Tweed S-10 Door Panels

[rhenry01]

OK, I found the parts for my door panel that my wife kindly moved...then forgot where they were so it's time to complete this project. I have had the door disassembled for almost a year (I've been traveling) and I decided to not use vinyl on this side but use a nice tweed then go back and recover the other door. So while the glue dries on the first parts I'll assign a little homework for you to read.

When I recovered the passenger's side door panel I posted each step on s10forum.com (and to brag a little it was the most read "useful" thread on that forum.) So I'm going to give you a link to it and you can go over there and read that thread. It covers the disassembly of the door panel as well as making the backing plate for the lower portion of the door.

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7068

I'l be posting the tweed parts a few pictures at a time so be patient I can't afford to spend a lot of time in the garage during the week.

EDIT: Now that the project is done it cost me about $40 to do both door panels. Just thought that you would like to know

Enjoy!

[incudose]

damn that turned out awesome, i remember seeing it a while back...way to go

[mnchvgs79]

Looks awesome Rick!

[rhenry01]

To get the festivities into high gear (auto humor) here is a picture of the door panel as it sat in the truck. This thing is just nasty! So I did the disassembly like what you saw in the homework reading. What I want to show in this how-to is the work with tweed and the method used to attach it, all the rest of the steps are the same as working with vinyl.

[rhenry01]

I took a different approach with the tweed; to glue it up I am using a can of 3-M Super 77 spray adhesive. When using the Super 77 you will need some turpentine on hand in a little cup to soak the spray head in after you spray the glue. And you will get some on your fingers so you can use it to clean your fingers too.

We need to cut the foam that we are using to the approximate size of the backing plate (see the picture.) Leave yourself plenty of extra space on the sides so that you don’t have to worry about alignment once the glue is applied. Remember that the surface of the foam that touches the backing plate is back side…..if you spray glue on the wrong side it won’t matter as long as you have given yourself PLENTY of extra space on the foam.

Now lay down some newspaper on a relatively flat surface (I recommend you not do this on your main work surface because you might mess up your tweed later with excess glue.) Spray the BACK SIDE (the side that will touch the backing plate) of the foam with the adhesive. You don’t have to overdo it, use common sense. Immediately after you spray the glue, turn the can upside down and spray it into a piece of scrap newspaper until no more glue comes out. Remove the spray head and put it in the turpentine. Move the foam back to your work surface and throw the newspaper away. At the edge of the foam touch the glue surface to determine if the glue has reached it’s “aggressively tacky” point. When it has reached this point carefully put the backing plate on the foam and press down on it. Roll the backing plate up to stick the foam to the rounded upper portion. Monitor the piece for a few minutes and watch for separation (especially on the rounded part), if you see some just press the foam back in place. If the foam doesn’t stick in a small place don’t worry about it, we’re covering the foam with tweed so it doesn’t matter. I watched mine dry for about 10 minutes and it stuck nicely.

[rhenry01]

Once the glue is dry you can use your scissors to trim the foam to the shape of the existing foam on the backing piece. This is really easy unless you don’t let the glue dry all the way, then your scissors get all gummed up and you have to explain to your wife why you are cleaning her good sewing scissors with turpentine!

This is what you should get!

[rhenry01]

While the glue was drying on the foam I cut the Tweed to the proper size. I laid the original piece of cloth frontside-down on the tweed that was frontside-down and cut out a shape that was about an inch larger all the way around. The extra inch are needed because the foam we glued in requires more cloth to cover it. Remember, you can always trim the tweed back after you get the first edge glued down .... but don't be wasteful.

[rhenry01]

I started with the bottom edge of the panel and I suggest you do too. I put the tweed face down on new newspaper and positioned the backing piece on it and doublechecked the fit. I then sprayed on the glue so that it coated the tweed and the lower edge of the backing piece. I used a piece of scrap cardboard to cover the area of the backing piece that I didn't want to spray with glue. I then moved the tweed and backing piece to the workbench without changing the position of the backing piece on the tweed. After the glue got "agressivly tacky" I stuck the tweed to the backing piece trying to get the grain of the tweed as straight as possible. I then applied pressure to the tweed until I was sure is was stuck down really well.

After drying I test fit the top of the tweed to the top of the backing piece and trimed the tweed until it wrapped around the back of the backing piece like the original piece did.

[rhenry01]

Position your scrap piece of cardboard covering the entire back of the backing piece and pushed all the way up under the lip to protect the area we don't want glue on. Spray the glue down the top edge of the tweed and on the lip of the backing piece.

When it's agressivly tacky stick it down stretching the tweed a little to make it tight!

[rhenry01]

This is the hardest part. You have to make some good choices in cutting and trimming to get the tweed to fit just right. Take your time and cut a little at a time, you can always trim more...but if you make too big a cut at first you can't uncut!

For outside corners (bottom to side corner) cut across the corner at 45 degrees so that when you fold the edges over the meet...check out the pic to see what I mean. For inside corners cut almost right up to the corner coming in at a 45 degree angle. When it fits right go ahead and spray the glue and sitck the tweed down!

[rhenry01]

Here is the completed upper piece of the door. It looks great, even the wife says so! I'm going to let it dry real well then mount it back up to the door panel.

Next step is the lower piece. I have to make the backing piece like I showed you in the homework reading (you did read it didn't you?) I am picking up a new pattern bit for my router tomorrow so I'll be making it when I get home from work. Since I already have the pattern it should take me about 10 minutes to rip that out.

So stay tuned!

[rhenry01]

With the lower backing piece made I put a little Elmers exterior wood glue on the 9 t-nuts and seated them with a hammer. I cut some foam to the approximate size of the backing piece sprayed it with some glue it and when it was tacky I put the backing piece on it to dry. Be careful and remember that the heads of the t-nuts are under the foam ... so put them and the foam on the proper side of the backing plate! Here is a pic.

[rhenry01]

After the glue on the foam has dried a little cut the tweed to the approximate size. Position the backing piece with the foam on the tweed and glue one of the long sides down. Spray the glue so that it covers the overhanging tweed and the part of the backing piece where the tweed will be stuck. The dark strip on the edge of the backing piece in the picture is glue.

[rhenry01]

Glue the other long side then continue to the sides. On the rounded edges cut the tweed in a sawtooth pattern so that the tweed lays flat on the back of the backing piece. For details see the homework reading.

[rhenry01]

Here are the tweed panels laid on the door panel to give you a quick preview. I haven't cut the vent opening out yet and I need to paint the plastic pieces. But for you guys that are getting rid of the vents this is what it will basically look like.

[rhenry01]

And here is the door panel with the plastic parts painted and the tweed parts attached. A HUGE difference!

How does it look?

[BiG B7184]

looks excellent man. u doing the whole interior on the dime? or just livenin them doors up?

[brewthru85]

Good job, Rick!!

[dozer313]

Im really feelin that... i would get another few yards of tweed and do a contrasting color on those untweeded parts... but thats just me

[rhenry01]

Here is the door panel hung back on the door.

Right now I have the interior pieces pulled out so that I could get the headliner out. I have the headliner material to recover it so that is the next project on the '92. I don't know that I'm going to do much more than finish up all the half done things that i started on the '92 because I started on the '96. I'll take soome pics of the headliner as I do it but after I get it all back together I'm finished with it because it looks like it is going to be my daily driver again.

Thanks for checking out my thread!