Door panel build thread

[garys 68]

I played around with a few types of foam and glue. The closed cell foam had a little too "hard" of a look, while batting looked too soft. Headliner foam was a little under 1/4", compresses well, and has a cloth side if you want to sew compressions into the vinyl on top of it.
The 3M Super 77 worked well in attaching the foam to the pvc and vinyl to the foam. The 3M General trim adhesive worked great for attaching the vinyl to the pvc or metal.
Foam Glued and cut.

Vinyl glued on wrapped around back edge.

I attached the window "fuzzies" using crown staples. The flat fuzzies have chrome on one edge, black on the other. I like the chrome with black vinyl.

[garys 68]

And the finished panel. I cut out the vinly where the foam was removed and used pvc cement to glue the carbon fiber/chrome insert on the panel.

You can see the chrome fuzzie strip and the lock furrel I reused.

Bill of materials/door
PVC $12
Vinyl $10
Foam $8
Carbon fiber sticker $6
Chrome $6
PVC cement/spray adhesive/rivets/misc $5
Christmas tree fasteners $4
Fuzzie $8
I think I'll get a new crank handle with black knob $5
Less than half of the repros and no carpet or buttons.
Parts reused.
Chrome strip, armrest, lock furrel, and I think I might use the "S" badge in the middle of the insert like the original.

[Bryce]

Very nice!

[The Stickman]

Have to say great work. It looks darn near factory.

[Brad1970]

Wow... that's really awesome... How's the fit back on the door? same as OEM piece?

[garys 68]

It fits on just like the original, probably better considering parts of the old paper one were falling apart.
The one issue I did run into was repeated removal of the Xmas tree fasteners kind of wrecked them. I had a couple on during test fitting and they were shot by the time I put the panel together. I may have drilled the mounting holes a little too small. I'll redrill and check before I slap it on the car.

[Brad1970]

do you think there is enough room behind the card to mount a speaker (hidden instead of all the way thru the door car)?

[garys 68]

On my 72 Olds with manual windows, there's not much room in the door. I had to squeeze a 6 1/2" between the the crank (front) and gear (rear) mechanism. The speaker overlaps the gear mechanism where it sits now.
You could probably put a smaller speaker forward of the position mine is.

[CreepinDeth]

Subscribed.

Dude, you are an inspiration to the rest of us Olds owners who want to modify our cars from stock.
I know what you mean about the Olds board not being too receptive to change in some cases. :D
I'll be picking up some PVC and redoing my brand new '70 442 interior now that I see an
inexpensive way to get cool door panels in black!!!!!

BTW the fake wood grain vinyl inserts are way overpriced @ ~$130 which I wish I'd have not spent now. LOL

Kinda prefer black over my Metallic Green in my 70 442 tribute.
The door panels I refused to just paint......your solution nullifies that concern.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...leted2Copy.jpg

(Aceshigh)

[garys 68]

I know what you mean about the wood grain stickers. $29 worth of carbon fiber sticker did the dash, door panels, rear quarter panels, and center console.
Also, I would suggest getting parts from a supplier like http://www.rochfordsupply.com/index.asp
A box of 25 christmas tree fasteners is $8, I think the Olds places charge $1 per piece.
On the vinyl, get marine vinyl (Spradling). It's really UV resistant and seems to be more chemically resistant than others. The better spray adhesives, 3M 1357, trim adhesive, Armstrong 520, etc have a high percentage of volatile chemical (ie. ether) and can "melt" synthetic materials.

[garys 68]

And a couple requested pics.
The bare insert piece with 1/2" bevel at the edge, same width as the stick on chrome trim.

And with the 1/4" foam and vinyl cut out of the insert area. The 1/8" insert sits flush with the vinyl.

[Mr. Anderson]

Looks great, getting ready to tackle door panels on the elky. Thanks for some good ideas!!!

[protour73]

You did some great work on these, very nice!

[brans72]

Awesome job there man!

[DarkoNova]

Those look amazing! I'm tempted to do some for my car but I have a feeling they won't turn out anywhere near as good as yours lol.

[CreepinDeth]

PVC cement/spray adhesive/rivets/misc $5

Mind if I ask you what specific spray adhesive you used for the vinyl to adhere to the door panels ???

I tried 3M super77 and it doesn't hold well in high temps with direct sunlight.
I got some Professional Spray Glue and even that wasn't the greatest.

[hifi875]

landau top glue

[garys 68]

Super 77 to hold the foam on the pvc. 3M 8088 for the vinyl. 8090 is supposed to be better for hi temp. 3M 1357 or Armstrong 520 are REALLY strong (I've used them on boats) but there's a lot of ether in them.

[KacyZ28]

Wow those look nice gonna have to borrow this when it comes time to do the interior on the malibu Im working on

[80 MONZTA]

Very good info here, where did you get the carbon fiber stickers?