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So, if your Jensen Healey's interior is anything like the one in my Blue car, it's probably time to redo the
door panels. On my green Jensen Healey the door panels don't exist at all! This article is documenting how to do
the door panel restoration including the fabrication of any missing NLA parts.
Unlike me, you probably have an existing door panel. The first step is to remove the panel from the door and bring it
into the garage for review. To remove the door panel you need to unscrew the window handle, the door handle, the arm rest,
the front and rear stainless on the door. Depending on how your speakers are / are not mounted you will likely have to remove
the speaker grille, and speaker as well. Now, to remove the door you need to gently pry loose the bottom of the door panel. There
are ancient christmas tree style panel snaps that hold it in place. Most likely, depending on condition, you'll either have the
snaps disintegrate or learn that the backing has gotten wet at some point and they pull right through.
For the time being set everything aside but the panel itself. Assuming that the panel assembly is complete, short of the
interor skin, new board, and a couple of the soft fittings you should have almost everything you need. To remove the stainless
door trim carefully pry up the circular snap clips that are exposed on the back of the door panel. They hook to the plastic stems
that hold the stainless in place. Be very careful not to damage or break the plastic bits as they are NLA and
I've not been able to find any modern replacements for them.
Next remove the door lock switch, escutcheon and escutcheon retaining plate. The switches are still available at Delta Motorsports,
but the escutcheon and it's retaining plate are NLA. If your panel is like my example one, you'll also have a piece of aluminum
back there as well. Rescue that unless you want to replace it with a new piece of aluminum.
If you're working on the passenger door, also remove the passenger courtesy light.
Now that you've got the major bits off it should just be the door panel itself. To allow for better visualization of the padding
underneath I strongly suggest to carefully peel apart the board and the vinyl cover. You may be a little suprised as you peel
everything apart. There's more to the door panel than meets the eye. For starters, the padding actually consists of two pieces.
The first is a thin piece that matches the shape of the full door. The second piece provides the bolster shape at the top of the
door panel. Additionally, there's another piece of aluminum stashed away at the top of the door panel, and finally a rubber ring
at the point of the window handle.