Anyone know how I can sort out the woodie door panel on my Squire? Its got a rust blister that has actually come through the skin. Are there repair pieces for them or do I have to look for a door?
huh???? you mean you have a rust bubble under the woodgrain decal right??? i,m sure you realize like most everyone here that older wagon parts rgardless of make are extremely difficult to come by if not somewhat impossible,,,so i would presume repairing the door would be in order,,,i have seen various ads in car mags that deal in reproduction woodgrain decals,,i dont know how much or anything else about that:banana: part but the rust repair is no different than any other car under the woodgrain decal
Yeah, the rust bubble is not the problem, what is a problem is replacing the grain. Been doing some searching and looks like I will have to rene the lot at the same time as I cannot find a match anywhere. Im repainting the whole car anyway so no problem, but thanks for the info.
I thought I had posted about woodgrain vinyl before, but not under a specific thread. First finding it is a pain. JC Whitney have inventory of the old dark walnut, used on Fords and the 1975 and earlier Chrysler Towne And Country Brougham wagons. Here's on nice job: http://www.rickwrench.com/wood.html Avery Dennison bought the company that used to make it and dropped it into their Printed Graphic Vinyl lines (Exterior use). You need that because it fades slower than the Interior use stuff. Lastly, 3M make a line called DiNoc for exterior use, but you have to email them for a Signage reseller. They do respond, but they are slow. What I like about 3M's line is the variety of grains and colours. All of it is UV protected! Avery have instructions on their site too. I'll put some links below, but here's where I'm kind of in a quandary: If you recall, I finally got my woodgrain from JC Whitney. I haven't unrolled it yet to see if there's a 'repeat' pattern or not. I removed all 4 doors and the tailgate (swings up on the hydraulic/gas-filled 'shocks'). And also, I'm roller-painting the car. I've cleaned up and prepped the body door frames and primed and painted them, so I should get the first coats on this week. Well my doubts spring from the way the original panels were wrapped around the fender and door edges by about 1/4" at each panel. I made wax paper templates of each panel, allowing about 3/8" extra on the front fenders (covered by wood trim at the front and wrapping at the back edge of the fender. If I install the doors without the woodgrain, I can't heat-seal the vinyl on the inside lip. All the recessed exterior handles and locks are off and the glass and hardware is all off. Its a door shell. My plan is to refinish them off the car and reinstall them, after the woodgrain vinyl is applied (wrap around included) and all the heat gun work done. Then I'll reassemble the hardware, seals, glass, locks and handles, afterwards. So the question is if you noticed if the repeat pattern is that distinct, that the gaps (where I have to wrap around) would stick out like a sore thumb? Of course, if you see anything goofy in my strategy, I'd like to know that too. Here's some links: JC Whitney http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...&sku=wood+grain&searchbtn.x=20&searchbtn.y=13 3M's DiNoc line http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/...olutions/Di-NocFilm/ProductGallery/WoodGrain/ I got this reply from 3M Canada: and their link: http://www.windowfilmcanada.com/Home/Default.aspx?DealerGroupID=7 Or this one: http://www.stripeman.com/3m-woodgrain-vinyl.htm Just a note on 3M's stuff, you'll have to email or call whomever they suggest and hope they sell in small quantities. I think Avery is the same way - via resellers, converters (die-cutting, tag and novelty printing). Avery's product: http://www.averygraphics.com/pls/av...?p_site_name=SIGNAGE&p_product_series_id=1038 Anywho, if someone has some tips about wrapping around the door and fender lips/edges, don't be shy, eh!
Finishing off my woodgrain installation The vendor to JC Whitney is Sharpline Convertors, Inc. http://www.sharpline.com/index.html They've got good instruction guides (PDF) and maintenance files you can download, here: http://www.sharpline.com/guides.html Then there's this company who specializes in older Station wagons: http://www.woodgrain4wagons.com/ I got mine from JC Whitney. It looks like the original Fairmont Squire finish. I've only got the tailgate and gas-tank door left to do tomorrow. The Sharpline instructions that come with it in the box are 'good enough'. I've got the factory manuals and they're about the same - Good Enough. The tricky stuff are the convex curves over the wheel wells, then the door handle cavities, the gas-tank door-depression, and that's about it. The adhesive is heat-sensitive, so you want to do this in shade or a cloudy, cool day (under 80F). It was 46F here, today, and so I had to use a hair-dryer to form it properly in the curves and cavities. They recommend above 60F. There's no way you'll get it 'Just like the factory'. But you can get close. The gas door on mine looked like it had a seamless molded woodgrain covering the sheetmetal behind the door (on the car, not the door inside-face). You can cut another piece and apply it, then use an Exacto knife to trim the excess overlap where the body vinyl went on first. Basically do the same in the door handle cavities. There's one tricky spot on the Fairmont wagon. Where the rear quarter wraps around to meet the tailgate door jamb. The woodgrain will not 'bend' back up that much (2") so you have to cut another small piece and overlap, then slice through both layers (rear quarter wrap and the small piece you use to finish of the run. That'll help hide the seam and give you a tight finish. When you first cut your templates, keep the scraps. When you cut off the excess chunks without backing (applying a panel always leaves some good size scraps, stick them back onto the backing paper. In my case, I have to try to match the grain for the gas-tank door with the existing rear-quarter vinyl. Fortunately, this vinyl has a 60" repeat print of the grain, and the way I cut it, I have a good match in one of the scraps. I often refinish furniture and use stained beeswax crayons to match colors. You could do the same with this stuff, using model paint like Testors for cars and airplane models. You'll get bubbles and you have to pin-prick them to get the air out and flatten them down. If you leave it until later, the adhesive might set and you won't be able to flatten the bubble. By 'filling' the pin-prick, you also seal it and avoid premature moisture and rust from building up behind the vinyl. I bought some plastic paint to touch up some interior parts, so I'll just spray some in the lid and use a small artist brush to hide my sins. I have to butt-end the tailgate vinyl from 2 symetric-grain pieces and have the seam in the middle of the license plate cavity. That'll give it a decent look. Then I'll start installing the woodgrain moldings (already refinished to stock - light backround, darker grain effect. Then the windshields and door glass, roof rack and handles/locks.
Finally got warm enough weather to finish the tailgate woodgrain. Done! Amen! I did a decent Quality Control tour, looking for any air bubbles and then I spotted a piece of scrap woodgrain stuck to the newly installed vinyl. It was less than 1/2" X 3/4" and the little bouger was stuck with the grain going in the same direction! I thought I had gotten all the scraps picked up, but I missed that one. It came off fairly easy since its so cool for weather, but it could have been a mess in hotter weather! Whew! Not too many bubbles either! Anyway the car is starting to look good again! All the door window frame moldings went on nice. If you don't have the factory manuals, I don't know how a person could reassemble them. I guess a digital camera would do it, but it would really slow you down stripping the car. Autozone only goes back to 1968 Fords and Mercurys. It would be tough to remember even if you were less than 40! After 40, comes "CRS" Can't Remember Anything, so the manuals are a huge help! It's raining and maybe snow tonite, then rain or snow tomorrow morning. The high is 4C (39F), but it gets back up to 9C (46F) on Thursday. That's it for the Woodgrain. Warmer weather would've been nice, but you work with what you got!:banghead3:
