rcarpen22

recovered in plain black vinyl and modified to fit 6 1/2" round speaker. Very basic strap pull that's just bolted to the support that hooks on the door.

CyCloNe!

very nice! I demand a how to thread

carbongecko

+2 i agree so i can make carbon fiber ones.

rcarpen22

Thanks! I can probably do that:-) Will try to have it up sometime this week. Unfortunately, I didn't really take that many pics along the way, but it wasn't too hard. I can take some pics of the back to show what I did.

xschop

Very clean looking. I want to do that this winter. I'm going to build billet door pulls and want a simple clean look to it. A how-to would be appreciated.

carlege

Im guessing you take old door panels and modify them?

rcarpen22

Yep, I'll do a write up with pics and post it in the next few days.

rcarpen22

So, here's what I did. This is super easy so anyone can do it. First, get a stock door panel strip it down to just the panel, like this:


Then turn it over and remove the old staples holding the vinyl on the main part of the panel:


Peel the vinyl off the bottom part of the panel carefully until it's all the way off. Don't cut it, as you will use it to make the template for the new vinyl.


The panel will then look like this:



Use the old piece of vinyl to cut the new piece. Put it face down on the back of the sheet of new vinyl and trace the contour. Make sure on the sides and bottom, there is about an inch or so of extra vinyl to wrap around the panel. The top should exactly follow the contour of the old piece.

I filled the void under where the old armrest was with batting to make it about level with the front of the panel. Then I put a layer of batting over the whole panel and spray glued it in place. I don't have pictures of this step. I cut the holes out for the door handle and speaker after I glued them on. Oh, before gluing on the batting, I cut the speaker hole out to accommodate a standard 6 1/2" round speaker.

After that, lay the new vinyl piece over the batting (once the glue is dry) and line up the contour along the top. On one side, fold the vinyl over and staple it (you'll take the staples out later so it doesn't matter if it pokes through). Then go to the other side of the panel and do the same.


Fold the vinyl over in a few places along the bottom and staple that as well.
Next, run a bead of hot glue along the panel right at the top of the new piece of vinyl and glue the top of the new vinyl along the seam (where the new vinyl will meet the existing vinyl on the top part of the panel.


Next, start at the top on one side and remove the staple you put in to hold it. Pull the vinyl tight (but not too much to pull the vinyl out of place) and start gluing the vinyl on to the back of the panel. Glue it all the way around to the top of the other side, removing the few staples you put in as you go.


Then make a hole in the center of the vinyl where the hole should be for the speaker and door handle. slit the vinyl out to the edge (see pic), pull it through to the back fairly tight and hot glue it down.




Then, all I did was drill a hole through both ends of a length of red webbing and bolted it through with a washer on each side to the bracket that hooks on the door. This bolts through the existing hole where the armrest bolted in. See pics.




That's all. It's not perfect right up close, but it looks pretty good and it really easy. All the materials can be gotten at a craft store for about $50. I got the highest quality vinyl they had, so cost me a little more. The first one took a while, but the second one only took me about an hour and a half start to finish.

odurandina

fantastic work.

toddk911

Very nice! Very "RS"

I am i nthe process of doing the same to as much of the interior as possible. Not a full track look or feel, just very "RS"

sydneyman

Great Job! i thought about putting my door pull there as well but decided i wanted it to look more like the RS America door card...

Steve113

I wish some body made them in CF

carlege

ricers like rice

User 52121

Very cool! I've often contemplated doing something similar but I use my door pockets to hold small stuff (sunglasses, Kleenex, etc.)

DanaT

How much do you "wish"?

There is a reason they aren't made. In general, Carbon fiber is about $40 a square yard depending upon thickness.

Once you get enough layers for adequate stiffness, you are about $190 into it just in the price of the carbon fiber. Now add the epoxy and you are probably anouth $30 into it.

So, just in materials, there is $230. Now comes the misc stuff (release cloth, adsorbant cloth, vacuum bag, etc). Probably close to $250 in materials for a single door panel.

Now, it can be done cheaper if you take two layers of carbon (you need at least two layers not to see the glass fibers) and the rest is fiberglass. Now down to about $110 in materials.

Add into all of this the labor to make the parts. You haven't even made the molds yet.

So, if there was about 10 people willing to buy a set at around $400-500 per panel for 100% carbon...they could be made. I just don't see that many 951 guys spending that on door panels.

-Dana