Carpet on Bottom of Door Panels

[smalfrey]

Has anyone removed the carpet on the bottom of the door panels? I would like to either paint this aera or replace the carpet with a piece of leather. Im also open to any other ideas

 

[sewlow]

Electric or manual doors? If they are electric ones with the fabric inserts on the upper part, I would match the bottom where the carpet is/was to the top insert, with the same material. You may have to do both pieces if you can't get the same material as the top insert. I'd use something that matches or compliments your seats.

 

[smalfrey]

They are tke electric doors the top is black leather that was replaced when the seats were recovered with a kit from classic soft trim

 

[sewlow]

Do you have the storage pocket/garbage can thingies?

 

[smalfrey]

yes I have the crap collectors on the doors

 

[freeze]

I painted mine black with a black flexible paint that is for plastics. They look brand new. wont be able to put pics up for about a week tho. sorry.

 

[sewlow]

You can make some panels out of construction cardboard. You can get this from any upholstery shop, or supplier. I pay 2 bucks a sheet. 40"X60".
Cut some pieces as large as possible to fit flat to the door panel areas that you want to cover. The round areas can be done in several pieces. Then, by gluing several laminations, of the cardboard over top of your first layer, you'll end up with an 'insert' the shape of the lower panel. You don't have to make each of these laminatons in one piece. Start with small pieces, building up to larger ones as the cardboard begins to hold the shape of the lower door panel. You can fold 1" wide strips in half to tuck into the corners to attach the 'crap collector' sections to the flat sections, between layers. Weight down the cardboard, as the glue cures. The edges of each cardboard piece have to be feathered out to the last layer with a mini-angle grinder & a medium-coarse sanding disc. 80-120 grit is what I use. You can't use too much glue between the layers. Keep building up the layers until you have a piece that is about a 1/4" thick. Leave about 1/8-3/16" around the edge of your new panel for fabric clearance.
Now you you have an insert that can be upholstered. I'd put down 1/8" foam, then cover that with whatever your using on the upper insert.
To attach the finished panel to the door, I use 'PL-400', a commecial construction adhesive that is available at any home improvement store.
This is time consuming, and requires wait times between gluing the layers, in order for the glue to dry, before sticking the laminations together.
I've built complete under-dash covers in Hot-Rods using this method, door-door, dash-floor, in very intricate shapes. Some of these have been 3/8" thick. As tough as any plastic panel.

 

[ccreddell]

Sewlow-sounds very good. How about a sequence of pics illustrating the above? Doesnt have to be a whole door panel, just some weird shape to give us an idea of what is involved. Thanks.

 

[sewlow]

Sewlow-sounds very good. How about a sequence of pics illustrating the above? Doesnt have to be a whole door panel, just some weird shape to give us an idea of what is involved. Thanks.

Got a few projects that I'll have to get finished first. Just finishing another '57 Belair, a bench seat for a truck after that, then a bunch of cushions for my Sis' gazebo. I'll see if I can get a small demo piece done somewhere in there.

 

[sandifer01]

I'd love to try this method out on my door panels. Cant wait to see the demo man.