels, I managed to salvage enough.
Starting with the hatch panel, I pull the staples out with an L pick. These are small so they came out easily.
Nothing else was holding the fabric on, so it came right off. I set the masonite aside to use as a stencil.
Now for the door cards themselves. The window scrapers and fabric are in 10/10 shape so I wanted to save everything. The staples are the only thing holding the metal bracket and scraper to the masonite as it's taller than the masonite board. These staples are heavy-duty, I needed to pry them up so they would come out.
This quickly got tiring so I said fuck it, and ripped it out of the masonite. I clipped them off later much more quickly.
After the staples were out, I carefully pulled the glue holding on all of the edges. Then starting from the top, I slowly and gently peeled the fabric off of the masonite. Depending on its condition, the masonite may hold together or flake off and get shitty.
Finally the fabric is off. We lost a lot of the bottom edge, but still enough to work with.
I got my wood, and made an outline. Stupidly, it didn't register how crucial the placement of the small holes (for the push pins) is. Later on while the masonite panel was on the wood, I drilled these holes to ensure good placement. This created a slight issue with push pin placement but it was still manageable.
After marking, I cut everything out into a panel that looked pretty close to the OE design.
I test fit a push pin only to realize that the wood is too thick! This created a lot of extra work for me.
I didn't want to use thinner board as I might as well be using masonite at that point, so I soldiered on. I busted out my trusty dremel and got to work, resulting in a very ugly detent. Thankfully, only I would know it's there, and it will keep me up at night.
After testing each hole, I sanded everything down to a smooth-enough finish, laid down some Danish Wood Oil, then 3 coats of Polyurethane sealer.
While waiting for the panels to dry, I did some lazy sound-deadening. I had done the rest of the car, this was mainly just to make me feel good.
Part 1/2
I'm writing this guide mainly to allow people to see the time-consuming but easy process, while also learning from my mistakes. I only saw one person who truly did a rework of the cards like I did, butIf you are a better craftsman than me, or just smarter, you'll surely make something better than what I made, or at least have an easier time of it.
What I used:
-Jigsaw
-Dremel with carbide bit and cutting cone (I used this a LOT)
-Staple gun
-Two-Part Epoxy
-Spray Adhesive
-Drill
-Sandpaper
Down to brass tacks. The masonite on these door cards were gross. Crusty, moldy, and falling apart.
I wanted to make something that would hold up better than the almost-cardboard crap Volvo supplies. Orginally I wanted to use plastic sheeting, but the sizes offered from McMaster were too small and the prices insane. I went with pine cabinet sheeting. The wood is supple but not so delicate it would fall apart or crack under stress.
I pulled all of the push pins out of the cards since I'd need them later. Some were missing or broken but between these and my other panels, I managed to salvage enough.
Starting with the hatch panel, I pull the staples out with an L pick. These are small so they came out easily.
Nothing else was holding the fabric on, so it came right off. I set the masonite aside to use as a stencil.
Now for the door cards themselves. The window scrapers and fabric are in 10/10 shape so I wanted to save everything. The staples are the only thing holding the metal bracket and scraper to the masonite as it's taller than the masonite board. These staples are heavy-duty, I needed to pry them up so they would come out.
This quickly got tiring so I said fuck it, and ripped it out of the masonite. I clipped them off later much more quickly.
After the staples were out, I carefully pulled the glue holding on all of the edges. Then starting from the top, I slowly and gently peeled the fabric off of the masonite. Depending on its condition, the masonite may hold together or flake off and get shitty.
Finally the fabric is off. We lost a lot of the bottom edge, but still enough to work with.
I got my wood, and made an outline. Stupidly, it didn't register how crucial the placement of the small holes (for the push pins) is. Later on while the masonite panel was on the wood, I drilled these holes to ensure good placement. This created a slight issue with push pin placement but it was still manageable.
After marking, I cut everything out into a panel that looked pretty close to the OE design.
I test fit a push pin only to realize that the wood is too thick! This created a lot of extra work for me.
I didn't want to use thinner board as I might as well be using masonite at that point, so I soldiered on. I busted out my trusty dremel and got to work, resulting in a very ugly detent. Thankfully, only I would know it's there, and it will keep me up at night.
After testing each hole, I sanded everything down to a smooth-enough finish, laid down some Danish Wood Oil, then 3 coats of Polyurethane sealer.
While waiting for the panels to dry, I did some lazy sound-deadening. I had done the rest of the car, this was mainly just to make me feel good.
Part 1/2
