Credit goes to rhenry01 on s10forum
We will start part 2 by re covering the upper cloth part by the window. This fabric should come off easily. Take care not to destroy the padding underneath the fabric as we will leave is on and just add more foam to it. Also take care not to seperate the cardboard portion of the panel from the metal portion. If that happens try some 5 min epoxy to glue them back together.
The back side.
OK! With the bottom panel semi-complete I wanted to show you what the
dor panel would look like. I put the pieces back on the door panel but
didn't attach anything so you could see the results. I like the look but
I'm going to cut out the vent opening in the vinyl so that the vent is
operational. I'm not going to show the steps involved because you can
probably do them yourself. The easiest way to open the vent is to lay it
on a work surface and cut out the opening from the back with a box
knife or X-Acto, leaving yourself 1" of vinyl to work with. Trim the
foam up flush with the backing piece. Cut the corners straight (not
sawtooth) and glue the sides down..really easy stuff now that you know
how to do it.....right?
Here is the trim panel off the door panel. I cut the end of the retainer
clips with a set of diagonal cutters. This is the safest way to do it.
In the pic I opened up the clips to show you how to cut them.
I sanded the trim panel with a 3-M SandBlaster 180 grit sanding pad.
They make the job a lot easier than trying it with regular sand paper.
Sand the trim panel until you are satisified with it. Wipe it down good
with a tac cloth and get ready to paint!
Here are the paints that I used. Auto Primer, Hammered Light Blue and a
clear! I really like the results I get with the Hammered paints and they
come in a variety of colors.
Spray the inside of the window and handle openings first followed by the
edges and finally the top surface. When you do it this way you can see
the spots you miss better. Here is a pic of the primed trim panel.
I put a desk lamp right over the painted piece to help the drying
process along. This lamp has a high intensity bulb that throws off the
heat.
This is really different paint. I love the effect and it seems that no
one else has discovered it yet......so keep it under your hat! All your
friends will be asking how you did that!
Once the trim panel has dried (about 48 hours unless you use a lamp)
give it two or three coats of clear about 10 min apart and let it dry
again for at least 24 hours (unless you use the lamp.) The pic below is
our door panel with two of the three parts complete. It is really
starting to take shape now. I wish I had a slightly blue-er vinyl to
install but this was a budget project so I'm gonna have to live with it!
But when I do the speaker pods I'm going to paint them so I won't have
to live with the silver vinyl on the lower portion on the door for long.
Anyway here is what we have so far.
I like it! Now it's on to putting the vinyl on the upper panel and we will be done with the non-poded door panel.
Cut some foam to fit the upper panel. It should cover the original foam and not extend past it.
Use the old fabric as a template and leave an inch to work with!
Glue this edge first. Then glue down the other sides. You know how to do
this so I'm not going to post pictures. This is the last step, we're
almost done!
Here is my drivers side door panel, it actually looks better than the passenger side did before I started! How ratty!
Here is the door panel. I am still going to open up the vent but
basically we are done. I really like how it turned out and it looks a
lot better. I have a few more things to do to the door before I mount
the panel (fix the power lock switch and clean up the backing piece for
the switches and the handle) Then I am done too!
I hope this helps you get rid of your ratty door panels. Of course I am
now going to do a custom speaker pod so you may want to wait to do the
bottom panel until we do that. But go ahead and do the upper panel and
the trim piece. Have fun and be safe....always wear eye protection!
I'll Start a new thread for the pods in a few days.....I'm doing the
initial design work like measuring the clearance in back of the panel I
also have to find dimensions on some speakers. Keep checking back!
OK! My wife said that the blue paint look kind of weird so I had to
repaint the trim panel with Hammered Silver paint. I also cut out the
vent opening.
One minor detail that I overlooked. Where the staples were in the window
molding...I just put 2 small sheetmetal screws in to hold it together,
worked great!
When any of you do your door panels you have to post a Pic of the finished product in here so we can all check out your work!
Pods to come so keep your eyes open!!
