Door panel waterproofing

[53lake]

I bought new door cards to replace the old, warped ones that had evidently got wet over the years. Also a poly liner, and plastic plugs that seal the panel clips into the holes in the sheet metal.

I noted the drilled holes in the upper part of the door were too small to accommodate the plastic plugs, but the bottom holes were a bit bigger and the plugs fitted them.

I was about to enlarge the upper holes too, but stopped and thought there must be a reason. Since the inside of the door gets wet, why would you not seal all the holes with plastic plugs, not just the lower ones?

Does anyone have an opinion about this? Thanks.

BTW the poly liner looks like a waste of money, the pre-punched holes don't line up with the holes in the door, not even close. I'll have to poly tape over them and make new holes in the liner if I use it.

[myoldjalopy]

I have never seen any door trim hole plastic plugs on any Minor that I have owned and seriously doubt they were ever fitted when new.

[ManyMinors]

The plastic plugs were fitted to the later cars along the lower edge. My 1098cc car has them. My 948 does not.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

I’m in the process of doing this myself as a waterproof membrane is desirable. Just tape it in place with some reliable tape. That’s all BL did on their other cars, as it might have to come off again in future.

[geoberni]

Logic, and the Laws of Physics, would suggest that the only real opportunity for water to get inside the doors is past the seal on the bottom of the drop glass. Therefore the water can't get directly to the topmost holes and can only get to the bottom ones if sloshing around because the drain holes are blocked.
The plastic liner is to protect the door cards from the moist atmosphere inside the door while any water is running down the inside of the outer door and then draining out.
I recently partially restored my door cards.
They are a little bit of a bodge, when I got Basil (SII 2Dr) the 2 door cards were fitted with brass screws instead of the hidden clips, the vynil was also foam lined. The doors were effectively 'pimped' and out of place...
The door 'cards' are standard 3mm hardboard.
I've managed to
A) removed the foam liner from back of the vynil
B) drill holes in the hardboard in the correct places for the right clips
C) stretch the vynil to fit, with most of the screw holes moving to the back of the board
D) glue the vynil to the board

There wasn't a liner fitted, but I used a heavy duty black plastic bin bag to make a couple

The end result isn't perfect, but far more pleasing on the eye than 20+ brass screw heads around the door trim. The few screw holes that I couldn't get stretched out of sight are concealed with a leather trim touch-up pen, you have to look for them to see them.

All the Clip holes in Basil's Doors are the same size, and from the evidence of other previous work on the car, I strongly suspect the doors are not the originals but a late 60s donor car. Both drop glass and one 1/4 light were etched with a donor car's registration.
So I'm at a loss to know why you have different size holes.....

[myoldjalopy]

The plastic plugs were fitted to the later cars along the lower edge. My 1098cc car has them. My 948 does not.

Well, I never knew that! All my cars have been early type ones though. Anyway, that would explain why the lower holes are bigger so as to allow the clips to fit in the plugs properly.

[geoberni]

The plastic plugs were fitted to the later cars along the lower edge. My 1098cc car has them. My 948 does not.

Interesting...
The 'Donor' I referred to, whose registration was on the drop glass and a 1/4 light, was a 1967 Black (and obviously 2 Dr) that is still live on the DVLA database but untaxed since 2009, which is when Basil had his makeover from what little info I have.
Whether the doors came from that car... who knows.

I've looked in the AKD 3541 and 3542 and can't find any mention of the plastic plugs.... They're presumably there somewhere.

[53lake]

Thanks all, great info. Sure am glad I didn't drill out all those holes. I'm wondering if I had, if the clips along the top edge sitting in plastic plugs would have been slightly less secure than the intended metal to metal contact, and maybe shaken loose. Would not have wanted the door panel falling off going over a hefty bump.

We have a greenhouse covered with 6 mil poly, and I use a lot of heavy duty repair tape to cover tears. It's relatively weatherproof, so I think I'll use that to secure the vinyl liner and cover over the misplaced holes.

This forum amazes me every time I have an issue I can't figure out myself. What an incredible resource you all are!

[53lake]

I've fitted the new door cards now using the ESM-supplied vinyl membrane, and very pleased with the result.

Just to correct my earlier assertion that the holes on the vinyl don't line up with the holes in the door. Idiot me - of course they don't, but they do line up perfectly with the ones on the door card. The clips are offset from the holes they go into, so once they are inserted into the card holes, they line up perfectly with the door holes.

[Nourish]

More modern cars have a polythene liner glued to the door - wouldn't that be better?

[myoldjalopy]

More modern cars have a polythene liner glued to the door - wouldn't that be better?

Yes, I have done that in the past on a previous car.