76-79 Seville door panel repair

[mechanic80]

I seem to have successfully repaired my driver's door panel (those with this model Seville know what I'm talking about.)  It's firm as never before and looks like a permanent fix.  Here's what I did.  First, salvage all parts of the broken lower housing.  All parts should be inside the panel.  Check for parts still attached to the door sheet metal.  If not all there, you'll have to reconstruct missing sections.  Use JB Weld original for a good strong bond to reassemble the structure (being sure to spread past joints) using small clamps to hold it like you'd find in a stationery store used for big reports.  Use electrical or masking tape under the clamping area so as not to glue the clamp to the repair!  Let the structure set up for a full day.
      A reinforcement will be needed as a backbone,  I used an aluminum channel found in most home improvement stores used for supporting mirrors.  It's a squared off "J" with a rather tapered, thin, larger back piece.  Only the backpiece and lower section were used.  Create the angle piece by removing the "front" piece by grinding the corner/edge with dremel or other such power tool and bending that off.  Inspection will show you where to position the channel with the "base" facing inward toward the passenger area.  Relieve the areas for the plastic tabs as well as the 2 big screw "spools."  JB this part in place over the backside and let dry a full day.  There is a lot of fine tuning this piece.  A dremel tool is MOST valuable.  The biggest improvement is the addition of 3/4" pan head style trim screws that secure the arm rest piece to the door panel from the back through the fiber door panel.  I used 5 screws. Snug but DON"T OVERTIGHTEN or they'll strip out. The longer you can make the "J" chanel piece, the more you can use the screws to attach the arm rest from the back but there's no reason to go past the switch plate area unless it's cracked even further back.  Be sure to pre-drill as the plastic is brittle, but the aluminum channel adds strength.  Determine your specific needs and have a plan with a clean uncluttered work area.  A time consuming but really cheap and effective fix.  Reconstruct the vinyl that's visible using superglue and vinyl tape to hold from the backside. you may need to actually cut the vinyl to get it out of the way do a good reconstruction.

[Gene Beaird]

Norbert, thank you for this info, and work.  I see this two-paragraph writeup and it makes my head swim.  I've taken the liberty of separating the steps out a bit so the individual steps are not lost in a big blob of words:

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I seem to have successfully repaired my driver's door panel (those with this model Seville know what I'm talking about.)  It's firm as never before and looks like a permanent fix.  Here's what I did:

First, salvage all parts of the broken lower housing.  All parts should be inside the panel.  Check for parts still attached to the door sheet metal.  If not all there, you'll have to reconstruct missing sections. 

Use JB Weld original for a good strong bond to reassemble the structure (being sure to spread past joints) using small clamps to hold it like you'd find in a stationery store used for big reports.  Use electrical or masking tape under the clamping area so as not to glue the clamp to the repair!  Let the structure set up for a full day.

A reinforcement will be needed as a backbone,  I used an aluminum channel found in most home improvement stores used for supporting mirrors.  It's a squared off "J" with a rather tapered, thin, larger back piece.  Only the backpiece and lower section were used. 

Create the angle piece by removing the "front" piece by grinding the corner/edge with dremel or other such power tool and bending that off.  Inspection will show you where to position the channel with the "base" facing inward toward the passenger area.  Relieve the areas for the plastic tabs as well as the 2 big screw "spools."  JB Weld this part in place over the backside and let dry a full day. 

There is a lot of fine tuning this piece.  A dremel tool is MOST valuable.  The biggest improvement is the addition of 3/4" pan head style trim screws that secure the arm rest piece to the door panel from the back through the fiber door panel.  I used 5 screws. Snug but DON"T OVERTIGHTEN or they'll strip out.

The longer you can make the "J" channel piece, the more you can use the screws to attach the arm rest from the back but there's no reason to go past the switch plate area unless it's cracked even further back.  Be sure to pre-drill as the plastic is brittle, but the aluminum channel adds strength. 

Determine your specific needs and have a plan with a clean uncluttered work area.  It is a time consuming but really cheap and effective fix.  Reconstruct the vinyl that's visible using superglue and vinyl tape to hold from the backside. you may need to actually cut the vinyl to get it out of the way do a good reconstruction.

_________________________________________________________________

When you mention what you used for reinforcement, did you use this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-Hangman-200-lb-French-Cleat-Picture-Hanger-with-Wall-Dog-Mounting-Screws-13-Pack-55316/202341629#.UXAA1sp4-5I

Or was it something else?  I fear I'll be needing to do this to the door panels of our 79 soon.  Thank you.

[mechanic80]

It's a simple squared off "J" channel found at my local Lowes right by the plate mirrors.  Sells for about $8.99 for a 4' section.
Thanks, BTW, Gene, for making that daunting explanation a a bit more understandable.  I hope this helps others with the same issue.  E-mail me with any further questions: mechanic80_2000@yahoo.com

[iamnqr]

I've just joined and this caught my eye, but I wanted to say thanks for the info because I just picked up a 79 Seville, which I'm going to do a restore and both arm rests need work, among a lot of other things.

Thanks again.

[mechanic80]

Glad I could make a contribution.  It's holding up quite well.