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As someone who does not have a lot of spare time on my hands, I try to get
things done that won't take too much time to complete in full. At present,
the work on the Scirocco fits into that category too, so I opted to do
something that, while not performance oriented, will still leave me
satisfied in having done some work on the car.
 Tools
needed for the job:
The
Before:
This
Scirocco came with a red vinyl interior with cloth seating and red carpet.
Doors came with optional door pockets that also house 4x6 speakers. In my
overall plan for the car, this red interior will be replaced with a black &
tan theme, and the 4x6's will be replaced with 5.25" rounds.
The
Process:
Removal of the door cards consisted of the following - removal of the arm
rests, door latch trim, and window winders, followed by prying the panel off
the door with the pry tool. I was careful to not pull the panel away too
quickly as the connectors for the 4x6 speakers needed to be unplugged. Once
the door card was removed, the door pockets were removed from them, as these
screws cannot be accessed from the front of the panel. I also removed the
vent panel from each door card at this time to ease in the painting process.
At this time, I discovered that the vinyl on the panels had shrunk a bit
(from all the years in California & Texas), and didn't completely wrap
around to the back of the panel any more. I opted to still perform the
upgrade to the panels, since I was in this far on this stage of the project
already.
The
door cards were cleaned with a degreasing solution to make sure they would
hold the upholstery paint. They were then sprayed with the tan spray-can
paint, and given the heat of the day, they were dry very quickly. I also
painted the vent panels (with the rubber backs taken off first).
While
the vent panels were drying, I began work on the installation of the newer
door pocket/speaker pods. These are from a late model Cabriolet and have the
pods that will hold the 5.25" speakers I wish to use. The only screw hole
that lines up is the upper one at the rear of the pocket. All others needed
to be drilled out. I used a drill bit smaller than the screw holes in the
door pocket to preserve the threading in the door pockets. At this point, I
also opened up the hole in the door card to match the opening of the newer
speaker pod hole. Once I completed the door pocket installation, I
reinstalled the now-dry vent panels.
  
Reinstallation of the door cards was the reverse of removal, and I am
pleased with the results. I think they look pretty sharp and definitely hint
as to where I wish to see this project going. Because of the vinyl
shrinkage, they won't be winning me any awards, but they are definitely good
10-footers.
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