You can get aftermarket door top plastics for around $160. On top of that I heard they are crap. Here's what I did instead, as my car has been missing these pieces for over a year now.

Went to Pic N' Pull and found a couple in good shape. You will find a lot that are warped excessively and a lot that are cracked. I found some that weren't warped too bad and weren't cracked. They were dirty as hell and discolored. That was okay. They charged me $4.49 each.

Took them home and CAREFULLY took the inner window sweep off. You have to be super careful because there is metal inside of these and if you bend it you will never get it back to it's original shape. I didn't worry about the plastic mounting studs for the window sweep because once you take it off you will never be able to properly use those studs again, they will have to be re-attached some other way.

I really scrubbed those sweeps. I was amazed the dirt that came out of them. Once again don't bend them or you will be heading back to the junk yard.

Next I cleaned the plastic. Pretty straightfoward. Once it was clean and dry I hit it with a couple coats of vinyl/plastic interior paint. I did my entire interior with this stuff so it all matched. It has significantly more gloss to it than stock, makes everything look like it has armor-all on it when it doesn't.

Next I removed the sweep mounting studs from the plastic. Half of them were broken anyway and like I said they will have to be reattached a different way.



I put the cleaned sweep back in place and drilled holes through the sweep and plastic, then put little aluminum pop-rivets through the holes. Holds like a charm and is very solid. I used about 5 rivets per side IIRC.






Unfortunately like most of our door panels that have been removed the top part of the door panel is destroyed where it mounts to the door top plastic. This will prevent the door top plastic from being properly secured so I was forced to add a screw on the edge. I countersunk the screw into the plastic and used a GM screw that came from another Camaro. It's one of the long (about 1-1/2") interior self tappers, I went through the door panel and into steel. Holds great, looks factory to the untrained eye.

 

You can see a bit where the sweep isn't perfect, this probably wouldn't have happened if it wasn't the first time I did this. They could also probably use another screw up by the mirror as you can see where it is slightly warped upwards in that area.

 

hey i'm glad i seen this post, both of mine are cracked and ready to fall off, and was wondering how i was going to fix them. but now i know. how long did it take you to do it?

 

I probably spent two hours, and that was fussing around in the garage looking for a way to re-attach the sweeps before my dad came along, inquired about my project, and whipped out the rivet gun which I didn't even know he had

You can get a rivet gun for ~$25 at the hardware store. They are quite handy and a worthwhile investment.

 

I
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oops on my last post.
i think i'll pick one up from harbor fright, they are super cheap there.

 

Don't put the rivets too close to the 3 main attaching clips on the plastic otherwise it wont properly clip on. Just avoid the 3 areas that have clips on them. (actually there are 4 main clips on the plastic but only 3 that are used!)

Buy aluminum rivets. They are softer and easier to work with and this is a very light duty application. Drill your holes just a hair bigger than the rivet.

 

Thanks, this is definitly going to help me out alot.

 

I used automotive glue and C-clamps while the glue dried, and while everything still looks good after a number of years, I like your idea very much.

JamesC

 

I used alum. rivets on mine and then trimed off the excess with wire cutters. That way they did not stick out and rub.

 

nice write up.
that screw at the end of the door panel would drive me insane.
mine is warped a bit as well... and it bothers me.
i used zip ties to reattach mine. i even drilled an extra hole where it was warped and pulled it tight with a zip tie in that area.
rivots are a good idea as well.