2004 Door Panels

[me27821]

So I test drive a 2004 GT today, and the FIRST thing I notice is the door panels. I'm not kidding, it was really the first thing. I currently drive a 94 V6 convertible, and I restored the entire enterior. So, now I'm very familiar with every little inch of the inside of the 94-04 mustangs. The door panels on my 94 are hard plastic on the bottom, and vinyl wrapped on the top. The arm rests have an actual seperate pad on them. I noticed with this 04 GT, which is also a convertible, that those arm rest pads are gone, not in the newer Mustangs. That's cheap, and this is why Ford is going down the drain. Also, the door is no longer a hard plastic, but now a soft plastic. Also very cheap. I don't like it at all, but I'll probly still buy the car. What I was wondering though, is it possibly to swap the 94's door panels with the 04's? Looks like a simple job, but who knows. The hooks can be in defferent spots. The newer doors can be 2 inches shorter. I have no idea. Has anyone messed around with something like this? My fully restored 94 interior looks better than the 04 interior, but too bad the head gaskets blew.

 

[Stus99GT]

If I remember correctly they switched the make-up of the doors in 1996.

I don't have any personal experience swapping the door panels from a 94 to an 04, but I believe it would work.

 

[deftsound]

dude if you want a nice interior get a mercedes or a lexus

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

I bought my mustang for its interior





















as in under the hood interior of course.....

 

[StangYellow]

I would just stick with your fully restored v6 mustang with the armrests and thick door handles

 

[larrendeuce]

The soft construction of the new door panel is more dense and makes the interior quieter, less prone to rattle.

 

[me27821]

so can the new, softer interior panels be dyed? I liked the white/black look of my V6. Unfortunatly I couldn't keep up with the maintenance on it.

 

[larrendeuce]

sure can

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

so you go from a V6 to a V8 and the first thing you notice is door panels?

 

[Mustang5L5]

I think the interior of my '03 is dead sexy for a Ford


I've never sat in a 94-95, so i don't know how they feel, but hard plastic panels sounds uncomfortable. I'll stick to my soft padded door panels.

 

[me27821]

Yes CobraRed, it was the first thing. It was as I sat down and closed the door that I noticed that extra pad was gone. In my defence, it was before I started the engine, or drove it. Mustang 5L5, the hard plastic wasn't bad. You know the map bezel on your door? Next time you're in your car, push on it. You'll notice it can flex. On my old v6, that was rock hard, therefore painting it was not a problem. The top half of the door still was wrapped in that leather/vinyl whatever, and on the armrest was an extra pad. If you can see how the handle bezel with the window buttons is half an oval, and fills in part of that oval on the door, the armrest I'm talking about filled in the other part. I'll try tp post some pics here soon.

So in terms of dying this new softer door panel? How can it be done? On my old Mustang I used Duplicolor for everything. Either the spray paint, or spray dye. The dye for the most part was great, but it gave me a lot of problems on the steering wheel. I didn't paint the actual wheel (I installed an FR500 wheel). I painted (or dyed) the airbag, and back half of the wheel. I used the dye on both parts, and within 6 months it started to peel off the back half. The airbag though? Everything I blew the horn, a wrinkle formed in the dye, which eventually peeled off. I'm from NY so I live my life on that horn. There's just no other option.

Anyway, my main convern with this soft door is if either me, or a passenger accidently kicks that map bezel as they're getting out. What kind of dye is better than the duplicolor, and will hold it to that flexing.

As far as those oval pads, they can either be recreated, or found at a junk yard, so I'm not too worried about it.