I was on the net the other night and saw a supplier that offered bare door panels (backing panels) . My skins are in pretty good shape for now but the backings are warped or broken out around the clip holes . Has anyone here seen these panels or know the supplier ? Steve
I cant help you, but I never understood why they were made out of paper ??!?!??!!??!!? I've thought about using thin lexan......and using the old one as a stencil
When I redid the door panels on my car, the old "underpinnings" were a heavy guage cardboard type of material, and rotted to he%#. I utilized the metal upper portions and attached scrap plywood paneling to replace the cardboard material. I used the old to cut the new and they worked great. Used a combination of pop rivets and spray adhesive. Worked great for me.
I just did my interior panels with new skins from legendary. Very good quality, and yes they are cardboard but go to my site and take a look. Its not ordinary cardboard, it is treated and made of many layers so you can slot them in the middle for the clips. I don't think you will be able to transfer you old skins very well. They are glued and stretched into place and anyway why bother, really? New stuff looks so much better and if you are going through the hassle of doing all that work.... Anyway, they turned out excellent....I don't beleive you can buy complete panels for our cars (yet) and the cardboard holds up pretty well actually, don't forget you are talking about 30 years of use!! later Tim
Thanks for the Great Ideas ! OPG does offer the complete panels for around $300 for the "Custom" models ,like mine . Eventually I'll get new ones but ..... Money is a major factor here . So for the meantime I'll try and get them tightened up a bit . Steve
I had to "rebuild" the lower parts of my door panels and found the perfect substitute for the cardboard. It is like corrugated cardboard, but plastic. Found it at a craft store by the poster board. No more water damage or warping!!!
That product is called CoroPlast and is used by many sign shops. It comes in different thicknesses too and as big as 4x8 sheets
Buildin' outside the box ! Great Idea :beer This IS what Car Crafting means to me . Step outside the box , be unconventional sometimes ! My lark is just that ; a Lark, albiet , a clean one with a 455 . You still hardly see them around . One big question ; How do you get adhesive to stick to the stuff ? Steve Can you tell me a bit more ? I like the sounds of this .
hot melt glue (low temp) or general purpose epoxy (two part, 1:1 mix) sticks great. also goop, gorrilla glue...etc.etc.
PVC Sheets I am going to redo my door panels with PVC sheet stock,1/8 thickness . I have seen it done on some show in the past and they will last forever. They sell it in 24"x48" and larger sizes also. It is U.V. resitant also and can be formed easy with a decent heat gun. I have worked with in the past and it shapes really nice. So When you do the curve at the top of the door panel all you need to do is make a jig with the same radius and just heat it even across the sheet and it will curve nicely. Drills easy, and also just use a router bit to break the sharp edges. And gluing anything to it is real easy just scuff it with some sandpaper and using rubber cement glue you can put your vinyl over it,And if you want to attach anything to make different shapes on it you can just make patterns out of PVC and use PVC cement.
