I missed seeing that the original message was from the Shop Talk list, hence
this resend!
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Bauder" <jimbpps@pacbell.net>
To: <nogera@juno.com>; "TR List" <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: Masonite, (long)
> Bob,
>
> Masonite is probably the brown board that you referred to. However, it
comes
> in several grades. Tempered which has the dark brown, shiny finish on one
or
> both sides, and untempered, which is a lighter shade and has one side
smooth
> and one side rough, but neither side is as hard as the tempered. The
> original panels in my car appeared to be made out of untempered Masonite.
>
> My brother and I used the untempered Masonite to build my door panels and
> rear quarter panels, as my originals were broken in several places and
very
> warped. (New Masonite of course, will also break and warp over time
> especially if allowed to get wet.) My brother used the old panels as
> patterns to cut out the new ones with a table saw for the straight cuts
and
> a saber saw for the curved cuts.
>
> We replaced the door pockets with new ones from Moss, I believe. I used
> polyester "quilt" batting with a small amount of loft. As I wanted to
> approximate the original panels as close as possible. In retrospect, I
wish
> I would have used cotton batting instead of the polyester, although the
only
> complaint I had was how the polyester reacted to having a drill run
through
> it. It would bind on the drill bit. I am not sure if the cotton would have
> done that.
>
> One thing we did was to use brush on contact cement. We used the "heavy
> duty" 3M 90 spray-on the seat pans and the dash and had terrible luck, it
> would lift and curl as soon as it got hot from the sun. I redid most of
the
> edges with the brush on contact cement with much better results.
>
> On the door panels we first drilled out the mounting holes for the door
> pockets and then countersink the holes for 4x40 x 3/4 inch long, flat head
> Phillips screws. I put the screws through the holes, used a bit of tape to
> smooth the screw head, and used Kep nuts with the built in lock washers
and
> fairly large flats on the rear of the panel, to keep the screws from
falling
> out during the assembly of the panels. I then installed the batting with
3m
> spray-on cement, (just to hold it until the vinyl was installed), then
> installed the vinyl with brush on cement on the back of the panel. I next
> cut slits for the door pockets and pulled the vinyl tight. After all of
the
> panels were covered in vinyl, including the rear quarter panels, I took
them
> to a friendly upholsterer, who was willing to have his helper use their
> stapler to staple all of the glued flaps on the inside surface. You'll
> remember that the original panels were stapled with 1/8 inch staples but I
> was unable to find any 1/8 inch staples that could be used in my Arrow
> stapler. I also knew that the glue would not hold for very long. Staples
> were the answer, so I asked my upholsterer if he would help. He only
charged
> me $20.00! If I had it to do over, my brother and I should have purchased
a
> staple gun. It would have cost more but we would have a "neat" tool! After
> the panels were stapled, including the vinyl piping, I removed the nuts
and
> washers, the spray-on cement and tape held the screws in the panels,
> carefully installed the door pockets and reinstalled the washers and Keps,
> tightened all of the Keps and admired our work.
>
> We used new chrome trim screws and cup washers from TRF. My interior looks
> so close to original, I can hardly believe it.
>
> As always YMMV and NFI in 3M, etc!
>
> Jim Bauder
> '58 TR3
> Palo Alto, CA
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