First car: 1980 Chevrolet Malibu Wagon

[Longroof79]

Quinn,
He's been corresponding with me via PM. He's been systematically replacing every component on the car...almost. His starter crapped out, his alternator, light switch, etc, etc.
I don't know why he hasn't been updating his thread. I'll have to run that by him.

 

[MalibuHacon]

I have gotten some better rear doors for it, and some new wheels. replaced a lot of electrical related things. Will be replacing the alternator this week.

 

[ssn696]

Wow! You found better doors in Norway?!? I can't find wagon doors in the US!!!! Well, I am not exactly scouring the countryside....
But, congratulations and thanks for making your way back to the Forum. I had hoped you would put your wagon in for the GBOTM...

 

[MalibuHacon]

I hope they are wagon doors, i got the doors from the same guy who i bought the car from, they do not have the side vents, and i can't find any pictures of Wagon-doors without vents.. hope they will fit. I don't have them here with me now, they are at a friends house so i can't compare them with the ones i have on the car... There are old car parts laying around everywhere, problem is most of it is not for sale, or the seller don't know that there is anyone looking for that part. I saw two other wagons as well yesterday, an olds cutlass wagon and another malibu wagon.

Do you know if the wagons came without side vents?

 

[Ribbedroof]

Those would be 78-80 sedan doors without vent windows...and bad news, the window frames won't reach the roof

 

[MalibuHacon]

That's what i found when looking at sedans, but when looking at wagon doors i don't think i saw anyone without the vents! .. hope i the guy didn't give me the wrong doors

 

[Ribbedroof]

For the headliner, I use either a wire brush (carefully) or a DA sander to clean up the board. I also prefer regular contact cement to the aerosol types, have not had good luck with the spray contact cement. You have to be careful with the regular stuff when applying, it is easy to saturate the foam through to the cloth.

 

[ssn696]

I just rubbed the remains of the foam off with my fingers. It took a whole weekend, and my fingers were a bit sore, but it worked. Solvents will melt the foam. I found a 3M spray contact cement that was compatible with foams.
Can the door bottoms from the 78-81 sedan work if you swap the window frames in from the wagon doors?

 

[Ribbedroof]

from what I have observed, the shell and skin (skin verified in crash book) are the same, just window frame differences. Seems like i saw a post from another european member that did the frame swap on a sedan door for his wagon.

 

[Longroof79]

Brian,
That was Oly Malibu, or Andreas, a German dude. He successfully replaced the door frames.
I could see where it would be entail a decent amount of work. First off, there's a shitload of spot welds, and a few beads here and there.

I actually removed the window frames from my old doors. It was a pain in the *ss, I must admit, but I kept the frames. One was partially rust-eaten, but reusable.

As for the headliner. It really doesn't take much to clean the old foam off. Even a regular stiff brush would get most, if not all off. I've also used a wirebrush, and a drill with wirewheel attachment.

For adhesives, I've used the better 3M stuff. They seem to have different levels of products I've tried another brand that was allegedly formulated for headliner use. 3M is still my choice. Some adhesives just don't stick as well.
I've gotten a lot of practice doing my wagon and Olds Ciera daily driver.

Hakon, I'm glad to see that you came back..🙂