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1965 ARMREST BASE REPAIR


48Super

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I am in the process of attempting to repair some cracked 1965 driver's side arm rest bases for a custom interior. The long part under the door pull is completely cracked into two pieces but fit together fine when still assembled onto the door panel. I'm interested in getting advice on what, if any, adhesive can be used on this plastic. Also, if anybody has a good method to reinforce the armrest on the inside, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Has anyone had experience with the fiberglass replacement armrests from OPGI?  They are very $$$$$! Thanks in advance for the help.

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                                If you only have one straight up and down crack under the door pull, if I were you

I would leave it alone. A crack in the lower plastic panel under the armrest is very difficult to see with

the door open and impossible for anyone to see with the door shut. The original pieces are molded in the correct color while

repros would need to be painted. Trust me when I say that nobody but you will ever know there is a crack there.

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I fixed a crack in the plastic door panel on the driver's door my Blazer and it's held great, use the door a lot and there's been no problem since I made the repair   I laid the door panel on it's face, spread some two part epoxy on the back, laid some fiberglass mat in the epoxy and worked the mat in with a body putty spreader.  Another glob of epoxy and worked it into the glass.  Let it cure, done.  I didn't try anything aesthetically, and you can't see it unless you know where to look.  I guess it's a common problem.  I went to a guy's house to get some other trim pieces and he looked at my door panel looking for the crack.  He commented "Looks like you're lucky, yours hasn't cracked yet."  He knew what to look for and didn't see it.  Probably stronger than it was originally.

 

Ed 

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Guest Gee_Rydes

I have had good luck using ABS cement for drain pipes. It is a cement so it melts it together.

Works on all those broken mounting tabs also.

 

and cheap.

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Thanks for the input and advice. I've managed to complete the arm rest repair and it came out great. I fixed the long arm rest piece using some quick set JB weld and 1/16: plastic sheet material as reinforcement on the inside. That old plastic is very brittle after 50 years inside a car!

 

A fellow ROA forum user was kind enough to send me a replacement for my damaged front arm rest, all it required was cleaning and repainting.

 

My car has a Saddle Tan interior and the arm rest bases were molded in a weird color shade, something that looks like butterscotch pudding. The paint store where I normally buy supplies has started charging $50.00 to do custom color matches so that was out of the question. I went all over looking for the right color and found a near perfect match. Rust-Oleum #249070  (Satin Nutmeg) is very close to the original color. It is good quality paint and compatible with plastic. Hopefully, this will be useful for anyone else trying to match this odd color. Here is how it came out:

 

post-86784-0-22816200-1441033479_thumb.j

Edited by 48Super (see edit history)
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