The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk door panels

Anyone know how to get a door panel to look like this

The top part of it has those awesome lines or creases. Anyone know how to get that? Also, anyone know what the backing of the door panels? Was it fiberboard or cardboard or what?

tHAT DOESN'T LOOK STOCK TO ME. I had some made by the local upholstery shop for 60$ each. did a wonderful job.

There are two great books on Custom Auto Upholstery - should be available at any large bookstore. They go into great detail on how to do that kind of thing.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931128006/sr=8-3/qid=1143310078/ref=sr_1_3/102-1879156-4823348?%5Fencoding=UTF8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931128189/sr=8-2/qid=1143310078/ref=sr_1_2/102-1879156-4823348?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Try Rod Doors Hardy.

Ha, Gazim, I know, I just hate the way mine look

GMCPanel, I actually have that book! It says I need an industrial sewing machine. Just wanted to see if there was an easier way to do it.

Looks like I will have to go down to the local upholstery shop and get them to do a little bit of sewing for me. Thanks guys

Know what you are saying, I got creative on mine cuz it is a street rod truck, not a restoration. Used a immitation leather and used stiching to create flames(gasp) instead of pleats holding it together.Doesn't look as wild as it sounds as it is all one color.

Gazim, did you have to use an industrial sewing machine, or a regular one with a heavy needle? I'm looking for like 1/8 - 1/4 inch of foam and the leather or vinyl. Not sure if which machine I need.

The main requirement of the machine is that it have a "walking foot". I have grannies old singer and it works very well where you want to sew different weights and textures of fabrics togather.

A plain/regular sewing machine will work fine if you help the machine feed the fabrics to the needle at the same ratio top to bottom.

Hobert

man those look awesome,I dont care if they are not stock I want those for my doors. But then again i never followed the PC crowd

Hardy, go to this web site and you can get everything you need. I bought all my material
from them. You wont beat the price.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/yourautotrim-store/foscplch.html

http://community.webshots.com/user/46metal

Those look like Volkswagen doorhandles;I wonder how hard they are to adapt...
Speed

Bill, I had mine sewn at a upholstery shop. you can cut the fabric and foam take it to him to stich and then glue it to the backer yourself or let him do the whole thing. check pricing but you can find the material at some local fabric shops at real decent prices. I paid 120$ for him to do the whole thing including leather type material

My first car was a 69 voklswagen squareback. I recognized those door panels instantly.

The top is actually vinyl. Those seems are done with some kind of heat press. The fabric lower section is actually the easier part to work with. I'm pretty sure this is the type stuff that would be covered by any automobile upholstry guide.

My guess would be that door example is either an amature, or an old pro job.. looks like the vinyl on the top left (by the window crank) and the bottom right is comming up.. as evidenced by the wrinkles.

All in all, tho.. I really like the way it looks.. it's obviously not stock, but it has a very clean retro feel to it.. i'll bet the average person without any real knoledge of old cars & trucks would know that wasn't stock.

I was watching one of those hot rod/resto shows a few years back and this guy was doing the door panels for the project.. he didn't use a single stitch.. all the fabric and material was put on with glue.

The guy cut this thin board.. little thicker than paneling, and thinner than plywood to the shape of the door.. for the 'groves' you see in the top part, he cut shallow lines in the wood with a saw.

Then he rolled on some kind of contact cement/glue stuff.. looked like the stuff you'd use to put linolium down with.. he rolled the glue on the length of the backing board a strip or two at a time, then laid down the vinyl, using the handle end of a butter knife to get the vinyl into the 'groove' and used a roller thing to press down the 'flat' parts.

The key, he said, was not to try and glue it all in one shot.. to do one or two 'strips' at a time. Once he got all the 'striped' area done, then he cut the excess from around the edges of the board and folded it back, using the same glue to secure it.

The bottom section went on the same way.. but without the hassle of the 'strips'.

When I get closer to doing the door panels in my Galaxie, i'm going to get some small, like 1 foot square pieces of wood and fabric and experiment with that method.. but it really seems like the toughest part of the whole process would be to get those lines cut straight and uniform.. the gluing the stuff down part outta be a piece of cake.. since the pattern is actually in the backing board, you don't even really need to glue the material down straight! (unless the material is going to have a pattern or something on it.. which would probably look stupid with horizontal lines going across it!

Fumblin, that's a good idea, I didn't think of that. But I like to have the padding, so I'll have to think about that. I may get some of the "sculpting foam" on that website 46metal suggested (I'm guessing it's a high density foam easy to cut - ie, it won't move around a lot), and cut some little grooves into that with an exacto knife.

Gazim and others, sorry, my name's not Bill I put "*Thanks Bill" in my profile cause I couldn't get the HTML to work work a link (because this site is run on UBB.classic) Bill helped me with it.

Another question,

My armrests are built into the door panel, and I really like the classic look ones - you know, like the ones out of a mustang. 2 bolts that go right into the back panel. My question is though, how am I going to bolt this in? Seems like the cardboard or fiberboard won't hold the armrest bolts. Any suggestions? I know Alan Horvath built his out of wood and bolted them into the door, I believe. Not sure if he's finished his interior yet though. Thanks guys

Bolted to the inside of the door skin metal is the only way to fly on armrests, IMO.

If it was me doing it.. i'd figure out what kind of armrest you were going to use (i.e. home made, one out of a later model vehicle, etc) and you'll probably find it gets attached with two bolts.

Figure out where you wanna mount it on the door, then mark your holes.. then drill the marks out with an approperate width bit.

I've heard of some dudes getting a cheap tap and die set and threading the door skin metal.. might be enough (depending on how fine or course your mounting bolt threads are) to get two threads or so there.. not what i'd like to see holding an arm rest on, tho!

My reccomendation would be to get a nut and epoxy it to the inside of the hole.. then when you get your new door skin on, you can just run the bolts thru the armrests, thru the door panel, and right into your nut and tighten 'em down (little loc-tite might not hurt, either!)

I'd use one of those nuts with the little lock washer thing attached to it.. that way as you're tightening the bolt you don't end up having the nut spin inside the door.

Ohh.. I just thought of another thing that might work a little easier..

I've seen these deals that are a threaded sleeve.. when you look at 'em on the side, they kind of look like a spent 30 30 shell casing.

Something like that would work nice.. you'd just slide 'em thru the metal door panel so they stick out into the passenger compartment.. like two pins.

Your arm rest mounting bolts thread INTO those things sticking out. I've got no idea what you call 'em.. but i'll cobble together a photoshop pic to show you what i'm talking about.. maybe one of the real mechanic type guys here can tell us what they're called!

Check this out

A = Mounting Bolt
B = Armrest
C = 'sleeve nut' thing-a-ma-bob

Awesome fumblin, and great pic I can probably find one of these down at the hardware store. only problem is, how do I get it in the inside of the door after I've put on the panel on?

Well, i think I figured out my own answer. Just put on the armrest first, then on the panel, leave some extra material around the cutout for the armrest that way I can tuck it behind it to hide the bare skin?

Sounds like you are describing a Nutsert. To install them, you need a tool that looks similar to a pop rivet tool. DAGS on nutsert and it will bring up a lot of pages. They come in thin sheet and thickwall versions. Thin sheet will work fine for the doors. Plus they are easier to install.

I'd put the 'nutserts' on the actual door metal.. then put on the door panel/skin, then attach the armrest to the 'nutserts' that are sticking out.

That is nuts, i've never heard of anything like that. Well, shouldn't be too bad, I hope.

Stephen, if you are looking for upholstery supplys try ISS Interior Supply. They are at 7426 Tower St. Fort Worth. See George Collins, he can fix you up with what ever you need. Phone 817-590-8002
Hope this helps.
Tom

Tom, thanks! I'll give him a call tomorrow.

I just got a flyer from chevs of the 40s and they are selling cut to fit custom door panels in about 50 varieties for about $150 a set. Some with door rests... Might be easier to buy the panel with the design you want and then cover it or paint w/vinyl paint of your color choice.

True, but I can do this for roughly $50 for both, where as that could cost 3x that.