I've seen many different ways of upholstering door panels. I came up with a way that involves a little more time and money, but ultimately will give a great result. I decided to document it in case anyone else wants to use this method.
Since our door panels are one piece, it's hard to use an accent material on the door panel inserts and leave a clean look around the edges. One way to fix this is tucking some sort of cord into the seam to cover up the area where the fabric stops. Here is what I came up with to leave you with a really clean final product.
Materials needed:
Fiberglass resin
Fiberglass chop mat
Razor blades
Bondo spreader
Masking tape, 3/4" and 2" widths
Paint brushes, narrow, 1" work great
Airsaw
Sandpaper
First, here are some pics of the door panel before, with the fabric stripped off:
And here is the bare backside:
Now, please forgive me for loosing some of the pic files, so I'll explain in as much detail as I can what to do next. When I do the other door panel I will add pics of this process.
This is where the masking tape comes in. Tear strips of masking tape about 6-8" long. Lay the center of the piece of tap across the hump on the backside of the door panel insert. Using the bondo spreader, press the tap down flat on the door panel to follow the surface as flat as possible. Use the 2" wide tape on the long straight runs, and the 3/4" tape on the sharp corners. You can mask it any way you want, as long as you have about 3" or more on either side of the hump.
Once the backside of the insert is masked off, cut small squares, about 2"x2", out of the chopped mat with a razor blade. Apply a coat of wax to the masking tape and allow it to dry. This will help you remove the mold when it's hard. Mix up some fiberglass resin and dab it into the small squares of mat with a paintbrush, then apply the squares onto the back of the door panel dabbing them into place with your paintbrush. Make sure to overlap each piece with another at least 50%. Press out any air bubbles as best you can. Continue the process all the way around. When the mold is hard, carefully remove it, and any masking tape from the mold and the door panel.
Here is what the mold looks like after all the tape is cleaned up and it is set back in place:
After test fitting the mold, it should fit nice and snug, take it back off and set it aside. Using an air saw, cut the insert out using the inside lip as a guide. Here is what the door panel looks like with the insert cut out and the fiberglass backing in place:
Here is the insert set in place:
Next, using a grinder, sander, or just sand paper, sand the inside edges of the door panel smooth, and also sand the edges of the insert smooth. What I mean by this is remove the jagged imperfections left by the freehand cut with the airsaw.
After smoothing all the edges, mix up more resin and using another paintbrush, soak the edges of the backside of the opening in the door panel with resin and apply the fiberglass backing ring in place. Lightly clamp it to the door panel and allow it to dry so it's permanently attached to the door panel. Trim the excess edges of the fiberglass backer out of the center. Here is what the finished backer will look like:
Here is the insert set into place on the finished trim ring:
That's as far as I am right now, hopefully I'll get pics up to fill in the holes asap.
The benefits of using this technique are that you can wrap your fabric around all the edges instead of having to butt the two seams together. More pics to come!
Since our door panels are one piece, it's hard to use an accent material on the door panel inserts and leave a clean look around the edges. One way to fix this is tucking some sort of cord into the seam to cover up the area where the fabric stops. Here is what I came up with to leave you with a really clean final product.
Materials needed:
Fiberglass resin
Fiberglass chop mat
Razor blades
Bondo spreader
Masking tape, 3/4" and 2" widths
Paint brushes, narrow, 1" work great
Airsaw
Sandpaper
First, here are some pics of the door panel before, with the fabric stripped off:
And here is the bare backside:
Now, please forgive me for loosing some of the pic files, so I'll explain in as much detail as I can what to do next. When I do the other door panel I will add pics of this process.
This is where the masking tape comes in. Tear strips of masking tape about 6-8" long. Lay the center of the piece of tap across the hump on the backside of the door panel insert. Using the bondo spreader, press the tap down flat on the door panel to follow the surface as flat as possible. Use the 2" wide tape on the long straight runs, and the 3/4" tape on the sharp corners. You can mask it any way you want, as long as you have about 3" or more on either side of the hump.
Once the backside of the insert is masked off, cut small squares, about 2"x2", out of the chopped mat with a razor blade. Apply a coat of wax to the masking tape and allow it to dry. This will help you remove the mold when it's hard. Mix up some fiberglass resin and dab it into the small squares of mat with a paintbrush, then apply the squares onto the back of the door panel dabbing them into place with your paintbrush. Make sure to overlap each piece with another at least 50%. Press out any air bubbles as best you can. Continue the process all the way around. When the mold is hard, carefully remove it, and any masking tape from the mold and the door panel.
Here is what the mold looks like after all the tape is cleaned up and it is set back in place:
After test fitting the mold, it should fit nice and snug, take it back off and set it aside. Using an air saw, cut the insert out using the inside lip as a guide. Here is what the door panel looks like with the insert cut out and the fiberglass backing in place:
Here is the insert set in place:
Next, using a grinder, sander, or just sand paper, sand the inside edges of the door panel smooth, and also sand the edges of the insert smooth. What I mean by this is remove the jagged imperfections left by the freehand cut with the airsaw.
After smoothing all the edges, mix up more resin and using another paintbrush, soak the edges of the backside of the opening in the door panel with resin and apply the fiberglass backing ring in place. Lightly clamp it to the door panel and allow it to dry so it's permanently attached to the door panel. Trim the excess edges of the fiberglass backer out of the center. Here is what the finished backer will look like:
Here is the insert set into place on the finished trim ring:
That's as far as I am right now, hopefully I'll get pics up to fill in the holes asap.
The benefits of using this technique are that you can wrap your fabric around all the edges instead of having to butt the two seams together. More pics to come!
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Subscribed. I'm sure it will turn out looking good. I haven't seen you do anything that looked anywhere close to a shitty job. I'd be scared to where shoes in your car lol. I see why you put it up for winter.
And yes, you see a 97 base model 5sp H22a4 tranny. I completely disassembled it, degreased it, prepped it, and sprayed it with self etching primer and VHT Aluminum colored primer and satin clearcoat. It looks awesome, although I'm undecided about the color. As good as it looks, I guess I had hoped it would be a little more silver rather than gray.
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