300E W124 Door Panel Clip Repair?

[d2bernhard]

300E W124 Door Panel Clip Repair

Hello, does anyone have a good method to repair a broken door panel clip on a 1986 300E door panel? It is the rear door, rearmost armrest clip. Car is 1986 300E. Been repaired once, and the piece is missing so I will have to jerry it up with MacGyver methods.

Thanks

[d2bernhard]

I know these panels are a source of pain, but I did not think no one would reply ....

[babymog]

I've had that on a couple of cars. The clip is molded into the armrest, the only solution I've found is to replace the door panel.

[Gilly]

You are limited only by your own imagination and the laws in your municipality.......

[d2bernhard]

Thanks. The McGuyver gears are working. Last time I did it with a lot of JB Weld + thin little screws for mechanical force. Worked well -- but then again I had all the pieces ....

[d2bernhard]

Plastic Door Membranes
Mr. Hanson had 'em at MB Classic Center
$2.40 for the rears
$4 for the fronts

Here are pics of my door repair.
Some are blurry, sorry.
I will follow with a few posts for all the pics.
Before I begin, yes I am aware that all these screws are not as safe as original design -- in a heavy hit they could protrude in and gouge passenger. But there are only 9 of them and all butt one are only 3/4 inch. I did similar repair of Driver's Door about 4 years ago -- still going great.

Armrest
Using part of old bamboo and epoxy repair for plastic 'J' hook
MacGyver'ed new clip top from nylon WeedWhacker blade
ground down old stub to be smooth and approximate height to accept part
drilled to accept screw
Mounted with some JB Weld to help

Other clip cracked at base
drilled to accept 2 inch #6 screw all the way into deep part of armrest
prodigious use of JB Weld to fill in spine and flesh out repair at crack

To mount armrest back on panel
Carefully drill old plastic 'rivets' to accept screw
3/4 inch #4 screws (leaves room to go up to #6 if needed, which I did on one)
small washers over big fender washers (2 sizes, I used as big as would fit)
Some washers machined to fit adjacent washer or part

I used contact cement to glue the top of the vinyl back on the panel, at the edge by the window. It was peeling back in 3 places.

Finish with a tad of glue on felt over screws to hopefully stop vibrations, rattles, creaks and sundry noises.

[d2bernhard]

Here are the pics

http://public.me.com/thebernhards

in folder named
300E Door Repair