I bought the new molded 1968 deluxe repro door panels a few years ago at Ames, first being impressed with them being molded and looking more stable... You even could save the door water shields! At first sight they looked identical to my original ones except being thicker because of being made from foamed ABS plastics.
To quote Ames:
Quote:
Formed in an expensive vacuum machine, these custom door panels meet or exceed OEM specifications.
THEY DON´T!
Concerning my first impression I then was less impressed with fitment - because they don´t do. Nevertheless, I managed to get them on...
Problems involved: - being molded, they are MUCH thicker than the original cardbox panels, - so the brackets for the power window switches couldn´t be fixed the regular way anymore; - the screws for the door handles have been way too short; - being so much thicker, they are much stiffer, too. The regular door panel fasteners can´t stand the tension and will pop out over and over again - I had to fix the panels with additional screws. - And the worst: in combination with regular (= soft seal) door weatherstrip I couldn´t close the door anymore!!
I switched to latex door weatherstrip and managed to solve this issue - until yesterday: after only 300 miles both side´s latex door waetherstrip is torn on the upper end + the passenger´s side molded door jamb is torn, too...
That does it! I´m really pi$$ed... I will re-dye my old cardbox door panels (luckily they are black), will put on some new lower carpet, will get off the chromed moldings from the repros and put them once again on my original panels. Then back to regular door weatherstrip and this issue will be solved forever!
To everyone who´s thinking about buying these deluxe repro panels: THINK TWICE! They are really expensive ($369.00/pr) and you will get into some major trouble! If you still have your old ones in a somewhat reasonable state - restore them! You will spare a lot of time, anger and money!
Hmm, I bought (4 years ago) the OEM "brand" panels (same?)and the only trimming I had to do was on the L shaped (? rear 1/4) moulding to get the door to close. I have the latex rubber on now, and all is good. The pulls seem to be fine and the fasteners seem to grab. Do you have a photo of the back of the panel...wonder if they are the same, mine had a yellow foam back if I recall,
It has a black plastic coating on its backside, being molded, too. At first, I didn´t recognize that these molded panels have been foamed (still don´t know the reason why), thought it´s simply plastics instead of cardbox. But cutting the holes for the power window switches and inside door handles showed the foam being up to .45" thick...
