1968 - door panel trim clips sources

[Big_John]

here is a shot of using PL Premium to attach the vinyl to the backside of the panel. there may be better stuff than PL premium for this. it did not want to stay without help. the PL comes in a grease gun tube, so i shot some onto a paper plate and used a plastic knife to spread it.
today ill be able to see if this is gonna work or not.
View attachment 116503

oh - a pro tip - the wife says stick the middles first, so left side middle, right side middle, bottom middle. then half that distance and do it again. hope that makes sense...

try not to glue yourself to the door panel -

- saylor

The way I've done my door panels is to spray the entire front of the panel and back of the material with the 3M trim adhesive and then lay it on the panel. I know this is the way the pros do it. I don't know a better way to describe it other than it will keep the material "tight" to the panel.

When you do that, the wrap around gluing is not as critical.

I'm not saying you method won't work..... I'm just saying what worked for me.... A bonus would be you could use your curtains. The folds would come out as it glued down.

 

[Big_John]

test fitting
View attachment 116353





and blam! Loctite PL premium applied under pressurized conditions
View attachment 116354
there is wax paper on the floor, then the product, then wax paper, then board, then paint cans. I don't have pictures of the gluing process.. I'm a one man show and the **** was curing fast....

I wish I'd seen that when I did mine. I used hot melt glue to fasten the metal top on the boards. It worked out, but this looks a lot easier.

 

[saylor]

bigjohn - your post was the inspiration for me to jump in, so its all good my friend

i didnt try spray glue for the edge as i was worried about the bond to this ABS,, the stuff is slick. i even worked the ABS sheets such that the smooth side is under the material, and the rough side is the backside - thinking id get more bite on the rough side for the gluing... jury is still out on that.

even though i drilled out the ABS to fit around the metal peg toothy things, it does not sit 100% flush with the face side, i.e. there is a line between the steel and the ABS. i guess id have to hit that join with a sander and taper the ABS down. maybe next time

the only other regret (so far) is that the foam i used is maybe too thin. i think im going to be able to see the edge where the ABS and metal join. i think 1/2 foam or maybe a different KIND of foam would have helped. ill get pics up later.

 

[Big_John]

maybe a different KIND of foam would have helped

I used a thin foam on my 53 Windsor door panels and I was happy with it. The thing to remember is that the foam you get in Joann Fabrics or Hobby Lobby is going to be for home. Auto foam is denser. I bought a couple rolls of thin, dense foam for the Windsor off Ebay.

 

[MarPar]

try not to glue yourself to the door panel -

- saylor

love it


im with Big John on this one...3m trim adhesive or super 77. We used super 77 for my vinyl roof and it worked great. I hear ya that the abs is quite slick, but if it has a rough(er) side, you could scuff it up a little bit more with some 180 grit and that would make a great surface to adhere to.

Oh, and it's a damn shame the groovy patterned material didnt work out. would have been far out maaaaaan.

 

[saylor]

wellp, here we are so far. door panels:

it really sucks you can see the join line from the ABS panel to the metal frame. I blame the foam I used. I think if I had chosen a different foam, I would have been 100%.

 

[saylor]

so, I'm pretty happy overall, but I feel like I got almost perfect results only to get kicked in the balls by material choosing. to redo it at this point is crazy. I'm going to try to figure out how to hide the join line imperfections. I'm about probably just under $300 into materials. and a whole bunch of hours. if you have the free time its worth it, but if your time is money you should pay someone else to do this.

I JUST finished gluing them up a few minutes ago - they will sit and cure and whatever a few more days, then I will have time to hang them in the car and see where I'm at with them. if they sit well, ill put the Velcro on and line up the cuts for the window crank and door handle, etc.

 

[Big_John]

Take a look at the stick on molding to cover that seam.
Looks great!

 

[saylor]

yes for sure. looking at the driver door panel its gonna get more complex around where the remote mirror adjusto sticks thru. im gonna hold here until i can fit them into the car and knock out the holes for the window cranks and door pull and armrest.

i ended up doing the corner fabrics by cutting them to shape, then hitting the whole mess with 3m spray glue, folding the corner fabric down, then cover with wax paper on top, wood block to hold that all down and then weight on top of wood block to press it flat. and walk away for 2 hours and let that sit up.

then i took the goop and went around the whole fabric edge and all the places i had cuts in the material to help from tearing in the future i hope. the backside is ugly. but they are waterproof

these are probably gonna be the 3rd strongest thing on my car now.

 

[saylor]

heres a test fit the other day before i had cut out any holes yet or anything. i just wanted to see how far off i was

gettin there..

 

[saylor]

texas paint boofth gysot

kick panels turning black

 

[saylor]

damn i forgot a pic about the door panels. there is window peach fuzz on both front and rear panel. i just happened to have a top cat whisker kit layin around so i applied accordingly. the original is stapled in/on, and top cat sent a bag of staples. but i have no idea how to drive them in thru the whiskers, thru the backing, thru a layer of vinyl, thru the metal, and then make them bend all nice. so i used silicone adhesive, as im a man of the times.
i only got 1 pic, but just imagine this again, but almost 3 1/2 feet long, for the fronts...

 

[saylor]

so why stop there right - next on the agenda is these fragile *** dried out gnarly lookin crusty rear quarter panel panels. they are so dry if you grab them too hard they crack. flexing them at all when removing just made them worse.

and they are red (boo) and they have more peach fuzz on them. sigh.

 

[saylor]

so those red panels.. thay aint red all over :/

these be some recycled panels that got painted red at some point. so between the gone roof and these panels being changed, my car has had a rough life it seems.. its stock codes calls for red interior, but this is not the first one. maybe they were all blue and then painted to color? does not seem smart, but what do i know.

so anyways - pic of the whiskers cliped on to the edge of the panel. very fragile here. i had to carefully pry the clip with a very small flat blade and work these loose off of the edge. next issue is the replacement top cat whiskers are not in a metal clipy bindy thing, somehow this has to come out and the new whiskers got to get in the holder...

 

[saylor]

so these fragile panels. i could not figure out how i was going to make them stronger, and i sweated it for weeks. i thought about fiberglass, dipping, por15, spray foam, all kind of crap about how to hold this piece together and give it some strength from breaking further.
then i was like fk it, im gonna use bedliner again i know that shite is the 3rd strongest thing on my car. so for this i got some spray can bed liner and not roll on goop. i was most worried about melting the plastic. i could not find anything that said DONT do it... so . . .

not too bad for a white boy in a cardboard paint booth

 

[live4theking]

That's pretty good looking. I'm glad my interior is in fairly nice shape.

 

[bluefury361]

Nice thread, some good info.
Forget using clips to attach panels. Snaps ...... Easy on, easy off.

 

[GJS]

so these fragile panels. i could not figure out how i was going to make them stronger, and i sweated it for weeks. i thought about fiberglass, dipping, por15, spray foam, all kind of crap about how to hold this piece together and give it some strength from breaking further.
then i was like fk it, im gonna use bedliner again i know that shite is the 3rd strongest thing on my car. so for this i got some spray can bed liner and not roll on goop. i was most worried about melting the plastic. i could not find anything that said DONT do it... so . . .

View attachment 118232
not too bad for a white boy in a cardboard paint booth

Those look damned good!

 

[saylor]

i did punt on the old school clips, and will try velcro with real 3m adhesive on back. good call though i totally agree. snaps may work too.

ill update later im supposed to be in a mtg . . .

 

[saylor]

fresh from DCS dales cuda shop !

4 spankin new window crank handles, and a set of new door release handles.

yes, they have no vent window crank handles. i could not find any proper ones at any vendor. so i had to go overseas for those . .