Thanks, Guys.......... Dave, I plan on trying to make Musclepalooza in the spring...........................Deductions were for rear speakers. I had two. I knew about this but after the big pain getting them in they were not coming out again. They are tough to line up with the sliding screws. Laying on your back with your legs hanging out is real fun. Also lost points for the small frame front sway bar brackets which I left bare metal. they were NOS. I guess they should be black. The last was a fitment problem with the reproduction drivers door panel. In my opinion the door panel is too long and it bunches up against the kick panel and cause a bulge. I have another set of door panels and I am working to solve the problem. I can live with these points off.
All minor fixes, Dave I'm so glad you ended up with it. This car battled you but you stuck with it, made the long trip and got the Gold. It was all worth it!
Well awesome job regardless of the opinions of the judges On the door panels, I had same issue, to solve it I slowly peeled back the cover on the forward edge of the panel, slid a piece of tin under the cardboard but on top of the outer vinyl/foam, sliced off about 3/16" from the cardboard with a razor blade, and then wrapped the vinyl back over the edge again and glued it down. Also had to the trim the slots for the clips so they would sit in the right spots. Odd, I thought I just had a bad set. Maybe its a common issue. Should be addressed, but the cardboard is probably originally for something else.
Tim, I had the same issue with the slots as well. I have the new set and may take your advice and slice off some cardboard. The new ones appear to be a hair longer than an original set I have. Not sure How much shrinkage is involved? I finished the car in short time due to alot of help from family members and friends like Herb.
On the shrinkage not sure, mine haven't changed any...the one thing that annoys me with these panels is the bottom edge gets wavy between the screws...the cardboard is thinner/weaker than original. Working on a solution for that. Anyway, awesome job on the car, it looks great! :TU:
Thanks Tim, With the newer panels the cardboard looks pretty thick now. Maybe it will not warp. Did you trim material from just the front edge on yours? New panels I have appear to be about 1/8"-1/4" too long compaired to old..
Yes on mine just the front edge was too long, it would hit the kickpanel on closing. Comparing it to my white car (still original panels) you could actually see they were about 3/16" too long, the top tapered part looked about right. So I trimmed them, taped the vinyl back in place, test fit, took a bit more off then once it seemed good glued and stapled it back together. Maybe the newer ones are better quality?? Where did you get them?? OK, just attached picture I took. I have pictures of EVERYTHING...LOL You can see the cut line I marked off...
Great score Dave, you did well, congrats! They always find something wrong. I dunno'...the panels aren't really wrong, it's not your fault they aren't made perfect. I just can't understand it, the factory slapped these on cars all day long, I can't see why they can't repro the stuff perfectly if given an original panel. 'Course GM wasn't building show cars for the public back then. But that's where we are now...your car has to be more perfect than when it was built, if you want to show it at a high level.
Tim, I got them straight from Legendary. I can see your set was from 2004 as stamped on the panels. The first set I got with the car was about the same time frame. My new ones from Novemebr 2012 appear stiil too long. Another thing I found was the push in clips fought me like crazy because the foldovers from the fabric bars are too thick and fight you popping the clips into the doors. What I did was cut the edges of the fabric bars so there is no foldover on the edges of the bars. This is done only where the bars wrap around. I then glue down the thinner bars wih no edges. The 70 has more of a problem because there are more bars than 71. The bars on the original panels are paper thin that is why originals are better.
Don't recall exactly but I believe I did the same thing, they took a fair amount of tweaking to fit properly. Not perfect, just properly.
Frank and SJB89 Thanks........Tim, Looks like I am going to go your route. Slow and easy on the panels. I have the long winter to work on it now.
