Door panel vinyl skins are NOT identical left to right

[davepl]

I'm skinning my door panels today with the '70 blue fancy scroll work vinyl. The reproductions are actually pretty decent, though the woodgrain is puffy looking and somewhat wrinkly, which I hope will go away. They have a foam backing which is, again, puffier than the originals but arguably better than the paper/cardboard of the originals.

Before you glue them down, though, I would cut off the four foam tabs that stick out, along with the plastic guide. Otherwise when you wrap around the edge they stick out like a sore thumb because that part of the vinyl is about 1/8th of an inch thicker even compressed.

Either way, they LOOK like they're identical, just a set of 2 of the same. There are no holes cut and nothing else to break the symmetry. So, after failing to spot any differences, I went about cementing them down.

That's when I noticed that there ARE die cut hole for the handles, they're just only tiny cuts where you'll eventually cut the holes yourself. This actually isn't very helpful, and I got super-lucky by having grabbed the right one. Hey, I had a 50/50 shot. Buttered toast does sometimes land butter-side-up I guess.

For those that care, I'm using 3M 88 adhesive, which is like a contact cement. The spray can makes a nice pattern, it's pretty cool how it works. It's a lot stronger than the 3M 77 I normally use. I bought the 88 for the headliner where you're working against gravity. The door panels probably don't need that strong of a bond.

I'm actually kind of wondering now if you don't have to bond the front surface, just the back side edges to "hold" it in place.
- Dave

PS: One thing I did think was cool was that after stripping the old vinyl skins off you can see that the 'backing plate' to which you affix them is actually the bottom-of-the-line steel door panel. My Dad had those in his 68 GMC 910, just green like the rest of the interior (though they may have been an accent shade, it's been 20 years since I've seen it).

Not rocket science, but clever that the same part can serve two different purposes on two different trim levels.

[davepl]

Random tips I learned:

- After applying the glue to the hard panel I put a 1" piece of tape horizontally across the top 1" of the panel to prevent it from sticking. It doesn't look right pushed down into that valley, it looks better stretched across it

- To seat the eustachians or whatever they're called (the plastic circles where the crank and handle ride) set the panel on a roll of masking tape with the hole concentric and just thump it in. The 3 tabs will lock it in. Can't do that with it on a hard surface (without the riser of the tape to let the tabs get through and behind the panel).

[seattle gmc]

Do you have pics or of you re-skinned doors? I would like to see how they turned out. Also where did you get them from?

I was taking off my door panels today to access the inside of the door, and noticed i too have the vinyl over metal panel. The vinyl isn't in the worst shape, with only a few tares that might be fixable, but they are really wrinkley and puffy towards the corners. Also that mylar stip, or whatever it is at the top has all but flaked off. At first i was thinking to buy the ready to install kind, but i doubt they have that metal backing like the original. So i now think this is the route i will end up taking.

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

My reproduction door panels have been on for over ten years . . .
. . . and the wrinkles on the wood grain are STILL there !!!

. . . .

[special-K]

Thanks,Dave,for this helpful thread. Could save others from disaster. You got it right,thems is 'scoochins rat thar...Yup. I wonder what a heat gun would do for those wrinkles. The original door panels have flattened out from what they were originally on most trucks. That's one thing I've always liked about GM,they never made a part they didn't have to. Sure makes it easier for us now...and better for the working man back then