Restoring - General discussions that span across many different groups of years and models > Body, Paint & Sealers
How to repair inside of door on vintage Mustangs?
mtinkham:
Sam, looking forward to seeing your repair. I just finished a 67 Coupe that took me weeks to fit the repo doors. I would prefer to fix my originals.
Mark
Bossbill:
I just repaired a section of my 67 SJ car door that required grain.
First, I agree that silicone is the enemy of paint. My painter will not allow me to bring in any part that has any silicone on it -- ever.
My wife loves making molds, mostly of garden art forms. She has done this for over a decade and uses liquid latex almost exclusively for the master mold. Mother molds are another topic and not needed here.
I brought over a 3' long heat source (infrared or strip) and brought the area to 70-80*.
Liquid latex is simply brushed on an area of the door that you wish to use as the grain template. I use an area of about 4"x8". I first go horizontally and let the area dry and become darker. Then vertically and then diagonally. I go up to about 5 or 6 coats.
I let the area sit for a few hours and then add baby powder to the side facing.
The template is then flipped over and baby powder applied there.
The result is a mold that is extremely flexible.
If you want a mold with more rigidity add a layer or two of cheesecloth as the final two steps. For my door fix the extra rigidity was a detriment, so I used only latex.
I first got the area very close to the original form with metal. In my case rust had eaten through parts of the corner. The area in question then had a 2K primer applied and allowed to dry for days. I brought the area up to a decent temperature (mid 70s) with the heat source and applied a very thin and even layer of filler. I made sure the filler did not go much beyond the blank area by using blue tape. The mold material was then wrapped around this area and tapped in position to keep it static.
Use a paint stick, bondo spreader or other forms to press the mold into the bondo. My area was curved and present a much different set of issues than a flat area -- which should be much simpler.
After the bondo has kicked you can remove the mold material and use dental picks or other tools to meld in areas not quite perfect.
Wash the mold with thinner to remove any remaining material and repeat the dusting of baby powder -- spread it around with your hand.
This requires a lot of patience and you will not get it right the first time. This is tedious, so be ready for that.
I'll post a pic of the finished product, but due to my door's complex shape I've done each surface as a separate run and have one or two (out of six) areas left (before I had back issues, again).
Here is a shot of how one curve was done.
[edit stupid grammatical errors]
Bossbill:
--- Quote from: SamG on December 27, 2017, 01:33:53 AM ---I think I've posted before on this...but I've used 3M rocker spray (The green label I think...it dries harder and faster) to spray a texture coat on the repaired area then knocked the top off with some fine sandpaper.
--- End quote ---
My painter was doing some paint match on a spare door I brought him and did this same thing.
On edit, here is a pic of this texture, unsanded.
Decent fix for a daily driver.
mtinkham:
Looking forward to seeing the result of the latex mold....I think I would like to try that.
Bossbill:
It's hard to make out the grain unless you paint it and I'm not ready for that on the door.
Here is one of my first tests to see how the grain looked. This is your standard body filler -- a Wesco in-house brand. I made little effort to blend the filler into the surrounding area. The test piece was painted with just a light fogging of semi-gloss black so I could actually see the grain.
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