Progress on door panels and rear side panels

[chevynut]

Robert, the shapes are fairly simple....once piece is curved across the top and another piece curved around the inboard side. I was going to make them out of two pieces of aluminum welded together. I don't think I even need a bead roller, just cut the pieces out and weld them together. I guess I may still do that.

I'm getting kinda burnt out working on these panels and I'm looking for a quick way to finish them. It doesn't really matter to me if the armrests are aluminum or fiberglass...they'll work the same either way. I still have the rear side panels to fiberglass too.

I need to get the car down to a bare frame sometime in February to get the frame painted. At least that's what I'm shooting for. I have to get this interior construction done, or at least far enough done that I can take the doors off the body and the body off the frame. I can still work on the console with the body on stands. I guess I could still work on the door panels with the doors off too.

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After messing around with all the compound curves on the armrests I decided to make them out of foam and fiberglass. I got frustrated with trying to hold the aluminum in position and get it trimmed to fit.

I decided to try using pink foam so I could make the armrests hollow afterward. I'm not sure that's a good idea, but if it's not I can always do it over with urethane foam. The problem with urethane is that you have to cut it out as it won't dissolve like the pink foam does.

Here's my blanks cut to the final size I want, which will be trimmed down a bit and covered with fiberglass. Then once they're at final shape and size, I need to remove the foam and figure out how to attach them to the panels after they're installed in the car.

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Reopening an old thread....WOW, time flies. I finally got back to doing some more fiberglassing. After I posted above I re-did the armrests in a different type of foam and fiberglassed them. Then I started working on my valence and console which I have mostly finished. It seems like everything is 80% done and I can't seem to get there.

I decided to jump into finishing the rear side panels. I shaped and recessed the upper section of the panels to make them 1/4" below the finished level. That accounts for 1/16" of fiberglass, 1/8" of foam, and 1/16" of leather. Once I had the shape the way I wanted it I cut some mat and mixed some resin.

This is what they looked like after setting up...








And this is after some roughing of the edges and fitting the lower edges to my inserts. There needs to be a 1/16" gap for the leather....







I have to sand it all smooth and probably add a little more resin near the insert, then sand it all smooth again until I get to the remaining 3/16" from the finished level that I want. Then I need to proceed to the next section down which is removable.

[Rick_L]

Just thinking out loud here, and I may be way out of line (or maybe not).

Why the fiberglass? Why not just glue some leather over rigid foam after the foam is shaped to suit?

A question from a guy that's not an interior guy or upholsterer.

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Rick, the foam is "rigid" but it's not hard. If you hit it with your knee or arm it would dent it. That's why I covered the foam with fiberglass. It would also be hard to adhere the soft foam to the rigid foam, I believe. The fiberglass gives it a good base to adhere to. There will be 1/8" soft foam everywhere under the leather, and 3/8" soft foam on the armrests.

If you look at modern OEM door panels, they're molded to shape in hard plastic and covered with foam and leather/vinyl.

[WagonCrazy]

I have a general design "materials" related question for you too Laszlo:
How have you attached the base foam to the metal panels?
I get that you are fiberglassing over the foam, but what keeps the foam from eventually separating from the metal panel? Just glue? or resin? or screws? or clips? or???

[Rick_L]

Why don't/can't you use a more rigid foam?

[chevynut]

How have you attached the base foam to the metal panels? I get that you are fiberglassing over the foam, but what keeps the foam from eventually separating from the metal panel? Just glue? or resin? or screws? or clips? or???

Paul, I used a 2-part pour foam in most places. It actually adheres pretty well. I scuffed the aluminum and cleaned it with acetone before pouring it. The fiberglass obviously helps hold it in place too, in some areas. Where I didn't use pour foam I used Gorilla Glue to attach small flat pieces of isocyanurate foam. You can't use polystyrene (blue, pink, etc.) foam with polyester resin but you could use epoxy resin with it.

Rick, I don't know of a "more rigid" foam that I could have used. They do make a denser pour foam but I didn't want to add that much weight and I'm not sure it would have been dense enough to prevent denting. I could have made a "plug" and a female fiberglass mold and made the whole thing from fiberglass, but it's way too much work.

One thing you really have to watch with a foam core construction is the shape of the panel. Once it's fiberglassed it's very rigid and won't bend anymore.

[WagonCrazy]

Great feedback Laszlo. I'm always wondering what the hot interior temps do to upholstery items. In my 9 passenger, that 3M hightemp adhesive spray just lets go when the temps go over 100 degrees outside. It's a southwest thing 'round here...things have to be able to handle the heat. Car interiors are brutal in the summertime here.

Carry on. Looking forward to seeing the finished interior.

[chevynut]

Looking forward to seeing the finished interior.

Man, believe me you're not the only one. I think I started on these door panels over a year ago (designed them in November 2013) and since then did the console and valence, and finished the frame and got it painted. I had a helluva time just getting the aluminum panels to fit the doors like they needed to. All of this is trial and error for me, as I've never done anything like this before. None of it is 100% finished, though. Not even ready for leather.