Anyone ever attempted to make their own door panels and have them look stock? Mine are shot and was thinking of giving it a try since they are not reproduced.I know you can pay $$$ and have them made but have to have the $$$ Buddies have told me to just stick in 67 ones! Just looking for some tips if anyone has attempted. Thx Jim
Pontiacanada said
Feb 5, 2016
GrtDanes said
Feb 5, 2016
Word is your an intrepid type of guy,go for it
Pontiacanada said
Feb 5, 2016
Do you have the old ones or do you have to cut new hardboard?
DANO65 said
Feb 5, 2016
Plane door boards should be available with all the appropriate holes in place or you can make your own if you have the old ones. I sell lots of ABS plastic sheet to upholstery shops here for making door panels, holds up better than the pressed cardboard. You should be able to get matching vinyl from a local upholstery shop and just sew in the design. With what you've done so far, I'm sure you can handle it.
Back when I first got my 65 SS I had to recover most of my door panels as they were covered in 70's shag, it was only the bottom half and had chrome trim to hide the seams so no big deal.
beaucarlo said
Feb 5, 2016
hawkeye5766 wrote:
Anyone ever attempted to make their own door panels and have them look stock? Mine are shot and was thinking of giving it a try since they are not reproduced.I know you can pay $$$ and have them made but have to have the $$$ Buddies have told me to just stick in 67 ones! Just looking for some tips if anyone has attempted. Thx Jim
I used luan (wooden door-skins available at lumberyards)...traced out from the old panels,cut slightly
undersize,glued & stapled on leatherette added the old stainless....OK until good used show up
Thanks for the tips guys, never thought of using ABS! Stopped by my Mom's last night, she used to have her own framing gallery. Remembered this stuff called foam core that was used in picture framing as a background, kinda like a heavy foam between two wax paper skins about 1/8" thick. So here is what my test piece looks like. First I place a piece of metal in the oven and at different temps( have infrared temp gun) tested the effect on the vinyl, too hot melted, too cool didn't do much. Figured out that the metal has to be around 150-250 to make a good impression without melting vinyl. Next I contact cemented the vinyl to the foam board, this will give an impression in the vinyl when clamped down with vise grips and with the heat the vinyl should keep it's clean groove. A lot more work to go, but looks positive! Testing Vinyl melting point
Heat and clamp depression in vinyl
Foam board and vinyl glued together
Orig I'm trying to duplicate
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Saturday 6th of February 2016 12:27:02 PM
jmont64 said
Feb 6, 2016
Ah Jim, brilliant as always. The part that was tough for the 64s is the 1" or so silver heat bonded stripe. I recovered my stripe with tin basher's foil and it turned out quite nice.
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 6, 2016
Thanks Jerel, haven't figured out how to do the inlay yet? Darryl I have the original cardboard but the driver side is shot and as Bob mentioned I could use thin wood but since the foam board is 1/8 already plus the thickness of the vinyl I'm thinking that I'm going to need something 1/16 of an inch thick. Will check and see if they make ABS in 1/16 sheet stock, thinking this plus the foam board will make it stong enough. Made up another mini template, metal cools down so fast once out of the oven I actually heated it up to 200 deg and by the time I pressed it into place it was down to 150.
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Sunday 7th of February 2016 03:41:23 AM
You never cease to amaze Jim.
You should be able to find 1/16 ABS, I stock it but shipping would kill ya.
Try Industrial Plastics in Nanimo I believe, my boss retired out there a couple years ago and was working there in his semi-retirement.
Greaser said
Feb 6, 2016
hawkeye5766 wrote:
l I'm thinking that I'm going to need something 1/16 of an inch thick.
-- Edited by Greaser on Saturday 6th of February 2016 10:07:22 PM
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 6, 2016
Thanks Dan, we used to have an Industrial Plastics in Langford but they moved. Think their downtown now, will check and see if they have. If not may have to buy from a guy in MB and ship or come up with another idea. Kinda liking the foam board/abs idea(doesn't absorb moisture). Remembering when I parked my 57 outside in the mink shed for a month and all the door panels buckled from that west coast moisture!!
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 6, 2016
Thanks G, you beat me to it! I'm just slow at typing!
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Saturday 6th of February 2016 10:11:52 PM
Lemans64 said
Feb 7, 2016
Nice work Jim, when you get finished you can do mine, I might even supply the stuff and the bbq, LOL.
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 7, 2016
Lemans64 wrote:
Nice work Jim, when you get finished you can do mine, I might even supply the stuff and the bbq, LOL.
Thanks Rick, bbq as in steak and beer? Better have a big fridge!
GrtDanes said
Feb 7, 2016
hawkeye5766 wrote:
Lemans64 wrote:
Nice work Jim, when you get finished you can do mine, I might even supply the stuff and the bbq, LOL.
Thanks Rick, bbq as in steak and beer? Better have a big fridge!
Steak AND beer? Im in that's worth a plane ticket.
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 8, 2016
GrtDanes wrote:
hawkeye5766 wrote:
Lemans64 wrote:
Nice work Jim, when you get finished you can do mine, I might even supply the stuff and the bbq, LOL.
Thanks Rick, bbq as in steak and beer? Better have a big fridge!
Steak AND beer? Im in that's worth a plane ticket.
Better catch the red eye flight, fridge might be MT by the time you get here.
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 8, 2016
Progress today. Had a customer shear up some 1/16 x 3/4 sheet metal strips for me to use as my template. Found out the problem with this is that the metal wants to twist as it's being sheared and also has very sharp edges. So I spent an hr filing all the edges so that it doesn't cut the vinyl when being pressed. On a good not I only need to make 1 template since I can flip it over and can also flip it from end to end. So 1 template does 4 embossing's on 2 door panels. Next problem is heating it up to 200 deg. Wouldn't fit in the oven so lets try our bbq,about 3" too small. So next time shopping for a bbq make sure it fits your car parts! Thinking I might have to make up an oven out of a piece of 6" pipe with a hot water tank element or hook up to the buzz box(stick welder) putting the ground at one end and the hot at the other (used to do it to melt frozen pipes on the farm). Since I am flipping the template over and using both sides of it I needed to bridge it in the middle where the center supports wouldn't touch the vinyl. Will do a test stamp on a small piece of vinyl/foam board and see how it goes?
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your progress. You creativity and thought process going into this has been simply impressive. I think this will be my new favourite thread!
DANO65 said
Feb 8, 2016
Simply genius! Bring your vinyl and stamps, I have a BBQ big enough as well as the 1/16" ABS, and BEER in the fridge. We can throw the steaks on after we're done, wouldn't want to waste heating up the BBQ
hawkeye5766 said
Feb 9, 2016
You guys are making me blush! Nothing any one of you haven't done....have a problem,figure out how to fix it. Not a lot done today but I did manage to heat stamp/emboss the vinyl,just used a torch to heat up (for now). Pic is of a couple of hr's after embossing,you can see in the 1 depression at 150 deg that it started to let go. Think some spots were at 110 deg so I will definitly need to heat to an even temp throughout. The second was at 280 deg and some spots were 220, this seems to be more of melting the vinyl than embossing it. The stock/factory panels have more of a shouldered edge to them like the 150 deg lines , not a sharp crisp cut line. Thinking I will put the template in a piece of 4" pipe and heat the pipe with a tiger torch, which should give me an even temp. Looks like I got the template pretty dang close to stock. Boy Dan! Beer, bbq, steak and abs......think you need to move and in a hurry!!!
Think this has turned into a build thread on door panels,so I might as well carry on. Picked up some 1/16 ABS, marked it out using my old 1 for a template and trimmed to size. Used a hole saw to drill the armrest/window/door handle holes also cut the foam core at the same time. Manage to get the gold inlay off the old door panels so I will reuse them on the new ones, they were filthy but cleaned up like new, I just used DL hand cleaner. Once everything was cut to size I glued the abs to the foam core, next was the vinyl. Have a piece of 1 1/4 hardboard that I use as a portable bench, doesn't move(heavy) or bend, just sucks packing it up from the crawl space! So when putting the vinyl on the foam core I put a pillow block at the end of the bench, this way you can push/stretch the vinyl without the door panel moving. Next will be embossing the panels.
Anyone ever attempted to make their own door panels and have them look stock? Mine are shot and was thinking of giving it a try since they are not reproduced.I know you can pay $$$ and have them made but have to have the $$$ Buddies have told me to just stick in 67 ones!
Just looking for some tips if anyone has attempted. Thx Jim
Do you have the old ones or do you have to cut new hardboard?
Back when I first got my 65 SS I had to recover most of my door panels as they were covered in 70's shag, it was only the bottom half and had chrome trim to hide the seams so no big deal.
I used luan (wooden door-skins available at lumberyards)...traced out from the old panels,cut slightly
undersize,glued & stapled on leatherette added the old stainless....OK until good used show up
Thanks for the tips guys, never thought of using ABS! Stopped by my Mom's last night, she used to have her own framing gallery. Remembered this stuff called foam core that was used in picture framing as a background, kinda like a heavy foam between two wax paper skins about 1/8" thick. So here is what my test piece looks like. First I place a piece of metal in the oven and at different temps( have infrared temp gun) tested the effect on the vinyl, too hot melted, too cool didn't do much. Figured out that the metal has to be around 150-250 to make a good impression without melting vinyl. Next I contact cemented the vinyl to the foam board, this will give an impression in the vinyl when clamped down with vise grips and with the heat the vinyl should keep it's clean groove. A lot more work to go, but looks positive!
Testing Vinyl melting point
Heat and clamp depression in vinyl
Foam board and vinyl glued together
Orig I'm trying to duplicate
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Saturday 6th of February 2016 12:27:02 PM
Thanks Jerel, haven't figured out how to do the inlay yet? Darryl I have the original cardboard but the driver side is shot and as Bob mentioned I could use thin wood but since the foam board is 1/8 already plus the thickness of the vinyl I'm thinking that I'm going to need something 1/16 of an inch thick. Will check and see if they make ABS in 1/16 sheet stock, thinking this plus the foam board will make it stong enough. Made up another mini template, metal cools down so fast once out of the oven I actually heated it up to 200 deg and by the time I pressed it into place it was down to 150.
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Sunday 7th of February 2016 03:41:23 AM
You should be able to find 1/16 ABS, I stock it but shipping would kill ya.
Try Industrial Plastics in Nanimo I believe, my boss retired out there a couple years ago and was working there in his semi-retirement.
Try:
Industrial Plastics & Paints
http://goindustrial.ca/index.php/en/products/46/signs-display/sheets-substraits
-- Edited by Greaser on Saturday 6th of February 2016 10:07:22 PM
Thanks G, you beat me to it! I'm just slow at typing!
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Saturday 6th of February 2016 10:11:52 PM
Nice work Jim, when you get finished you can do mine, I might even supply the stuff and the bbq, LOL.
Thanks Rick, bbq as in steak and beer? Better have a big fridge!
Steak AND beer? Im in that's worth a plane ticket.
Better catch the red eye flight, fridge might be MT by the time you get here.
Progress today. Had a customer shear up some 1/16 x 3/4 sheet metal strips for me to use as my template. Found out the problem with this is that the metal wants to twist as it's being sheared and also has very sharp edges. So I spent an hr filing all the edges so that it doesn't cut the vinyl when being pressed. On a good not I only need to make 1 template since I can flip it over and can also flip it from end to end. So 1 template does 4 embossing's on 2 door panels.
Next problem is heating it up to 200 deg. Wouldn't fit in the oven so lets try our bbq,about 3" too small. So next time shopping for a bbq make sure it fits your car parts! Thinking I might have to make up an oven out of a piece of 6" pipe with a hot water tank element or hook up to the buzz box(stick welder) putting the ground at one end and the hot at the other (used to do it to melt frozen pipes on the farm). Since I am flipping the template over and using both sides of it I needed to bridge it in the middle where the center supports wouldn't touch the vinyl. Will do a test stamp on a small piece of vinyl/foam board and see how it goes?
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your progress. You creativity and thought process going into this has been simply impressive. I think this will be my new favourite thread!
Simply genius!
Bring your vinyl and stamps, I have a BBQ big enough as well as the 1/16" ABS, and BEER in the fridge.
We can throw the steaks on after we're done, wouldn't want to waste heating up the BBQ
You guys are making me blush! Nothing any one of you haven't done....have a problem,figure out how to fix it. Not a lot done today but I did manage to heat stamp/emboss the vinyl,just used a torch to heat up (for now). Pic is of a couple of hr's after embossing,you can see in the 1 depression at 150 deg that it started to let go. Think some spots were at 110 deg so I will definitly need to heat to an even temp throughout. The second was at 280 deg and some spots were 220, this seems to be more of melting the vinyl than embossing it. The stock/factory panels have more of a shouldered edge to them like the 150 deg lines , not a sharp crisp cut line. Thinking I will put the template in a piece of 4" pipe and heat the pipe with a tiger torch, which should give me an even temp. Looks like I got the template pretty dang close to stock. Boy Dan! Beer, bbq, steak and abs......think you need to move and in a hurry!!!
Think this has turned into a build thread on door panels,so I might as well carry on. Picked up some 1/16 ABS, marked it out using my old 1 for a template and trimmed to size. Used a hole saw to drill the armrest/window/door handle holes also cut the foam core at the same time. Manage to get the gold inlay off the old door panels so I will reuse them on the new ones, they were filthy but cleaned up like new, I just used DL hand cleaner. Once everything was cut to size I glued the abs to the foam core, next was the vinyl. Have a piece of 1 1/4 hardboard that I use as a portable bench, doesn't move(heavy) or bend, just sucks packing it up from the crawl space! So when putting the vinyl on the foam core I put a pillow block at the end of the bench, this way you can push/stretch the vinyl without the door panel moving. Next will be embossing the panels.
excellent work ....look out you might be making a few more !!!