Tweet
I have a door panel with a crack, the sub frame is dated 9-11-75. Does anyone currently put the new door cover on the old frame? What if any problems would/could occur by putting the new cover on the "original" frame?
-
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
I have not tried re-skinning door panels, but the skins are available from Corvette America ($72 each). I expect it would be difficult to obtain results that the average restorer would accept; you would need excellent skills to get them right in my opinion.
Shark door panels (early ones at least) have a cardboard base panel, a rigid foam material that forms the interior contours, and then the vinyl skin. You would have to remove the old vinyl skin which, from my observation, is almost integral with the foam base...you could expect to have a pretty rough looking foam base once you got the skin off.
For installing the skins, the vendor has a urethane(?) adhesive foam that is used to smooth the foam base. Learning how to get that door panel correctly positioned with that foam goop in the right places to fill the voids is likely to be a real education. Complicating this further, the original door panel "frames", i.e. the cardboard and foam, have deterioated over the years such that re-skinning is likely to be only a temporary solution. I concluded it was not worth fooling with skins (also available for other interior pieces).
They're OK for a little bling to sell a car to someone that isn't looking close...not good for a real restoration you are going to keep and have judged in my opinion. When I was looking, I found the most authentic door panel repros from Ecklers. Al Knoch was going through a redesign/redevelopment at the time. That was near a decade ago; everything could have changed by now. -
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
If you are able to re-skin your door panels successfully, you will be in a mighty small group of people that ever done it and have them look decent. I have seen a lot of attempts but I can count on one finger the successful attempts. I have a lot of patience, but I got so aggravated when I tried it I threw both panel and skin into the dumpster and called Knoch for new panels. Whata joke!Dick WhittingtonComment
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
Bare door panels are not terribly expensive. You do have to transfer the trim off your old panel to the new one, but that isn't terriby difficult and the result is a nice looking door panel that will last for a very long time given the limited use that most of the vintage cars see.Comment
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
You can send your old panel and frame in to Al Knoch and they will rebuild it for you. You save the cost of the parts, and are pretty much guaranteed a panel that will fit like you expect it to - just like the old one. After my experiences early last year on my 67, that is the only way I would do it again...Comment
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
There is a company in California that can repair door panels and dashes. They advertise in Hemmings. I have no experience or connection with them but you may want to give them a call and ask what it might cost to repair your door panel. The name is Just Dashes.Comment
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
Chuck,
I think things have changed witrh Ecklers since then. There was a period during which Ecklers was in fact carrying Al Knoch door panels (at least for some years and models). Based on that knowledge I ordered a pair from them about five years ago, but what I got instead were Corvette America panels. They're nice looking, but they don't fit properly (ie: location of indents and cut-outs for window cranks and lock knob is off somewhat and the upper rear corner on convertible panels is not correctly shaped) but more importantly, and this has been observed on before on the Board, the foam material is either too thick and/or too dense (around the cut-outs for window cranks and lock knob) which makes mounting the window cranks etc really troublesome and results in a less than ideal appearance. I think this is partially a result of manufacturers trying to "improve" on the quality/durability of the original product, whereas given the amount most of our cars are driven and the way they're cared for, an "improvement" (the cure) is somewhat worse than the "symptoms" (door panels that crack over time, particularly in the area of the armrest). I've seen similar problems with at least some of the reproduction dash pads for mid-years that don't fit tightly in the recess at the forward edge, top of the dash and have too thick a contour around the curved rear edge. Again, I think efforts were made to improve on the durability/materials used, with unfortunate results for "purists".
grantComment
-
Re: Deluxe door panel rebuild
Grant, my comments were restricted to Eckler's shark door panels only. I have no idea how their C1, C2 door panels were.
Back in the dark ages when I was discussing door panels with Al Knoch, they were definitely NOT supplying Eckler's C3 door panels, and there is a whole 'nother story behind that. At that time, I believe Eckler's was making C3 door panels in their own facility, and the product looked, uh...remarkably like they were using the "original tooling".Comment
Comment