1972 3dr Suburban Build Thread

[19723DR]

Progress on the door panels. I got some of the pieces cut out. I left some slots in the handle, top and bottom, to bolt through the panel and into the door. Here's what it will generally look like:

[19723DR]

Covered the pieces with vinyl and screwed them together. I made one more piece for the bottom to give it some contour so it wasn't just a flat panel.

[19723DR]

Here it is hanging there. I had to remove some more around the door handle to make it fit. It was just too thick.

I was lucky enough that I found a vinyl the same color as my seats. It's 2:00am and I am ready to crash and I still have 3 more to do. Saving those for another day.

[nuke1]

you are doin excellent work, i have an option for your door panels, to install them, go to your local body shop or fastener store and ask for trim panel clips,, they install with a slot in the back of the panel and then push into predrilled holes into the door itself, that is what i do, and to make the door panels look more subtle use 1/4 or 1/8 inch high density foam from a material place, to cover everything, you can cut it out and design it how you want, you have done a great job so far.theses are a few pics of what i did for my brother in law, he is 16 and Happy. Also to stretch the vinyl so you do not get any bubbles or kinks in it warm it up with a heat gun then stretch it over the item. My mom has taught me this, she is great with interiors.

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by nuke1

you are doin excellent work, i have an option for your door panels, to install them, go to your local body shop or fastener store and ask for trim panel clips,, they install with a slot in the back of the panel and then push into predrilled holes into the door itself, that is what i do, and to make the door panels look more subtle use 1/4 or 1/8 inch high density foam from a material place, to cover everything, you can cut it out and design it how you want, you have done a great job so far.theses are a few pics of what i did for my brother in law, he is 16 and Happy. Also to stretch the vinyl so you do not get any bubbles or kinks in it warm it up with a heat gun then stretch it over the item. My mom has taught me this, she is great with interiors.

Thanks for the info. I'm working on the trim panel clips. The problem I have is attaching them to the back of my panel and if one breaks off then I will need to replace it with a new one. The plan is to make a hole next to the location and then a slot that it slides over into to hold it in. I'll post pics later.

Nice job on that S-10. That looks sweet. You just gave me a really good idea for mine.

[nuke1]

glad i could help

[Frizzle Fry]

Well done! Maybe you should cover your kicks in the same vinyl to cut down on the number of shades you have goin.

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Well done! Maybe you should cover your kicks in the same vinyl to cut down on the number of shades you have goin.

Sorry, it took so long to answer. The kick panels I painted to test a darker color. All the things I am making I am going to cover in vinyl. Don't worry I am not color blind. Here's one of the rear panels:

[19723DR]

This we I have found a little time to work on my third-door panel. I made a few changes. I decided to recess the door panel into the first layer to hide the creases in the back of the door handle.

[19723DR]

I also decided to recess the lighter tan panel into the main door panel. So everything will flow more evenly.





I pulled apart the passenger side door panel and will do the same modification to it as well.

[jugernot]

Originally Posted by 19723DR

If yours is lemon drop then mine must be banana cream pie. I'm really diggin' the yellow. I'm still working on how to attach them to the door.

Please keep us posted on how they are attached. I plan designing door panels for lemon drop. Your design is great, nice work. Great tips that will help me out. Thanks.

I did a quick search from clips and found these. I would imagine anyone of these would would, but it would be nice to see how they look on the door panel.

http://www.perfectfit.com/dept.asp?d...15974&l2=15290

[Hart_Rod]

Your panels look great. Have you thought about using the stuff Rod Doors uses to attach their panels?

http://www.roddoors.com/pages/f-t-f-how.html

http://www.roddoors.com/pages/gumbo-dir.html#glue

[Rokcrln]

Wow you make it look so simple! What glue are you using for attaching the material to the board?

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[MisterE72]

You make the door panel work look easy! I just might give it a try when at that stage of my build. Thanks for the pics.

[jugernot]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Your panels look great. Have you thought about using the stuff Rod Doors uses to attach their panels?

http://www.roddoors.com/pages/f-t-f-how.html

http://www.roddoors.com/pages/gumbo-dir.html#glue

That looks like heavy duty velcro. I think it would work nicely.

[nuke1]

thoses clips that jugernot showed you are what we use in the industry for upolstery, that heavy velcro over time and with the heat tends to seperate, the clips are the way to go.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by jugernot

That looks like heavy duty velcro. I think it would work nicely.

I don't know if I would call it heavy duty velcro (I know that's what it looks like). The are actually made of hard plastic. I've used them before, they won't slip.

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

Wow you make it look so simple! What glue are you using for attaching the material to the board?

Kevin
LFD Inc.

Using spray adhesive for the material to to the board. Then I am using a hot glue gun to attach it to the back of the board. I'm using Elmer's Wood glue to attach board to board. This particular brand of spray adhesive has three spray settings.

[19723DR]

I found some more time today to work on the panels. I've tried 4 different types of clips and finally found one that is durable enough not to break. I just found most of the types to be too brittle.

I made a framework that would recess inside the door where I could attach the clips.



3/4" hole saw to make the slots and holes for the clips. You could use a little smaller one but that is what I had.



Here are the clips I found to be the best. I had to enlarge the holes in the door one size bigger for these to fit. They can pretty easily be removed without destroying them.

[19723DR]

Before I put the two pieces together I ran a bead of hot glue around the slot and the hole. This held the two boards far enough apart that I could get the clips in. These boards are hot glued together.

Here are the clips installed:





Here's it snapped into the door.



The bottom will be attached with Velcro or something like what Hart_rod mentioned. I'll make more progress tomorrow.

[19723DR]

Last night I glued the outer panel to the inner panel. I tried something a little different. I used head liner carpet on top and bottom for a little padding and also make a contour for the middle piece so the bottom wasn't so flat. I started off by hot gluing a piece of vinyl to the top so that I could spray adhesive both sides at the same time. I didn't spray the carpet so that it would smoothly pull over the top of it. I used the kid's Playdoh roller to smooth things out and get in all the corners.

[19723DR]

After I pressed the vinyl into all the grooves I cut the center section out so that handle piece would recess into it. I used some grabber screws to hold it in place and hot glued the edges. I also hot glued the exterior and pulled it tight. Here it is all snapped on:

[69face]

new subscriber! awesome!

[kyull67]

NICE! That's going to be one classy ride!

[38chevyhotrod]

Very nice indeed, brings up some ideas.