I am about to attempt my first fiberglass door panel.

1. Im concerned with my arm rest once that get's wrapped it will no longer be there to rest your arm or pull the door closed not sure what is the best way to fix that issue.

2. The little pocket where the door handle is how do I get the fabric to contour to that pocket? Do I glue the fabric in that pocket?

3. The top section of the panel is vinyl I was thinking I could replace that with a thin wood sheet and just screw on the metal piece (under the vinyl at the top) that holds the window sweep to the wood sheet. Is this the best way to do this if I want the whole door glassed? Most people wit my car jus glass the bottom and redo the vinyl part at the top.

4. If I wanted to add different shapes and designs to the door do I glue the fabric to the design? or staple it? for example how do people get the fabric to conform around letters or symbols



My car is at http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3174792

First off nice car, shit looks like its coming along nice.

As for the doors what is your goals for it?

Do you want to add speaker any where?

When you say glass it, do you mean you just want it to be a smooth finish and paint it to match the exterior of the car?

Are you wanting to completely change the shape of the door panel?

wat glue and fabric are you even talkn bout? no offense but have you ever fiberglassed anything before..cuz if you havent id start on sumthin smaller and not a whole door panel or start reading alot of fiberglass forums..cuz it doesnt sound to much like you kno wat your doing or were to even get started

and like rell said are you adding speakers and tv's or do you juz want a smooth door panel? cuz theres 2 totally diff ways of doin this

x2

thats why I was asking if he tryna add speaker then yeah okay you gone need to cut some mdf speaker rings and some fabric and stretch it over and staple/glue it then glass

If he want a smooth finish on the bottom then clean/sand/clean/ high build primer/sand, sand, sand/ paint/clear

Of course Im adding speakers two 6.5". Yes im going to smooth and paint. u definitley misunderstood my question i've researched alot on glassin. Whats better to use staples or glue for contoring around things that would normally just be fabric stretched over it?

941 cutty do you even understand my first question?

you def wana staple the cloth to the speaker rings to make the material tite...and you only puttin a 6/5 in each door or 2 6.5's in each door? cuz sounds like alot of glass work for juz that lil bit of speakers,but ay thats juz me..u dont really use glue except to glue the pegs to the height of the speaker rings and that bout it then when you adding the material to put the matte on you stretch it out and staple it in places were you want your designs and to make the material tite on the door and up to the speaker rings..then when you got it all formed and designs how you want thats when you lay the glass and start puttin coats on

1. Why would the arm rest no longer be there?

2. If you want to smooth out the bottom end of the door with a painted finish why would you add fabric there? There is no need for it so obviously you havent done too much research

3. Yes for the whole top half of the door panels you would need to use mdf or peg board for that part, leave the bottom alone.




I didnt misunderstand anything you were not being clear enough on what you were trying to do really, other wise I wouldnt have asked the questions I did.. For example I asked if you wanted to add any speakers? Your second post was of course you do, yet you didnt specify this in your first post or not..


So I assume you want something along the line of this? But the whole bottom part in red you want painted???

Sorry for not being clear sometimes this shit can be hard to explain. Yea I really only wanted to do two 6.5" in each door I would do more but then more money and more amps. So imma just do two componet 6.5" in each door and more in rear and decklid. But mounting the speakers and wrapping speaker pods was never my issue.

First I want the complete entire door panel wrapped and painted the whole thing. No plastic or vinyl anywhere.

I say my armrest will no longer be there because if i stretch the fabric around the complete door panel. all that will remain is the buldge from the arm rest..... I think the answer to my question is in order for it to have the shape of your arm rest you must staple or glue the fabric to the shape of the arm rest then glass over top of it...correct?

I really think i know what I need to do. It was more of a technique question. But it seems no one does it the same from fiberglassforum.com to caraudiofiberglass.com to here

Okay well can you get me more pics of the door panel like the back side, I belive these panels are built just like the monte carlo door panels I have here but I havent touched them yet. I think the top part detaches from the platic bottom part correct?

You need 1/4 mdf board for the top and as you said screw it to the metal curved part at the top of the door.. law out the rings for the speaker and get an idea how you want them then use the lil dowel sticks and hot glue or CA glue to angle and place the speaker rings where you want (im sure already know this) Take your material and stretch it over the top half of the door panel. Use staples here cause you are going to want to first fount the door panel on the door and open/close it to check for any needed clearance.. that way if something is wrong you can just easily remove the staples and start over.

Example.

You may need clearance right here on the door panel where it meets the cars Dash board when the door is closed. There isnt much room between the two once closed so there really cant be any sloped areas there other wise once you start actually start laying FB resin your going to be fucked and have to start all over cause you later found out after a few cured layers of fiber glass resin that your door wont shut.




Bottom part like I said before. Clean it with an degreaser, rough it up with a little sand paper/spray a few layers of high build primer/ sand sand sand/ paint/

As for the arm rest how does the padded part attach to the door panel there? You can wrap that in your material too and then fiber glass it as well, same work as the top of your door panel.

Ok I am at this step now. I would like to wrap the entire door. I connected the lower partg of the door panel with nut and bolt. Will this setup work? I am going to start the speaker pods tomorrow.

Ima try 2 fiber glass my doors but like u ima put 3 or 4 -6.5 tweeters wire it up get amps later i thought i might have to grind inside a da door. check out my CarDomain..Check out my 76 Donk project

You want it all to be one fiberglass piece? Idk you going to have urself a time there. Do you have a air compressor and gun to spray glue? I would hit the whole thing with glue and just lay the fabric over as if you were just covering the door.

You need your fabric wrapped like this



It would be easier and better to just fiberglass the top as its own piece and then primer and paint the bottom like I said then attach the two when done. idk its all up to you.

Also for someone that probabbly has waaaay more better tips then I do honestly would be "homegrowncustoms" on fiberglass forums sear and hit him up. I know he works alot with these older cars with these type of door panels.

But your on the right path so far.

I found the homegrowncustoms dude but I haven't gotten a response back from him yet or anybody in the forum. I was hoping I could use those white plastic clips that the factory used when attaching the door where the 1/4 mdf is but it's too thick to use them because one flat is supposed to be on the outside of the panel and one on the inside. how am I supposed to get the door to hold tight? at the top? and how should I be fiberglassing over the metal part

you shoulda kept the arm rest and stuff and glassed aroun it so you could re-attach it lata after it was glassed..and as for the speaker pods you make a skeleton for the positioning of them and then you wrap the fabric over it and staple it to the the speaker rings then lay the glass on


o and make sure you keep the metal piece at the top of the door panel that has the felt on it that the window rolls against and make sure you glass that onto your door panel you making..otherwise you'll never get it to sit right on the door and stay in place without a bunch of screws(which looks like shit)

Yeah He usually takes a while to respond, he does alot outta his shop. But as for the clips there are these metal ones you can use, I gotta find the link to them. I wouldnt use them factory plastic tree clips anyways, they suck.

Looks like the top metal of the door is still a little rusty. I would clean all that off and use either the same High temp glue that you will cover the whole door panel with or use CA glue there.

have you found the link? i've been everywhere trying t find longer clips or push rivets that will work. yes I sanded and painted the metal strip since that picture. what is ca glue?

http://www.yourautotrim.com/clips.html


CA glue is basically super glue but on crack x10000. DO NOT use reg super glue though lol it will not work.

when I got my car painted they took my door panels apart so I didn't see exactly how the metal piece attaches to the door. all I see is just some little hooks that look like they can easily come unhinged wen I roll the window up. I'm guessing it will stay tight when I put the clips in the panel to hold tight against the door. for some reason jus seems like there should be more....I dunno?

when I'm ready to start rapping the door should I only glue the fabric to the very edge of the metal? the weatherstripping has the chrome bead that runs along the top of the metal piece and if I wrap around the metal piece that strip will not lay on that edge if u know what I mean I will post a pic later

While waiting on my speakers I started the other door frame.



Then I threw on the back panels just to see how they meet up with the front door panel. I prolly will do the rear panel before I glass anything to make sure they have a nice clean line where they meet up



My next question...whenever my speakers finally arrive and i'm ready to wrap my door. I dont think I will be able to wrap the fabric over the edge of this metal piece that holds the window sweep. Should I just CA glue to the very edge? The window sweep has like a chrome bead the lays and runs along that edge. If I wrap and bondo it will be too think to rest the window sweep on it.



Take a look at my next issue. That screw holding on the mdf to the metal strip touches the molding when I close the door... I have to figure a way out to correct this. One thing imma do is put a flat head screw there.

Has anyone had a panel painted and it still touched a piece of plastic molding did it mess up the paint or scuff up your door panel?



If I succeed with these door panels here is what is next

What kinda stretchy fabric you gu ys use?

I was gonna use fleece. but I also heard I should use polyester cuz its thinner

if you on a bidget you can get them cheap fleece blankets at walgreens that are usually like 3 for $10 and they work fine...the black nylon or polyester thin stuff is lot more expensive so guess goes on your budget

I made the mistake of using fleece once. I used so much resin getting it wet it was unreal... Im gonna be glassing the upper door panel in my 73 to hold 3 6.5's and one of the "bullet" style tweets, so I'll try the nylon/polyester shit next. Where you guys get it for the low from? Any particular store?