PorscheDoc

Well, building door panels is like watching glue dry....literally. I need to redo the drivers side, as I learned a few tricks as I went, so that is next, but the passenger side door panel is done. This was my first attempt at upholstery, so it was slow going. I used whisper vinyl, which looks pretty close to a leather material. As well, I just couldn't mount a speaker grill in the door panel, it looked too good without them, so I will upgrade the rears, and it will be good enough for me. Ignore the brown seats....I am working on that

There is no weight savings by doing this, it was strictly an asthetic modification. Next will be a set of racing seats....err engine build in progress....errr....damn too many things to do, too little time, lol.

The before....


The after....

Turbo16v

They look great! Where did you get the pull straps?

PorscheDoc

You can get various color nylon strapping from any local fabric type store. I went to Joann's, bought a couple of feet of red, it was something like 80 cents a foot.

M Danger

whats up with your center console?

reno808

were did you get the plastic piece that holds the strap????

billthe3

That looks hell of nice! Since you don't have the speaker covers, are you not using front speakers?

I doubt I could live without my armrests... Or map pockets now that I think about it. To much random crap in the car.

PorscheDoc

It is the RS trim that Porsche used in the 964. They were less than $5 each, but they take about a week to get from porsche.

964.555.761.00 (Rose)
964.555.761.01C (Black)

PorscheDoc

It's in my original post

Random crap is suppose to go in your house or your garage, not your car

billthe3

Fancy that. lol Mis-interpretted the post.
Yeah, I know. So far all I have in there is a y-splitter for the cigarette lighter and then all the tape holder inserts from the center console. I just need to find a good box or something to put them in.

CO951

Wow, I really like that look!!

reno808

Hey doc could it be possible if you do a write for it. I really want to do it to my car

Guns951

BEAUTIFUL DOC! Please...this begs for a write up!

PorscheDoc

Yea, I can put something together....

reno808

Awsome THANKS A MIL

PorscheDoc

Ok, here is a quick rundown of a writeup. It is not of quality that I usually like for writeups, but I didn't document the process at all as I went along, so it is all from memory. I didn't take many pictures during the process, but everything should make sense once you start doing this. Putting the panel together is pretty much just a little common sense as far as the vinyl goes, so I won't go into a lot of detail there. There are probably some guys out there that could chime in with some improved ways to do things, so by all means do...I am no expert on upholstery.

This procedure will probably take you the better part of 3-4 evenings, because you will glue a small section, then let it set up for an hour before gluing the next small section. This kills your night pretty quickly. The actual time spent working on the panel isn't too bad.

What pictures I did take, were of the first door panel I did, which was later redone.......for the reasons you will see in step 10. That panel was not a finished product!

Materials:
2 yards of whisper vinyl (pretty much a fake leather): 1 yard is more than plenty per door panel, you can probably get 3 door panels done with 2 yards I am guessing. IIRC, about $7.99 a yard
1 Tube of general purpose 5 minute epoxy
1 can of 3M super trim adhesive
Staple gun and 3/16" (leg) staples (I used 1/4" staples, but 3/16" would be about perfect)
2 yards of quilter's fusible batting (get as thin as possible) About $10-12 IIRC. I bought a package that was 72"x90" and i have a ton left over
2-3 feet of nylon strap. Something like $.80/foot
Tape
1 chip clip (i used this to hold the vinyl in place while the glue was drying in a few places....it is strong enough to hold it in place, yet too weak to leave indentations in anything)
2 short 6mm bolts, or something of similar size, and washers, and lock nuts.

I got my nylon strap, batting, and vinyl at a local fabric store called Joann's

Procedure:

Note: I would recommend getting an extra set of door panels and do the conversion on them. Once you start this procedure, there is no going back. Door panels are all of 20 bucks on ebay, and it doesn't matter what condition they are in, as long as the actual cardboard of the door panel is good. If you have very nice door panels, then save them, and hack up some higher mileage panels.

1. Remove the door panel from the car. This consists of removing a bunch of screws, and is easy, so I won't go into detail
2. Remove the 10mm nut holding the door handle to the door. At this point all you have is a flat door panel. Remove the 2 metal screw clips that hold the window switch panel to the door. They just pull off.
3. On the backside of the door panel, remove all the staples holding the fabric to the door.
4. The leather (or vinyl) of the door panel is actually 2 seperate pieces from the factory (A&B). There is the lower section, and the upper section. You can peel them off carefully, and set aside. Notice the very thin padding used on the lower section. The batting I got was a bit thicker than the factory stuff, but it worked out good.


5. Door pockets and speaker holes: There are probably a couple of ways you can do this. For the door pocket, I filled the pocket with extra batting until it was even with the rest of the door. Then i took a thin, yet sturdy piece of posterboard, and taped it over the hole, holding everything in place. The result was a nice firm section of door panel. If you are deleting the speakers, you can do the same over the speaker hole, just without the batting obviously. If you are keeping the front speakers, then leave it alone for now.
6. To hold the door panel to the door itself, we are not going to use any screws. You will use the snap in clips which are found at the rear of the stock door panel. You will notice that in the door itself, there are holes for these clips all the way up towards the speakers, but there are no holes in the door panel itself. Mount the door panel on the car, mark and drill holes in the carboard, so you can insert some of the plastic tabs all the way around the door panel. I don't know what the part number is for these clips, but I had a bunch of extras that came with an extra door panel, so I used those for the bottom and front of the door panel. This will allow for a very clean looking install. Also at this time, figure out where you want to mount the RS Trim piece, and cut your oblong hole for that, then mark where to drill the door for the bolt that will hold the nylon strap on. Please make sure your window is up when you do this!
7. Next, cut a piece of batting to match the lower section of door panel, and with your super trim adhesive, glue it to the door (follow the directions on the can exactly, I will go into detail of what happens if you don't later).
8. Now to the vinyl. I used one section of vinyl, not two like the factory, because I could not figure out how to make the union look good. Cut a general outline of the panel, leaving a couple of inches around the edges so you make sure you have enought. You will start by gluing in the following order. Follow the instructions on the can exactly. This involves spraying both pieces that are being glued, in 3 stages. Spray once, let sit for about 5 minutes, spray your next layer, let sit for 5 minutes, spray the 3rd layer, let sit for at least 5 minutes, and then bond the pieces together.
9. Start with the upper section first (1). Apply your trim adhesive, and set the vinyl into place. I used a bunch of textbooks to apply the pressure. The trim adhesive needs about an hour to set up. Once that is completely dry, then do the same to the top section of the door (top). Next move to (2), the rear of the door. Read the next step for section (3). This step will probably take you a couple hours to do (waiting for glue to dry).

10. Section 3. This is where the 5 minute epoxy comes in. The picture shows the first practice panel I did. You can see where the trim pulled away from the door on section 3. This happens because you will be pulling on the vinyl as you attach it around the perimeter of the door panel, and if it is not glued down very solidly, it will pull off. This could be because I am very impatient, and didn't let the trim adhesive set up, or because I stretched the vinyl too tightly, and pulled it off. So my solution was to glue this section with a 5 minute epoxy, which is very strong, and glue it in place with that. Again, use your textbooks to apply the pressure. Let it set up for an hour.
11. Once the upper section is completely dry, then it is just a matter of attaching the vinyl around the perimeter of the door panel. Start at one end (i started at the rear/top), and work your way around.

12. Once you get about half way down the door, cut your hole for the door handle, and window switch area (use an X shape), and staple that on the backside. Continue to work your way around the door panel
13. I very lightly stretched (very lightly) the vinyl over the edges, and on the backside, folded the vinyl over once, then stapled in place. If you do not fold the vinyl over at least once (have a dual layer), your 1/4" staples will be too long.
14. Lastly, I cut the hole in the vinyl for the RS trim piece.
15. Once you get the vinyl completely attached, then mount your RS trim piece with the screws on the backside. Mount the panel on the door and you are done.