I’ve just received a new lower interior panel for the rear door of FHC. The new panel is made from panel board, 1/16" foam and vinyl. The foam is glued to the panel board but the vinyl is not glued to the foam. It is attached on the back edge with staples and so it’s loose.
I would have thought the vinyl would be glued to the foam so it will hold it’s shape when the concave panel is attached to the door otherwise it will always be floppy and loose. Or does it hold it’s shape when you glue the loose vinyl at the top of the panel to the door at the bottom window opening?
The only place in an E where the vinyl is glued to the foam is the head liner and that come that way from the manufacturer. I don’t like staples and I can’t recall how or if that part in my kit but if it did have staples I removed them and glued the edge where they were. That was 20 years ago and there have been no problems with anything.
Hi Bill My '67 coupe still had the original vinyl interior it came with. The inside hatch piece was badly faded but otherwise in good condition. I just sprayed it with black Surflex and it looks like new. But to your point - it’s quite tight - the vinyl is convex like the inside of the door and gives about 1/2 inch when you press it in at it’s sloppiest point. I expect that’s because the part that is fully glued around the window opening makes it convex as you suspect. I can’t see anything else that would do it. One advantage to it is that you don’t really get a clear view of it when the hatch is closed, and would never be able to notice bagginess unless it was really bad.
It’s usually not a good idea to glue vinyl to foam in any case. As for the looseness you see, I can’t exactly remember how I did mine but I think it will tighten up when you trim the vinyl around the window and glue it to the hatch frame. It needs to tuck under the window seal and around the outside of the lip. I don’t think mine ever appeared to be loose once installed.
Thank you to everyone you’ve answered my question. I’ll go ahead and install it as is and just glue it around the window opening. I must say that the panel is nicely made and the vinyl is a good match to the original.
