Hi folks,

Getting ready to do my door panel swap. The original ones have oversized speakers whose aesthetics I don't care for. I want to swap back to some OE sized speakers, which pretty much means new door panels. I've got the ABS panels now, and a new set of clips, and am waiting on carpet, vinyl, and foam, which should be here Wednesday.

First thing - I didn't realize how much finishing the ABS panels required. I knew that some holes were not cut so that they could be finished to fit any model year, but besides needing all the holes drilled/cut, they also need to be trimmed considerably. Any suggestions on good tools for trimming/cutting ABS? It's about 1/8" thick.

Second thing I didn't realize is that the armrest bins are not included. They are attached to the original door panels with heavy staples. Any suggestions on how best to attach them to the ABS? Glue?

Other than those specific points, anyone have any other suggestions to make this easier? It looks like dropping one panel into the back of the other one, as in the photo, may help me more accurately mark cutouts that aren't marked in the ABS itself, but things like the speaker holes may still require some guesswork, or shared measurements from members that still have original holes in their door panels (thanks in advance).

Also, what's the correct setup for the plastic clips? I've seen some threads where people mentioned that some clips should go in the door, and some in the panel. I've never seen any that were attached to the door itself in my 928s, but, I've never owned one from new, and I don't think I ever had the door panels off of the newest one I owned (21K miles when I got it - not this one).

Cheers,
Paul

 

I have a set of 88 door panels in great condition if you'd rather use those and try and return the abs ones. They have the pockets still atached and have the original speaker mounting plates and liner foam for between the vinyl and the backer board. If you're interested PM me

 

I would buy another set of door panels in the color you want ,
the ABS panels are good for scuba diving or submarine races.

SRSLY thats a whole lot of work to make a door panel with all the cutouts and holes to be drilled,
most of the door clip holes have to be pretty close or the panel will not fit properly

 

Well, I'm still planning to do this. Probably would have paid the finished price from Rob if I'd known all the details earlier, but, it is what it is, and the (not as much as I would have thought) saved cash is certainly needed for many other items on my car.

I'll update the thread as I go.

I did get some tips from Rob:

1. Contrary to some forum wisdom, none of the plastic clips attach to the door. They all attach to panel pointing into the holes in the door frame.

2. Power staples or small rivets can be used to attach the bin to the panel. I have a pretty decent electric stapler I may try for this.

3. (From Rob and also from a plastic supply place here in town) There's no particularly easy or special way to trim and cut ABS... just various normal saws. I have some saw blades for Dremels and for a die grinder, and a reciprocating air saw, and a jig saw, and a band saw. Between the bunch of those, hopefully I'll find some relatively easy options, at least for the long cuts, like the top of the panel. I'm going to try clamping a metal strip to guide and protect when cutting that edge. Also have sanding drums for both Dremel and die grinder to use for smoothing and maybe the inside of some of the cutouts.

4. Rob recommended center-punching the marked spots for the clips before drilling them. I think I may center "punch" them with a soldering iron...

 

What are you doing to match the vinyl? Carpet?

 

Current progress
The carpet and vinyl I bought from Rob over at Classic 9.

Started working on these today. A few notes:

1. Harbor Freight sells a kit with miniature saw blades and an arbor. These work pretty well on a die grinder for most of the cuts. A Rotozip works well for the curved cuts, but has the traditional difficulty to control that I've experienced from these tools (it's hard to hold the panel and the Rotozip with only one set of arms). A flap sanding disc on an angle grinder does well for cleaning up the edges and finishing off conservative trim cuts.

2.Many of the cuts (like the insert panel cutout, and speaker holes) are marked lightly in the back of the ABS. Some are not.

3. The metal plate that the courtesy light clips into is not included. I'll need to see what I can fab for that.

4. The ABS is actually more flexible than the original fiberboard, and there is no backing plate for the speakers. I think I may fab one, because I'm concerned that the extra flexibility behind the woofer may be a bad thing.

5. New pockets looks like they might be available, and not too expensive. Checking with Roger... I'd rather install new ones than have to pull the old ones and reuse them.

6. Although the spots where the clips go are marked, the marks aren't always centered to the little dimple where the clips mount. Not sure whether I should go by the marking or the center of the dimple. I'm thinking the latter.

 

Do you have pictures of the finished product and pictures of progress as you put it together?