Tootie Pang

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Updated.

I will be documenting my work on fixing up the doors in my 89 Vert to possibly help others with my experience

My goals are:
1. To stop all of the rattles and squeaks - which are horrible.
2. Fix the Power Mirrors
3. Install 6.5" speakers
4. Deaden the doors for both tin sound and audio waves
5. Fix anything else
6. Used Dorman 799-130 for door panel fasteners.

So far:

Mirrors
I successfully diagnosed and repaired the power mirrors. Some wires downstream of the switch had been broken and scrapped and the switch was broken. I took apart the switch and resoldered a bad circuit board segment, cleaned everything up and tested. Lots of work but it all works.

Speakers/Sound Prep
Using Polk DB6501 6.5" two-way separates. They are shallow and short basket. I cut the holes forward and above the power window motor. A tight fit but will install without spacing out for a clean look.
I deadened the door interior by spraying two cans of Rustoleum Spray Rubber (like Flex Seal) per door. I sprayed the inside of the door skin, ends, and the back of inner door panel. The stuff goes on like paint but foams up just a little. So far the bottom drain holes have not been affected at all. The deadening inside the door is impressive. The cans are $9 each at Home Depot, in the paint section. Way easier than sticking sound mat down in there. And way more coverage. From Home Depot I also bought a roll of "patch seal" Foil on one side, thick tar tack on the other. Looks a lot like dynamat. I am covering the entire surface of the inner door panel with this stuff. Goes on easy and sticks to everything. I also bought sections of flat flashing (roofing section for both) that I will use self tapping 1/2"(mostly), some 3/4" and 1" #8 screws to mount across the remaining openings and then mat them over. I also sprayed the backs of these flashing panels with the foam rubber. So far the doors are quite dead and sound a billion percent better opening and closing. I am using shallow foam baffles behind the speakers for weather and more damping.

Rattles/Squeaks
I used the same 1/2" #8 self tapping sheet screws to hold down any loose riveted surface devices (I put them alongside the edges of the loose pieces and let their built in washer hold it all down- inner door handle assemblies, arm rest mounts and mount plate. These screws are perfect. For example I used four around my inner door handle plates (rivets were loose). The screws are just deep enough to bite hard and not interfere with stuff on the other side. I also replaced my outer door handles mine were worn out, loose, and rattley. I went with Dorman (pair for $34 pair) on Amazon which had good reviews. There are some super cheap ones out there but I read bad things about those. It is so much more pleasant driving my car around without loud chirping squeaks.

Notes:
I had to be very careful when covering the lock rods. Any rubbing and the power actuators don't work reliably. On the two panels covering the rear openings, I had to use spacers to make sure it wouldn't touch.
The speakers went in exactly as planned. Flush and firm.
I used silicone garage door lube spray (with the spray tube) to lubricate and work the door latches before closing up.
The doors feel substantially more solid.
The audio is a night and day improvement, not even tuned yet.
The doors feel amazing.

Tootie Pang

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Got it done last night well door panels on and speakers hooked up. Holy cow, what a difference. Here's some pix before I put the door panels on.

The first one shows it almost covered with the tack mat. The remaining panel is shown towards the back. You can see the use of the self-tapping sheet metal screws.

The second is the door ready to cover.

Tootie Pang

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Here some earlier pics:

Shot of internal door sprayed with the first coat of spray rubber:



Here's how I used the self-tapping sheet metal screws to secure loose riveted parts. You can see two from under the tack sheets. There are four others around the other end of the release handle assemble under the tack sheet. Also, the rubber hose over the lock rod and any tack sheet under it had to be removed to make the power doors locks work properly.

Tootie Pang

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Here's how the spaces could be covered. The smaller plate in the bottom right was not covering a hole- it is used as reinforcement. Both of my doors had rips in the stamped metal inner door underneath it growing towards the rear. They were about 2.5" inches long. This plate spanned the tear and with a firm application of tack sheet, may slow or even stop it (hoping anyway).

You can also see that on the window actuator the top metal flaps have been ground off. I thought I needed to to this for clearance for the speaker. Turns out I didn't.

Tootie Pang

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Shot of the new tweeters.

Tootie Pang

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Better shot of the passenger speaker cutout fabrication.

FART_NUGGETS

Nice work. I want to get inside my doors this winter and tighten them up as well. Not sure if I want to mount speakers or not, don't really want to cut my panels up. But the dash speakers do suck.....

Tootie Pang

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They suck bad. There's no baffle for them at all, they are small, and the dash is prone to loose parts. Although it's a tight fit for flush mount speakers in the doors, it was worth it. The sound is fantastic and the doors close with a very solid thud. They are also noticeably heavier.

I did the passenger door first and it turns out I did not need to shave the tabs off the door motor, I just needed to position the speaker a little higher.

There is surely not a lot of space and I think anything larger or deeper than what I got would cause problems one way or another.

Fortunately those Polks are really exceptional with a little amp behind them.

The rubber spray is very easy to do and very effective. Just dust off the insides and spray. The sheet metal and roof patch tape was slow but not tough. I just waited for nice weather and got a chair. The self tapping screws are perfect for these doors.

Again, the end result IMHO is way worth it. The sound is deserving of a convertible. Exceptional sound.

I am running a cheap-o Pioneer head unit, bluetooth audio feed to a two channel Rockford Fosgate Punch 75 amp. (yes from the 80s) driving 2 ohms of connected speakers L and R - a 10" bazooka passive sub bridged, the front Polk separates, and two Polk 4x6 in the rear with inline 4 ohm resistors to balance out the apparent load to the amp.