Door panels

[P-12 Tommy]

Hey guys, I decided to do a few door panels today. I did the left front and left rear. Didn't come out too bad. Just plain grey material from JoAnn Fabric. I used 3-M contact cement and half inch foam.

Tom

Edited April 26, 2011 by P-12 Tommy

[P-12 Tommy]

The rest.....

Tom

[1940plymouth]

They look good

[oldodge41]

Look real good. Nice work............Tim

[Niel Hoback]

Looks great, keep going!

[1950 Special Deluxe]

Looks good, I may copy off of you.

But, I will give credit.

Thanks for posting.

[Greg F]

Tom:

What kind of board is that you used for the support? Looks great!

[Oldguy48]

Your post brings up something that my upholstery guy warned me about. I stopped in to get the backer board material to cut out my P15 door panels. He told me to make sure I measured and cut each panel to the specific door, NOT to make one panel, and then use it as a pattern for the other. He claimed that the doors are likely not exactly the same size. And lo and behold, he was exactly correct !!. I compared the old door panels (not original, but had been nicely redone), and there was a considerable difference in the dimensions on the front doors. The rear doors were very close to identical. May not happen in every case, but certainly something to look at. It certainly surprised me, as it seems likely the doors must have been assembled as a die stamping, or in a jig, but there definitely was a

difference in mine.

[P-12 Tommy]

Oh, there's definitely a difference. The fronts are bigger than the rears. I used masonite as backer board. I bought it from Home Depot. It was around 7 bucks a sheet. It's pretty sturdy and also has some flexibility. I'm going to do the other two tomorrow.

Tom

[BobT-47P15]

I used masonite as backing on mine, then covered with vinyl.

I don't think it has enough give to it and would buy the auto upholstry

cardboard stuff next time. Just my experience.

Looks good though.

[Oldguy48]

Your post brings up something that my upholstery guy warned me about. I stopped in to get the backer board material to cut out my P15 door panels. He told me to make sure I measured and cut each panel to the specific door, NOT to make one panel, and then use it as a pattern for the other. He claimed that the doors are likely not exactly the same size. And lo and behold, he was exactly correct !!. I compared the old door panels (not original, but had been nicely redone), and there was a considerable difference in the dimensions on the front doors. The rear doors were very close to identical. May not happen in every case, but certainly something to look at. It certainly surprised me, as it seems likely the doors must have been assembled as a die stamping, or in a jig, but there definitely was a

difference in mine.

What he was referring to was that the two front doors may not be identical, or the two rear doors may not be identical. In my case, the two rear doors were the same, but there definitely was a difference in dimension of the two front doors. Not really sure how that could happen.

[RobertKB]

Very nice job! Only suggestion I might make is that the originals had a kind of leatherette on the bottom of the door. I believe this was done as that part of the door panel can get wet from water running down the inside of the door when rain hits the glass. I did my door panels the same without the leatherette and I know the bottoms got a bit wet. I took them off and put a piece of thin plastic sheeting between the panel and the door and I have not had that problem since. Just a suggestion for what it is worth.

[Niel Hoback]

That piece of vinyl on the bottom also protects the fabric from clumsy oafs like me when I get in and out of the car. My newer cars all have carpet there.

[48P15Annie]

Those are very nice, Tom!

WTG!

[P-12 Tommy]

Thanks guys, Tim had asked me about the plastic sheeting between the door and the panel. That's one thing I forgot about. Maybe I'll pick up some visqueen or similar. I bought ScotchGard to spray the cloth. I redid the weatherstripping a couple of years ago and at least when it rains I don't get water gushing in like before. So far the inside of the door stays pretty dry.

Tom

[bobostski]

I have a better suggestion for what to use instead of Masonite. I went to a plastics distributor and got sheet of Expanded PVC. Sign makers use it. It's PVC that’s a foam that is made into sheets. I got 1/8" white. It's very flexible, cuts with a knife, and will not be effected my moisture. Its about $25 for a 4x8 sheet. You can heat it up and bend it if you want to bend it permanently. I put Expanded PVC in on Google and found lots of sites for it if you are out in the boonies.

[P-12 Tommy]

Thanks for the info. That panel looks really nice.

Tom

[Captain Neon]

Some body mentioned a while ago that corrugated plastic (corruplast) works well for door panels. Wait until fall, and there will probably be big sheets of corruplast all over the country-side available free for the taking. Next fall, I can guarantee it.

Edited May 2, 2011 by Captain Neon

[55 Fargo]

Very nice job! Only suggestion I might make is that the originals had a kind of leatherette on the bottom of the door. I believe this was done as that part of the door panel can get wet from water running down the inside of the door when rain hits the glass. I did my door panels the same without the leatherette and I know the bottoms got a bit wet. I took them off and put a piece of thin plastic sheeting between the panel and the door and I have not had that problem since. Just a suggestion for what it is worth.

Thats what I did too Robert, thin plastic sheet, allow water to go done and drain, rather than wick up in the door panel bottom.

Tom, panels look good.....

[49 Dodge Dude]

Those look real nice! I just finished the panels on my '49, using masonite & some cloth material I got from the local fabric store. Sure made a difference, as the original material looked like crap

[P-12 Tommy]

Looks pretty good to me!

Tom

[Scruffy49]

Those look great. Funny to see corrugated sign plastic mentioned, I've got a bunch of that stuff, going to use it for door panel and kick panel backing, maybe the new firewall cover as well.

Only thing I plan to do different on mine is edge trim them with marine grade or arctic grade vinyl. Just drill stitching holes in your backer board and hand stitch the edging on.

Anyone make a spray glue to bond 1/32" thick mahogany to the sign plastic? Mine is getting a "Chris Craft cabincruiser" headliner...