Sorry Guys...
I forgot all about this thread...Basically I used
a fairly
THICK WATERPROOF BOARD type to make the bottom of the panels using the old door panel as a pattern. I reused the metal uppers of my old panel. The metal uppers are covered in vinyl which I basically glued on with a GOOD glue (for landau tops...Weldwood). The channelled part (center) I drew out on top of the fabric and sewed through 1\2 foam with a mesh backing. I then marked the layout on the
CARDBOARD and sewed the channelled part to the panel board. I basically did the same thing to the bottom part but flipped it over and sewed it to the bottom of the center part so no raw edge and flipped it back upright glued it down and turned all the raw edges around the board under and sewed about 1\2" from the edge. This finishes out the edges, looks nice and assures the trim will not come loose from the door. I attached the upper metal part of the door panel to the board with alot of glue and 3 or 4 tiny screws. There's enough foam on the metal uppers that you cant feel the point of the screws.
One thing I did could not do however is reuse the original clips to hold the door panels on. I had to drill holes and uses stainless steel screws with trim rings. They look just fine though. The board I used won't warp like the originals. If you don't have acess to a sewing machine I'm sure most any upholstery shop could run the stitches for you and most likely will have this type of panel board. If your looking to make sculptured type panels, you can shaped your foam with an electric bread knife. Thats what I've always used
You can see my
Trashed Seat had to be
REPARED
Here's my vinyl
PACKAGE TRAY. You can see I chalked it off before sewing through the foam and tray board. I did the same thing with my
DASH. Maybe overkill but my pad was cracked and it saved me 200 bucks for a new pad. This covers all that up..
I hope this makes some sense and can be of some help...I wish I had taken more pictures...I really didn't give it much thought at the time..
Thanks for the good words...
Makes it all worthwhile.