I knew I'd come to this stage sooner or later. I bought new door panels, and as mentioned in the past by some members, the contour is not correct in relation to the doors. I know what I am going to do to fix them, but I would like to hear what other members have done in the past. The abs backing is a thermoplastic, which I learned in school you can easily reshape with heat and a little finesse.

So, post how you made your new door panels fit.

 

Court our? Do you mean contour?

 

Stupid spell check on my phone...yes, I mean contour.

 

Are you saying the top contour isn't correct, the top of the door panel doesn't follow the contour of the top of the door? I had this problem with some old Al Knoch panels, bought in the early 90's. The problem is the stamped metal plate which hooks over the flanges on the top of the door was stamped too shallow. The panel would seat tight to the top of the door at both ends but sat about 1/4 to 1/2 inch high in the center. I put a straight edge across the top of the original panels, compared the gap at the center to the Al Knoch panels. The Al Knoch panels were definitely shallow. This caused a problem with alignment of the lock shaft, it wouldn't line up with the hole.

I took photos which show the differences between panels. Unfortunately I didn't attempt to install the panels until many years after I bought them. Al Knoch declined to provide any help or replacements.

What I noticed was the top surface on the top rear of the panel was bent downward when comparing to the original panels. Since the new panels were essentially garbage I took a chance, bent the ends to match the profile of the originals. This appeared to be enough to allow the panel to sit much closer to the way the originals fit. I have only test fitted the panels. I have not installed the panels yet, waiting until I decide whether I want to install power windows.

If your top contour doesn't follow the door, make sure you panel is hooked over the flanges on the top of the door. If both ends on the top are seated firmly against the top of the door, yet the center sits too high, you may have the same problem I had. On mine, the problem wasn't the abs plastic, it was the metal plate.

I hope this helps.

 

They fit perfect at the top of the door. From about 4" down from the top edge, they start to "Pringle" away from the door frame, and the panel's Velcro fasteners at the bottom are 3" away from the door's Velcro fasteners.

If you push hard enough on the bottom of the door panel, the Velcro fasteners will contact and interlock with the ones located on the door, but the minute you release the pressure the door panel pops back to its 3" away position.

I'm going to use heat to reshape them. I just wanted to see what others have done in the past to fix this issue, as I know it is common. I couldn't find a thread on it posting photos for others to see, so this would be a good reference for others in the future.

 

mine fit just as you describe yours do,i just went through this last week so it is fresh in my mind.i had to repair the plastic around the lower clips and i reinforced them with a steel plate epoxied between the plastic and the foam.this allowed me to put a greater force inward at the bottom to bring the panel in further.i had to walk away from this job a few times as the fit is far from what i would like.good luck on yours.

 

I can't picture your steel plate repair...do u have photos?

 

i do not have a good picture of the plate install but i will try to describe what i did.the panel you see has the plates in and the cover reattached and glued where the staples were.i had to remove staples to both sides of the oval hole to allow room to fish the steel plate in.the plate was a piece of galvanized duct hanger strap that could be trimmed with tin snips,although not easily,and fine tuned in place with a dremel.before i fished it in i mixed some jb quick and shmeered it all around the steel to get a more solid result.steel was around3" long and 5/8" or so wide.dremel slightly for final fit.

 

also as you can see the panel is slightly curved where the clip hole is so the steel insert has to be curved for max strength.

 

See my issue is the holding power of the clip, not the holding power of what the clip is mounted too. The clips just have too much pressure on them and the Velcro cannot hold them together.

If I understand correctly, you had problems with the clip pulling off the door panel itself, but once you resolved that, the Velcro fasteners would hold the panel tight to the door?

 

no the velcro tabs are useless to provide any fit assist.you are right the plastic was broken in my case but the steel allows almost unlimited holding power to get more inward pressure,i am curious how softening the plastic door insert would work out.

 

Hi,
I can't tell from the discussion... are you using the 2 clips that get inserted into the lower front and rear of the panel and are screwed to the door frame?
Even on my originals I epoxied them in place so they pulled the door panel close as possible as their 2 screws was tightened.
Regards,
Alan

 

How does the steel allow for unlimited holding power if it doesn't actually reshape the door panel to match the door, and the velcro tabs you said are useless...I'm extremely confused now.

Alan!

Great to hear from you bud. Yes I am using those clips. I will get pictures for this thread tonight!

 

 

i will restate what i said regarding unlimited pulling strength.it will allow you to pull in with the greatest amount of force the spring clip will allow.the clip is stronger than the plastic inner frame.i told you mine is better but not what i would hope for.

 

OK, different problem. Your panels are closer to fitting than mine were. I'll follow the thread, see how people resolve this issue in case I run into the same. As many have said, nothing fits like the originals. Reproductions often seem to have fit issues.

 

Hi Allen;

What about the 2 top corner screws?

I did not get any screws with the car.

What do you suggest? I understand they have a collar so they won't bind the material.

I purchased an interior screw kit but did not find what I thought would be suitable.

Thanks in advance.

Ralph

 

I had the same problem, when the panels were hooked over the top of the door they stuck out too far at the bottom. I carefully bent the 90 deg angle plate on the panel outward to increase the angle and then the panel hung correctly. You could bend the top of the door out slightly to achieve the same thing. I never fitted the top screws into the panels because I thought it detracted from the clean look. So far so good.

 

one of my door panels is pretty flimsy. and needs the screws the other one stays up pretty good until someone yanks it hard and slams the door.

My doors do not need to be slammed.

Someone have a picture of the proper screws for it?

R~

 

people who slam the doors are the worst.come to think of it my ex did it all the time.seems the black panels look better than the rest because the dark shadow hides some of the gap,(looks like part of the door).ralphbf yours look pretty close.seems over time they relax a bit or i have stopped looking at them so i don't notice.