DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 49
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From: Douglasville, Georgia
DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics
So I was bored today and decided to take care of a little interior work I been meaning to do. It's really simple and cheap, much better than buying it from a dealer or something. Basically all you need is a sq. yard of your choice of fabric. I chose black vinyl to match the rest of my car but you can go with whatever color you want like red or something if you want "CTR" style doors. THe fabric I got was only $3 per sq. yard so it's very cheap.
You'll also need some spray glue like 3M Super 90 or something similar. Spray glue is just the easiest to use. Super 77 was $10 for the only size can they had, if you can find a smaller one do it because you don't need that much.
Also get some 1/2" sheet metal screws and washers. You'll need 32 of each because there are 16 per door. Shouldn't cost you more than $5.
I just yanked the door panel off, it shouldn't be too hard, just pull and slide it out. Just remember to unscrew the door lock and the panel where the power window button is, if you have them. There's only one screw in each. There's 2 harnesses behind the passenger door and 3 harnesses behind the drivers side if you have power windows, mirrors and locks.
Passenger side with the 2 harnesses
If you have tweeters that's what the 2nd harness is for
Drivers side with the 3 harnesses
Again if you have tweeters and power locks that's what the 2 harnesses here are for
Door panels off:
There are 2 different set's of screws to take off when you remove the side pocket. One on the outside, and then one on the inside.
Now comes the fun part and the most time consuming part of the process. You have to take off all of these little plastic rivets and they are a bitch to get off. I had to use an exacto knife and a flat head screwdriver to get these SOB's off. If you have something easier to use then it should go faster. It's just that some of them are glued down and some aren't.
And when I was done each hole looked like this:
As you can see that's why you'll needs the washers, to hold it back down in place.
When all the rivets are hacked off you should be able to take out the fabic piece easy.
Now all you have to do is peel off the old fabic piece.
You can clean that green crap off if you want, but I didn't and it's fine. Depending on what type of backing that the fabic has you might want to clean it. It's a lot easier if you get a fabic that has a flat mounting surface.
Don't throw out the old fabic, you'll need it to measure the holes for the new piece. Just sketch it out and cut the holes accordingly.
Now just spray the Super 77 on the plastic as well as the back of the fabric and stick it on and smooth it out. Let it dry for about 15min before you screw it back on the panel.
Just use the washers and the screws to mount it back on and put everything back together.
Then just push the entire panel back on the door and marvel at your new door.
Finished product
I just put some door finish on the vinyl so it would match up with what was on there already so it looked nice.
It only took me about 2-3hrs to do this because of those damed plastic rivets or else it would have been done a lot quicker. Looks much nicer now if you ask me.
Oh yeah, and don't ask me what that red stuff is on the back of the panel because I have no freakin clue. No it's not blood.
Modified by 151 Proof at 12:06 AM 4/14/2003
You'll also need some spray glue like 3M Super 90 or something similar. Spray glue is just the easiest to use. Super 77 was $10 for the only size can they had, if you can find a smaller one do it because you don't need that much.
Also get some 1/2" sheet metal screws and washers. You'll need 32 of each because there are 16 per door. Shouldn't cost you more than $5.
I just yanked the door panel off, it shouldn't be too hard, just pull and slide it out. Just remember to unscrew the door lock and the panel where the power window button is, if you have them. There's only one screw in each. There's 2 harnesses behind the passenger door and 3 harnesses behind the drivers side if you have power windows, mirrors and locks.
Passenger side with the 2 harnesses
If you have tweeters that's what the 2nd harness is for
Drivers side with the 3 harnesses
Again if you have tweeters and power locks that's what the 2 harnesses here are for
Door panels off:
There are 2 different set's of screws to take off when you remove the side pocket. One on the outside, and then one on the inside.
Now comes the fun part and the most time consuming part of the process. You have to take off all of these little plastic rivets and they are a bitch to get off. I had to use an exacto knife and a flat head screwdriver to get these SOB's off. If you have something easier to use then it should go faster. It's just that some of them are glued down and some aren't.
And when I was done each hole looked like this:
As you can see that's why you'll needs the washers, to hold it back down in place.
When all the rivets are hacked off you should be able to take out the fabic piece easy.
Now all you have to do is peel off the old fabic piece.
You can clean that green crap off if you want, but I didn't and it's fine. Depending on what type of backing that the fabic has you might want to clean it. It's a lot easier if you get a fabic that has a flat mounting surface.
Don't throw out the old fabic, you'll need it to measure the holes for the new piece. Just sketch it out and cut the holes accordingly.
Now just spray the Super 77 on the plastic as well as the back of the fabric and stick it on and smooth it out. Let it dry for about 15min before you screw it back on the panel.
Just use the washers and the screws to mount it back on and put everything back together.
Then just push the entire panel back on the door and marvel at your new door.
Finished product
I just put some door finish on the vinyl so it would match up with what was on there already so it looked nice.
It only took me about 2-3hrs to do this because of those damed plastic rivets or else it would have been done a lot quicker. Looks much nicer now if you ask me.
Oh yeah, and don't ask me what that red stuff is on the back of the panel because I have no freakin clue. No it's not blood.
Modified by 151 Proof at 12:06 AM 4/14/2003
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 528
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From: TX
Re: DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics (Nine)
looks good bro. does HT have a how-to section, they should make one and put all this how-to stuff so ppl can find it quicker and newb's wont have to ask questions. l 
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
From: Douglasville, Georgia
Re: DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics (ThunderLips)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ThunderLips »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wait until it gets hot outside and the glue lets go...I know because it happened to me. You need a stronger glue to hold the fabric...</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's why I used the glue for metal instead of the one for fabric. It has a stronger bond. Plus, it's super easy to change it now that it is screwed down instead of that dumb plastic rivets.
That's why I used the glue for metal instead of the one for fabric. It has a stronger bond. Plus, it's super easy to change it now that it is screwed down instead of that dumb plastic rivets.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 904
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From: It really is slow, NY
Re: DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics (sparq)
He reached his bandwith limit 
I wanted to see them too
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sparq »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All the pics come up as red X's now</TD></TR></TABLE>
I wanted to see them too <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sparq »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All the pics come up as red X's now
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sushi Buffet Champion
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 5,968
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From: Orange County, CA, US
Re: DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics (95hbMatt)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95hbMatt »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bump! Get those pics fixed! I wanna see!!</TD></TR></TABLE>
Me too.
Me too.
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,015
Likes: 2
From: houston, tx, usa
Re: DIY Door Panels w/ details and pics (GapxGuy)
looks good dude.....i dont have one of those pockets though, the big slit one on the panel itself (92 vx, i wonder why??) anywho, i'll be doing this soon as well.....looks good bro
