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Corvette
C4 Forum
1988 Convertible for sunny day drives
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<blockquote data-quote="Tourmax" data-source="post: 250117" data-attributes="member: 5304"><p>I would assume all c4’s have this issue: the “lid” on the center console cracks inside and makes the whole thing a mess. Like most c4 interior pieces, its 30+ year old crappy plastic and it doesn’t stand up well to either time or use. Especially a pita since we all know getting in and out of a c4 is all about grabbing and pushing yourself out.</p><p></p><p>Mine had cracked and crumbled inside, where the main support for the lid is little more than a thin sheet of abs plastic. Made it impossible to use it as a way to push my creaky old body out. Every time I tried to put any weight on it at all, you could hear the plastic crunching and breaking even more.</p><p></p><p>so, a fix was in order.</p><p></p><p>I pulled the lid out of the car and stripped the vinyl cover and foam off. Sure enough, the plastic piece that was meant to be its structure had cracked and split into no less than 5 separate pieces and multiple cracks that had’t broken a piece off yet.</p><p></p><p>That just won’t do. I considered buying a nos one, but a quick look at the prices convinced me a “fix” cold be stronger (and more affordable) than an NOS replacement. </p><p></p><p>I plastic welded the broken pieces back together, but that would just crack and split like the original when any weight was placed on it. Pushing off it with my elbow to get out would certainly shatter it again.</p><p></p><p>Extra support would be required.</p><p></p><p>I took a piece of 1/4” aluminum and cut it to the shape of the top of the plastic lid. Then I roughed up the plastic piece and covered it in JB Quick. But that was not going to be enough to make it a permanent fix.</p><p></p><p>So I drilled through both parts and used pop rivets to hold all the separate broken pieces to the aluminum plate. The plate it on the inside of the arm rest and the pop rivets are hidden under the arm rest underside panel, so theres no way to tell the repair has been made once reassembled.</p><p></p><p>That took care of the structural issues, but the cosmetics were a different story.</p><p></p><p>With the aluminum plate in the arm rest, the original foam wasn’t going to fit under the cover. The foam was a wreck anyways. A lot of it was deteriorated from age, collapsed in some places and I destroyed a lot of it getting the cover off. It appears GM had the rest built by “injecting” the foam into the arm rest under the vinyl and also ised it to bond the lid to the cover.</p><p></p><p>Back to the upholstery days for me then.</p><p></p><p>I took some left over seat foam from a previous project and bonded it to the aluminum plate. A couple hours of shaving and shaping got it to where I needed it.</p><p></p><p>Then it was a simple matter of bonding the vinyl cover to the foam and bonding the edges (they had all peeled and lifted before) under the lid. The interior trim plate covers all the work when you open the lid.</p><p></p><p>Final product turned out pretty good:</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]83812[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Strong enough for me to put my arm on it and push myself up and out and all the lifted and peeling edges which looked so shabby are taken care of.</p><p></p><p>I had though of making a leather cover for it instead of the vinyl, but that was too much fiddley work for me at the moment. I may revisit the cover over the winter when things slow down.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tourmax, post: 250117, member: 5304"] I would assume all c4’s have this issue: the “lid” on the center console cracks inside and makes the whole thing a mess. Like most c4 interior pieces, its 30+ year old crappy plastic and it doesn’t stand up well to either time or use. Especially a pita since we all know getting in and out of a c4 is all about grabbing and pushing yourself out. Mine had cracked and crumbled inside, where the main support for the lid is little more than a thin sheet of abs plastic. Made it impossible to use it as a way to push my creaky old body out. Every time I tried to put any weight on it at all, you could hear the plastic crunching and breaking even more. so, a fix was in order. I pulled the lid out of the car and stripped the vinyl cover and foam off. Sure enough, the plastic piece that was meant to be its structure had cracked and split into no less than 5 separate pieces and multiple cracks that had’t broken a piece off yet. That just won’t do. I considered buying a nos one, but a quick look at the prices convinced me a “fix” cold be stronger (and more affordable) than an NOS replacement. I plastic welded the broken pieces back together, but that would just crack and split like the original when any weight was placed on it. Pushing off it with my elbow to get out would certainly shatter it again. Extra support would be required. I took a piece of 1/4” aluminum and cut it to the shape of the top of the plastic lid. Then I roughed up the plastic piece and covered it in JB Quick. But that was not going to be enough to make it a permanent fix. So I drilled through both parts and used pop rivets to hold all the separate broken pieces to the aluminum plate. The plate it on the inside of the arm rest and the pop rivets are hidden under the arm rest underside panel, so theres no way to tell the repair has been made once reassembled. That took care of the structural issues, but the cosmetics were a different story. With the aluminum plate in the arm rest, the original foam wasn’t going to fit under the cover. The foam was a wreck anyways. A lot of it was deteriorated from age, collapsed in some places and I destroyed a lot of it getting the cover off. It appears GM had the rest built by “injecting” the foam into the arm rest under the vinyl and also ised it to bond the lid to the cover. Back to the upholstery days for me then. I took some left over seat foam from a previous project and bonded it to the aluminum plate. A couple hours of shaving and shaping got it to where I needed it. Then it was a simple matter of bonding the vinyl cover to the foam and bonding the edges (they had all peeled and lifted before) under the lid. The interior trim plate covers all the work when you open the lid. Final product turned out pretty good: [ATTACH type="full" alt="523E444E-52BA-4D0F-98D3-A9B45AF727DD.jpeg"]83812[/ATTACH] Strong enough for me to put my arm on it and push myself up and out and all the lifted and peeling edges which looked so shabby are taken care of. I had though of making a leather cover for it instead of the vinyl, but that was too much fiddley work for me at the moment. I may revisit the cover over the winter when things slow down. [/QUOTE]
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Corvette
C4 Forum
1988 Convertible for sunny day drives
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