Sourmug's Decklid Vent Build ** 56K Warning!!** (Page 55/69)
Sourmug JUN 16, 07:41 PM
The door panels are now finished!! Here are the pics and information:

I wanted to use a vinyl on the flat portions of the panels that is similar in color to the center panels on the seats and other pieces. I went down to a local automotive upholsters shop and went through their sample books and found something that is awfully close but not exact. It will have to do. I also purchased some close cell dense foam that's about 1/8" thick for padding under the vinyl.

I started by making a template for each of the areas:

And using the templates I cut out 4 pieces of Masonite to use as the backing for the vinyl:


Then using the Masonite pieces as a template I traced out the shapes onto the foam and cut them out:


The foam was then attached to the corresponding Masonite piece using contact cement and final trimming was done:

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 06-18-2007).]

Sourmug JUN 16, 07:47 PM
The vinyl was then laid out, marked and cut to rough shape. More contact cement was applied and then began the meticulous process of adhering the vinyl to the Masonite. Care has to be taken to ensure that the vinyl lies flat and even, in particular around corners.


Once the pieces were complete they were then attached to the panels using high quality construction panel adhesive and placed into my high tech clamping fixture:

And here is the final product:


Me likey!

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 06-18-2007).]

Silentassassin185 JUN 16, 09:03 PM
very sexay!!
RCR JUN 17, 07:34 AM
Another awesome job, Nolan.
Sourmug JUN 17, 09:56 PM
Thanks guys!

The color is slightly off in the pictures but I'm pretty darn happy. It seemed to me like I was never going to be able to figure out how to do them and I was actually quite concerned that they would look like crap. It's nice to be finally finishing things like the head liner, door panels, console infill pieces. I can actually start to see some progress and a big part of it is because of the input and encouragement you all have been giving me. Thanks to all! (Sounds corny I know but it's true.)

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 06-18-2007).]

thismanyfieros JUN 18, 10:54 AM
hurry up and finish this thing nolan...that way i can just drop mine off to be done next..lol tim....nice work...
Sourmug JUN 18, 08:38 PM

quote
Originally posted by thismanyfieros:

hurry up and finish this thing nolan...that way i can just drop mine off to be done next..lol tim....nice work...



LOL Sure Tim, sure...
Sourmug JUN 18, 11:26 PM
While I have the dash out I did another quick modification to the HVAC plenum to get the center console vent outlet to line up with the Stealth dash vent. The stock Fiero outlet sits about 3/4" too low and 2" too far to the driver-side when compared to the Stealth. If you are doing this swap the position may vary depending upon how you Stealth dash sits in the car. Here's a picture to show what I mean:

The red box approximates the position I need to move the outlet to. I basically cut out two pieces from the plenum in such a fashion that they could be rotated to achieve the required offset:

They were reversed and placed back onto the plenum:

and then covered with a couple of layers of fiberglass, painted black and the modified assembly was reinstalled:

I also removed the flange and foam strip that was at the end of the outlet. The trimmed outlet is almost exactly the same size as the Stealth vent and a short sleeve with foam tape seals will be needed to interconnect the two together once the dash is back in place.

Nolan

[This message has been edited by Sourmug (edited 06-19-2007).]

Sourmug JUN 19, 10:54 PM
Just a little update:

I have now lined the back side of the door panels with the sound deadener that I used in the car interior:

The completed panels are somewhat heavier than when they were stock but I think it's a small price to pay to have the interior match and look like a stock install once it's done.

I also want to have some custom badging that will distinguish my car. I like the Pegasus theme so I have been looking for some distinctive items that bear this image. I actually found something on E-Bay that I like. To make the badge backing I had to make some small Masonite disks that are to be covered in black vinyl and have an aluminum outer ring. Where does one find an aluminum ring you ask? Well let me show you.

I used my dremell with a cut off wheel and got this:

I need two of these as they are going onto my new door panels. Once cut off and cleaned up a bit I traced out the inner diameter onto the Masonite:

I rough cut the disks and then used my disk sander to finish them off so that their outside diameter is slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the aluminum rings.

then using the ubiquitous contact cement I attached the vinyl:

The aluminum rings were then fitted over the vinyl and the excess trimmed. The back side had some super glue/crazy glue applied to the vinyl seam and the back of the ring to hold it in place and I then had two of these:
Sourmug JUN 19, 10:58 PM

I next applied my new badges to the two disks and adhered the disks to the door panels:


The badges are actually two Greek 10 Drachma coins that have been hand cut.


Nolan