UPDATE! Phase 1 of my two tone interior
I purchased this Mystic Blue ZHP sedan about 2 months ago and it's been perfect. Love the car, but the grey interior is kind of boring to me. I wanted to wait to work on the interior until the mechanical stuff was done but I found a good deal on some black door panels so I purchased them and started working on them this afternoon while wife and kid were out of town.
I've wanted to find a NB interior to purchase, but it's miserably hot in central Texas right now and summers just begun. So the grey will stay and I'll just two tone the interior pieces like it should've been from the factory. Much like the natural brown interior pieces are done, namely the door panels, seat backs, lower side trim on seats, etc. The grey is just oversaturated but my plan is to break it up and make it not so boring.
I started with the "new" used black panels and began removing the inset panels this afternoon. I wanted to start with these to "practice" and to find the best method to remove the plastic welded rivet posts behind the panel. I needed to experiment to find which tool would allow me the most material to screw the pieces back together. I first tried a drill bit to drill through and break the tops off, I tried a flat paddle bit, a countersink bit, an end mill bit, cut-off wheel on a dremel, and finally a sanding drum on the dremel. The drill bit didn't leave enough material for the screws. Same with the paddle bit and countersink. The end mill bit and cut-off wheel worked okay, but the sanding drum was by far the best and definitely the quickest.
Wife and son came home a little early so I stopped for the evening. Will remove panels from car maybe tomorrow or whenever I'm able to commit some time to it this week.
Next up will be the dash and carpet, seat backs and trim, and rear parcel shelf. I didn't see anything where anyone had done this here so I'll update this thread as I go.
Questions / comments / concerns welcome.
UPDATE: All door panels are now complete! I really can't explain how gratifying it was doing this myself and the difference it makes on the interior of my car!
First and foremost, use this DIY at your discretion. Doing this is not difficult, just time consuming. Please wear eye protection as there will be hot, melted flying plastic from your Dremel.
All locations in the following pictures are color coded to help you with screw size and locations.
RED: #8
YELLOW: #12
GREEN: #12 - Don't install this screw until you've installed the door pull and are ready to install the inset panel to the outer door panel.
In order to do this you need some supplies, ie: screws, washers and some epoxy or silicone (in case you can't get all screw locations).
- Box of 100 #8 x 1/2" Machine Screws
- 26 #12 x 3/4" Machine Screws
- Box of 100 1/4" flat washers (for the #8 screws)
- 26 3/16 ID x 1" OD flat washers (for the #12 screws)
- 1 tube of silicone or 2 part epoxy
- 1/8" drill bit (#30 bit) & a 5/32" drill bit (#21)
Remove your door panels and flip them over to expose the plastic melted rivets. These are what you'll be grinding away with your Dremel. Don't push too hard and don't stay on the head too long as it will just remove material you'll need to screw the inset back to the door panel. I found a high speed fast approach worked well and it took away the heads of the rivets in about two passes.
Now clean the RED locations with your 1/8" drill bit and YELLOW & GREEN locations with your 5/32" drill bit. This is to facilitate screw install later.
Rear:
Front:
After removing all rivets, remove the inset panel from the rest of the door panel. You'll have something like this:
NOTE: Be very careful with the fronts due to the airbag cover that will want to fall out to the back of the panel, just keep your hand on it and be cognizant of it while working and you'll be fine. These panels are older and the glue that holds the leatherette on is beginning to separate.
Now that you have the panels removed, it's time to remove the door pulls. These are the same type of melted plastic rivet, just larger. The rears will have 8, the fronts will have 7.
After removing the rivets just pull the two apart, they will be stuck a bit but don't be afraid to use a little bit of force here.
Now install the new door pull to the inset panel with your #12 screws at all YELLOW locations. There is one RED (#8) location at the top near the door handle, next to the GREEN location.
Now it's time to install your two-toned inset panel to the outer door panel as shown. Install as many #8 screws as you can in the RED locations. Use the epoxy or silicone to glue it in locations where you may skip a screw or two. Now you may install the #12 screws in the two GREEN locations as these also help to secure both panels together.
Repeat for both rear doors and they're done! Simple, right?Now you can begin to admire how drastic of a change this is.
Fronts are pretty much the exact same as the rear, with the exception of the airbag cover that you need to handle with care to prevent it from falling out.
Install the door pull using hardware at all YELLOW and RED locations, leaving the GREEN locations until you mate the two pieces back together.
Now mate the two pieces and install all hardware at marked locations.
Repeat for both front doors.
Install your newly built custom two-toned door panels back to your car and admire!
Feel free to PM me if anyone has questions.
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Originally Posted by joeybananaz18
