This is just my opinion with a little bit of a rant mixed in with it. I have a 1991 rs camaro that I swapped in a ls1 and did the 4th gen dash also,so it seemed only right to swap the 4th gen door panels too. My advise to anyone thinking about trying the door panel mod is DON'T. I don't care what anyone says there is NO WAY to make these panels look even decent without modifying the new panels to an extent that you would have been better off making a custom panel in the first place. I see why there are only 1 or 2 articles on them and they dont show all the bad spots. You just as well try to graft an escalade door panel to your camaro. I have wasted several days worth of my time and a drivers door that is now destroyed thinking I could get a decent fit from these panels.

 

Agreed, after hacking up the panel and door I put the stock ones back on. Just make better covers for the stock panels.

 

As soon as a get a new door and get it painted I'm gonna break out the fiberglass and just make a panel. I gave my stock panels away so I will have to replace them also but I have the 2001 camaro panels that I was TRYING to install and some speaker pods from a 4th gen T/A that I can glass onto a stock 3rd gen panel and make that work since my doors are all wired with the 4th gen switches.

 

hey bro !! got any pics of your ls1 swap?? underhood pictures to share??

 

I agree and have stated that several time when people asked for info over the last few years. I did it once myself and I too wasted my time.

A perfect example is here https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...sh-swap-5.html

I quoted one individual who posted selective shots in 2010 and asked him to post pictures of all areas. It's 2013 and still no picture updates. This gives the illusion to onlookers and people considering the mod that they will "massage" in and look/fit like a factory panel. Which of coarse couldn't be further from the truth no matter what you do.

 

Easier to use the gta panels

^in my 86 iroc

 

kitt_2000, I have a small build thread with some pics. I like the looks of the GTA panels too. I have never seen that style of door panel before.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...-ls1-swap.html

 

No hacking on mine

4g dash with ac etc etc


Gto dash



I tried camaro door panels too and from experience those are harder to work with

The job over all is a pita

 

Again. Blurry non close up pics taken at the oddest angles. Nobody would take pics like those if it wasn't a hack job. Plainly obvious the flaws are being hidden.

 

Cool story bro . Go kick rocks

 

Post some pics at different angles. That way everyone knows if it is or isn't a hack job

 

Point proven. All of his other pics are the same. See below

Another cropped pic (nice window block you have going on there), conveniently covering the a-pillar on your dash swap.

TPI TERR here is a proper way to show your dash swap, Looky a pillar is perfectly visible!





Or you could just roll your window down a bit




Take advice from the member on here shr00m. I think he was one of the earliest attempts at swapping factory 4thgen door panels, he has also shown several pictures and attempts to make them work. As seen in his work below custom is the only way to go.

 

double.

 

Personally i dont like shrooms the back bottom of the door with the speaker but thats my opinion i like tpi terr's how he blended the gta and the 4th gen panels together

 

I figure to each his own. We all have diffrent tastes and skill levels when it comes to modding things. The 4th gen door panels just weren't for me. Could be just the fact that I didn't have the skill or the patience to make them look right but however I didn't like them. People's opinion varies too on what they consider nice.

 

Wraith wants a cookie . #PVC

Looks like u have so much time to dig for my info . Do u have the free time to dig up who initially took that pic maybe cuz it wasn't me. The name of a photographer at the 2009 irvine spectrum meet? OC CA.

As op stated takes skill . U wasted ur time and u weren't satisfied . I am . My car not yours. I don't half *** anything on my car . It's up to date on interior ls swap paint wheels brakes suspension and all. I bashed on your paint once and I don't have to say it again to make myself feel better .

Like a said go kick rocks with your negativity

Unsubscribed cus I have better things to do than to reply to u

 

Only took two seconds considering the link to your build is in this thread. You registered here in 2005 and have nearly 2000 posts, I registered in 2002 and have 935 I think you have more time on your hands here then I do .

Oh I see how it works it was someone else taking pictures for you. In any case the other pictures are worse. You should be proud of a job well done and show it properly.

4thgen dash swap and door panel attempt are a novice mod. Most anyone can do it with a little time and some hand tools. There is nothing hard about it at all. The OP in this thread failed because the swap does not work properly, you seem to be the only one still around that claims they fit nice.


Don't post pics on a public forum if you don't want to be criticized. Happens on here all the time. After all these forums are for learning and exchanging info. In fact I have posted pics in the early and late stages of mods to be criticized. I prefer to be told outright if something I did needs more refinement.

I think you have me mixed up with someone else, you have never said anything negative towards my paint.

Ok thanks for the tip

Thanks for the info, I'm sure you do and have a good one.

Actually those are mine.

 

I was talking about the pic below

 

Thats not a GTA/4thgen door panel blend. That is a factory 4thgen door panel.

 

Hell, it would have been a hell of a lot easier not doing the speaker in the bottom corner. Being a convertible I needed more mid-bass inside the car and that solved my problem.

That was all done after most of the door panel was all ready molded over to the third-gen door card:



You can see how much was added to the panel to blend the speaker in:



The doors are all most finished to. Still need to wrap the speaker pods and work on grills. The center insert is not attached either, just pressure fit. The door pieces and arm rest is wrapped in vinyl, lot of hand stitching on the arm rest:





And also to make sure the door panel is solid and everything works well, all mounting points and the handle portion were grafted for a 4th gen door:



I think it boils down to what's each person finds acceptable. There's no way to make a 4th gen door panel fit a third gen door and be acceptable to me. Vjgillespie didn't find them acceptable, Wraith didn't find them acceptable. I don't need pictures, I know it's not hard to make them look ok. Here's the one I did:



Perfectly acceptable to a lot of people, not to me.

Kevin D.

 

Oh.... now i see at first it looked ike a blend due to the crack

Nontheless it was a great job but the speaker just looks kinda awkward to me but hey not my car just my opinion and ive personally seen up close 98 camaro panes on a thirdgen they look nice yet if you look hard enough there is a few problems hence why i just stuck with the gta panels i have

 

This seems like a far better Idea for me to do for my third gen camaro Is there any way that you could make a youtube video on how the person who made this look amazing. I would gladly even pay for the video because the hardboard when I try to find door panels for my third gen literally the cardboard is in shoddy shape fourth gen doors are hard plastic which sounds like a great idea

 

Another year (two in this case), another bump.

Here's the finished panel.




Only pic I have before the car went into storage while I'm finding a house in Orlando.

I'm not sure one could make a video on what I did, but everything I did can be found here: http://www.ms-fbodies.com/

Kevin D.

 

Thank you shroom this site is going to help me so much. Much thanks

 

shr00m, your mods have given me so much inspiration over the years. I really want to do the 4th gen door panel conversion and I am fully prepared to graft them onto "door cards". In your opinion is it best to use cardboard or can a piece of plastic be used to make the door card out of.

TPI TERR, I'm curious, what exactly did you have to go through to install the GTO dash into your car?

 

I wouldn't use cardboard, it could distort it as the resin dries, plus could eventually be damaged by water like the stock panels. You could use plastic, but would need to make sure what ever you used to join the two together is compatible with the OEM plastic and what you used.

I used some wall board from Lowes. It's slightly thicker then the stock cardboard, by the door clips still spin on fine. It's easy to trace, cut, and sand to get it to fit just right. I used the water resistant version that's coated on one side and put that towards the inside of the door.

Of course by the time I grafted everything together, the only thing left from the board was the outer ring that holds the door clips and top plate.

Kevin D.