Picked up a brand new door panel off Craigs List that was still wrapped up, and its from Corvette America. Problem is it to bowed on the forward side close to door hinges ,not as flat as it should be.Looking for any and all ideas on flattening this thing out. Would like to get it close as I can. Don't wont to use a ton of Velcro.Being the back is made of plastic I thought of applying heat w/a heat gun w/cinder block(s) stacked on the back??Anybody dealt w/ this kinda thing?Thanks

 

I do know that Al Knoch Interiors who I purchased my interior from a couple of years back re-did all the 68 door panel dies due to my complaint....they ended up sending me a 200.00 gift for helping them correct the door panels....took about 3-4 months for them to finally send me the correct design...was worth the wait.

 

Sometimes replies are all about the person who makes the post..

Anyway . Your idea of weight and heat may be all you can do. I personally would try weight at room temp for several days to see if that relaxes it before heating it up .

 

If you use the 'weight/heat' method, be sure your set-up limits the amount of deflection on that door panel. You don't want for it to deflect so far that it FRACTURES.

 

How did you know? LOL! I straightened a fiberglass door on my '34 truck project using a heat lamp/saw horses/ ratcheting tie-down strap.....over a 24 hour period.....it took two attempts since I didn't want to "fry/over-correct the warped area....but it was worth the trouble.

I placed the nearest edge of the door closet to the warp on the sawhorse with the "high-side" of the warp facing up.

I positioned the other saw horse about a foot from the first horse...then place a 2" x 4" board length-wise under the modified frame of the horses.

Then wrapped the ratcheting tow-strap completely around the door/2" x 4"......put the heat lamp on the garage floor directly under the warped area......tightened the ratchet-strap a little every two hours, which was placed directly over the highest poingt of the warp .

I was VERY careful not to overheat/cause blisters on the fiberglass----woke up every 2 hours/adjusted straps tighter....

24 hours later....the door-warp was flat (I had to pull the warp slightly lower than being flat on the 2nd attempt so that when the strap was release, the door "settled/cooled "level" where the warp once was.

Ohh.....there was that "baking plastic smell" in the garage that kept me "on my toes"!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd.....now I get to correct a bent high-rise hood on my Corvette project. It seems that the car set for YEARS with a wrench under the driver's-side of the hood=edge---about midway.

The hood now has a "nice 1" buldge about a foot long where mthe wrench once was....I'll use the same technique with the saw horses and heat lamp......with the exception that I will set a heavy weight on top of the buldge to cause it to settle, rather than using a ratchet strap, which could warp the entire hood)

I'll probably do it in two attempts also to allow cooling down/"settling" of the warped area....I' post pics of the repair when I do it ( a quartz shop light with a glass lense could also be used for the heat source rather than a heat lamp...just be very careful of overheating the area/putting the light too close to the plastic----I kept the heat source about 2 feet under the fiberglaas so the heat could rise...the area should be hot to the touch so that your fingers feel "uncomfortable" after about 10seconds of touching the heated area---I wish I would have recorded the temp with an infared gun!)

Hope that helps!

 

I have a new set of door panels that are warped in such a way that when you hook them on top, if you try to push the bottom flush, you have to apply so much pressure it starts to pull at the top of the door. .. .. If that made any sense. Anyway thanks for the ideas on how to fix it.

 

Isnt there a metal tab at the bottom of the door panel that screws into the door. This is on the inside area where the door hinges are. If you have an aftermarket door panel maybe this trim item is missing. This part will normally pull the door into the frame, making a better fit.

Unless I am not visualizing your problem.

kdf

 

If the panels are giving you that much trouble, it would be better to correct the warp so that they lay against the doorframe as flat as possible rather than binding them down (been there).

 

I had the same problem with new panels, found that by bending the metal lip at the top of the door outwards very slightly with a small adjustable wrench and the same to the lip on the new panels they fitted very well.