96polovette

The 1990 and up C4 door panels often come loose on top at the rear of the door. My 1996 drivers side door has this issue. There is a repair in the May 2003 issue of Corvette Fever magazine (page 71) where an aluminum lip is fabricated and put on the rearmost bolt on top of the door. The door panel is then placed over the aluminum lip and is held in place by it. I would be willing to pay somebody who has successfully fabricated the aluminum lip to build me one identical to the one that fixed your door. I don't have the tools to cut, bend and drill the aluminum lip and it would be easier for me to have one made by someone who already knows the exact dimensions and where to drill the hole and what size it should be. Send me a private message if you are interested in building me one.

I just fixed my drivers door panel. The ribs on the inside were cracked in half. I drilled small holes in them and fastened metal brackets to each side to reinforce them and bolted the brackets on. I also used some construction adhesive to help to hold on the brackets and to glue the slit together. Behind the slit in the door I put some metal plating for reinforcement and I used the adhesive to hold that in place. I am hoping this prolongs the life of my door panel for a few more years. As long as the adhesive adheres well to the inside of the door panel and to the metal I used to reinforce it, my door panel should be back in business.

I really wish they would have designed those door panels stronger, it seems to be a major weakness in the C4 interior. The lip is in the picture below.

96polovette

Here is my door panel repair. I have no idea whether this will hold it together or not.

nocturnalsilence

Hey, well it is kinda hard to see in the pic, maybe I can look it up for a color pic, but right now I am trying to fab up something to repair the door panel in my s-10 where the bolts hold the door panel onto the door. Looks ok so after I try it out I will take a look at my vette door and see if I can figure something out.

Later
Dave

96polovette

I still need to do 2 more ribs in my door panel. This is the type of repair that I want to do everything I possibly can to make it as sturdy as possible before I put it back in. The aluminum lip pictured above looks a little like a metal bracket you would buy at a hardware store, I may look for one if I can't find a better option.

nocturnalsilence

From what I can tell is that the bracket is just an L bracket that acts like the rest of the lip already found on the door only with more surface area. If that is the case either buy an L bracker like you are saying or just get some sturdy aluminium and bend it yourself and drill a hole in it. I will still take a look at it.

Later
Dave

96polovette

I'm going to look for L brackets today at the hardware store. The door panel repair is holding up nicely after removing the strap.

96polovette

I purchased some 1X 1/2in. L brackets at the hardware store. There was a tech article on this forum that suggested using that size. You can install 2 on those bolts and they need to be bent about 10 degrees to fit the door panel correctly. The door panel repair came out good and seems to be holding together, I think I'm about set to put everything back together.

nocturnalsilence

Hey that is great man, good to hear. Some more pics would be great if you have time.

Later
Dave

96polovette

I just reinstalled by driver door panel. I used 2 of the L brackets I mentioned that I purchased at the hardware store. I attached one to the rearmost 10mm bolt on the top of the door and one about in the center of the door on another 10mm bolt. It worked like a charm, the door panel is now tight as a drum. The key to repairing a door panel is reinforcing the ribs, that's where the strength is to hold it firmly to the upper lip on the door.

96polovette

I don't have any more pictures of the repair, I did the rest of the ribs like in the picture above. The L bracket was also installed like the picture above. I do have a picture of my car. I am now running the sawblades.