Has anyone found a good material to replace the cardboard used for the interior door panels? I was thinking on making some door panels which are a bit more durable and less prone to rotting...

 

Yes i recently made a custom set my self and I used hard board, it is basically the material that peg board is made of but with out the holes. It is thin but really strong and for added protection I sprayed some clear wood protectant on it that repels water to help prevent mold and rotting

 

Oh and you can get it at most hardware stores

 

Do you have any pics of your door panels?

 

Well no, I can take some if you want but I always have problems posting them on here..lol

 

I took all the cloth off mine and covered the entire thing with glass resin then threw on some dark primer after all the resin cured. It's a huge difference!!!

 

Well post pics guys lol I love this stuff I can't wait to fab my own door panels

 

Here are the completed pictures. My ex has the pics of the process on her camera and won't give them to me....



and the back




Ya, first I took off all the old material all the way down to the cardboard.
Then, I put fiberglass resin on the front and back. I also added extra cardboard with glue to reinforce some parts that had rotted off or spots that I'm modifying
Next, I sprayed primer on the completely cured resin. I was afraid it would mess up my material I would be laying down.
I then took apart the old covers and made templates on new material. Gray vinyl on the bottom and headliner foam covering for the top. I also used the old top padding for the new top material and the bottom felt stuff as padding for the vinyl.

One thing to mention is when you fiberglass it you will have to make sure the board doesn't swell too much where the panel clips go. I took regular glue and soaked the holes first and squeezed them flat with dollar coins pinched together with vise-grips. I put plastic between the glue and the coins to keep from tearing the cardboard. It made the holes nice and tight and I never had a problem putting in new clips. DO IT!

Sorry for the long annoying post (hope I didn't threadjack)

 

Yeah that looks awesome! Got any pics of it on the car? How did you do the 2 tone thing?

 

I really have a two tone with a reflective pin stripe separating them. I just used the old pieces as templates, pinned everything together and sewed it all just like you do. I took my time and didn't halfass anything.

I don't have any pics of it in the car but I did already test fit them. I'm putting some Frost King ducting insulation in right now. I put some on the back of the door skin and then I'm going to put some on the inside between the metal and the door panel.

Think I should do two layers on the backside of the door skin? It's already a tight fit for my hands.

 

i used that same hard board stuff and it worked great. here's a picture of my custom door panels:



i have a write up about how i made them here: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...06-post13.html

 

Here is my door panel I made sorry it took so long to post

 

Wow those both look great! I especially like the red and black one for some reason, I guess its cause the colors catch my eye. If you combined both of those into one I think they'd look all kinds of cool lol

 

yeah my car is red and black thats kinda my theme...lol

 

Looks like I'm kind of late on this one, but I am planning on using corrugated plastic for a new backing for my door panels. It's similar in construction to cardboard boxes, but of course a lot more durable. The U.S. postal service uses them for transporting the mail and they are really durable. They are sold in various grades and available from most hardware stores.

 

Well when you start on it post pics of your progress, I know I'm interested

 

Will do! Probably be starting on them this winter.

 

heres mine, the cap along the top looks like hell but i used vinyl leather and fake carbon fiber sticker stuff over plexiglass