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DIY Carrera-RS Inspired Door Panels (and an Introduction)


ErikA

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I have a "build thread" of sorts on the go at the Pelican Parts Canada forum: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/canada/898830-alberta-pelican-checking.html. I primarily started it as a way to prove to people in the buy/sell forum that I am, in fact, a real human. But it also tracks the progression of my car over the past 3 years from "mechanically sound but cosmetically challenged hot rod" to "mechanically sound-ish and decent-looking hot rod." Along the way, I've also put up some pictures from road trips, etc.

 

My car is a black 1980 911 SC with 275,000 original miles (i.e. 443,000 km), that was originally delivered in Hawaii, moved after one year to California, and spent the 10 years prior to my ownership being hot-rodded and flogged by a fastidious (if eccentric) older German man living in the Slocan Valley. Over the last 3 years, I've put a bit of work into her, and have logged about 35,000 miles, mostly on long road trips.

 

The car originally came with the US-spec, emissions strangled, 3.0 litre engine, making 180 hp at 8.0:1 compression. these things were pretty wheezy in stock form, making their power down in the 5000s in the RPM range.

 

Highlights of the previous-owner's work includes building the engine to 3.2 litre short stroke specs on a single plug. 98 mm pistons and cylinders, 9.5:1 compression, 964 cams, backdated heat/exhaust with SSIs and a sport muffler, and simplified Bosch CIS fuel injection. It also came to me with a factory LSD, 7 and 8 inch wide Fuchs, and a decent set of sport seats. Details can be found here: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/745771-sc-3-2-short-stroke-engine-extras.html It revs really readily and makes about 230 hp at the top of the RPM range. It hits the rev limiter at about 7200 RPM.

 

Since then, I fixed some of the bad, replaced the carpets in the interior, and installed a WEVO shifter.

 

I figure that as I do things of note, I'll start threads on here, somewhat mirroring my Pelican thread, starting with the DIY Carrera-RS inspired tartan door panel project I just finished. Bear with me, this will take multiple posts, and the photo embed function sometimes fights with me!

Edited by ErikA

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

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Interior Door Panels

 

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the doors. The original cards were looking a bit tired and didn’t fit with my desired aesthetic (more on that later). Most people seem to do the 964 RS door panels in earlier cars, which I am really not a fan of. To me, they look out of place on an early car. They’re great in the 964, or if you’re going for a more modern performance vibe in the early car. But they really clash with “period correct” details, in my mind.

 

I then thought about alternative door arrangements. The Singer 911s use a Porsche 356 armrests, for instance, coupled with a 964 RS-style strap:

 

http://singervehicledesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/21-singer-911-topanga.jpg

 

This looks great, but would likely be beyond my skill level to replicate. Plus, I don’t necessarily want to start down the imitation route. Another thought I considered was an early Porsche 912-style door pull, as used in the Dutchmann Weekend Racer build (see: Dutchmann - Weekend Racer). Again, this is a great look, being much simpler and more elegant than the 911 door pulls of the era. But these parts are quite difficult to find, etc.

 

So I decided to with a Carrera RS-style door, but with my own variations, inspired by the tartan interiors that Porsche was installing in these cars in the 1970s. I hope you like it!

 

P1011065-XL.jpg

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

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DIY Door Panel Basics

 

There are a couple good how-to guides on Pelican Parts and Rennlist if you search around, but I really didn’t find anyone using tartan wool to make an RS-style panel. So I’m hoping this post adds to the information currently out there. One good resource for a budget Carerra RS backdate is David Pengilly’s YouTube channel, with door panel here:

 

 

Definitely cool to see a hobbyist doing major surgery on a Porsche fairly successfully and on a budget!

 

The first step was sourcing the materials I needed. The door panels themselves are ordinary 3mm hardboard from Home Depot, wrapped with 10mm upholstery foam and tartan fabric. From AppBiz, I procured the “welt bead” rubber trim for the fronts and backs of the doors, as well as the bezels for the electric window switches.

 

For fabric, I ordered a few yards of medium weight (10 oz. I think) wool tartan through the Highland Scottish Gift Shop here in Calgary (Scottish Gift Shoppe: Celtic Weddings | Scottish Formal Kilts). I initially thought I should use heavy weight fabric, but apparently the medium weight is what they advise people to use for furniture upholstery, and it was definitely easier to work with than heavy weight fabric. The tartan is Ancient Campbell, in keeping with my family heritage, of course!

 

In summary, the tools and materials you will need are as follows:

 

- 3mm harboard

- 10mm upholstery foam

- fabric/leather/vinyl to cover the panels

- Carrera RS door pulls and door opener straps

- rubber “welt bead” edging

- window switch bezels (you can try to re-use the on your existing panels, but you will most likely destroy them when removing them)

- electric drill and assorted bits

- 2 ¼ inch hole saw to cut the hole for the door lock mechanism

- utility knife

- staple gun and staples

- die grinder or file/sandpaper

- nutsert tool, nutserts, and metric countersunk machine screws

- fabric punches and hardwood block

- 3M spray adhesive

- fabric glue

- stop fray fluid

- serger machine

 

I should also mention that AppBiz sells an entire DIY kit for this, which could be helpful! Also, rather than using the actual Carerra RS door pulls and openers, I had a Pelican Parts user who goes by the handle SD Swede make me a set of his straps, in distressed black leather with brass grommets. Here's his thread with examples of his work: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/841915-custom-leather-rs-panel-door-pulls-check-straps.html

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

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Tartan!

 

I basically followed the various forum threads/videos I found in my research, but also applied some common sense using the factory door panels as a guide. You’ll note the multiple venues in the below picture. This project took me a long time, basically due to my own neurosis. Cutting into very expensive, very beautiful Scottish wool is nerve-wracking!

 

Step 1: The Panels

 

The first step was to carefully trace the factory door panels onto the hardboard with a pencil. Make sure to clamp everything to the work surface so it doesn’t shift, and you have a precise template to work from. At this stage, you should work out where all the hardware will go to mount the finished panels into your car, and mark the screw holes accordingly.

 

The new panels can then be cut out of the hardboard using multiple passes of a utility knife along a straight edge to make a clean cut, and a drill to make the various holes. I bought a 2 ¼ inch hole saw attachment for the drill to cut out the big hole for the door lock mechanism.

 

I repeatedly test fit everything as I went along to make sure it fit. To get the final fitment tweaked just right and smooth any rough edges on the hardboard, I used a die grinder followed by 80 grit sandpaper.

 

image1-L.jpg

 

Step 2: Prep the Door

 

I didn’t take any photos of this step, so hopefully this description suffices. SD Swede very helpfully sent me a set of countersunk machine screws to attach the door pull and opener strap to the door.

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCNzba8u0Y_dikWk8nGii25e2zyeUC0wi9O-XdH40jehw419yf

 

I purchased a cheap nutsert tool from Princess Auto that came with a variety of metric nutserts, in the same sizes as the machine screws I had (| Princess Auto

 

http://images11.palcdn.com/hlr-system/WebPhotos/29/292/2925/2925204.jpg

 

A nutsert tool operates in a similar manner to a rivet gun. It is used to install a flush-mounting nut into a steel surface, so you can put a bolt into that surface, without having to hold a wrench on the backside to drill it down. In the most basic terms, you screw the nutsert onto the tool and push it through the hole. You then use the tool to crush down the nutsert and pinch it into the metal, so it won’t pop out or turn as you tighten the bolt. This image shows the before and after of a nutsert once you tighten it down:

 

http://www.ejot-avdel.se/sites/default/files/styles/product_image_default/public/product/images/Nutsert.jpg?itok=SjHbRHG5

 

I drilled appropriate size holes in my interior door skin where I wanted the door pulls and opener strap to attach. I then installed the appropriate nutserts. I drilled two holes at the backside of the door where the opener strap attaches to the door latch mechanism. I drilled one hole where the opener strap passes through the door skin. I drilled another hole above this so I could see what I was doing when I installed it. I used a step-drill bit for this task. Sure I butchered the door skin, but you should see the jagged twisted mess left over from an old speaker install. See the above YouTube video for a decent explanation on this step.

 

In order to mark the holes in the hardboard door card where these new bits of hardware go through, I screwed in the machine screws most of the way and put a small dab of grease on each head. I then test-fit the door cards, so that each machine screw left a small imprint on the backside, which marked where to make my drill hole.

 

With that, I was ready to move on with upholstery. I’m embarrassed to admit now, but I was pretty intimidated by the thought of doing the upholstery, so I drove the car around with the bare door skins and just the leather straps installed for about 4 months! I definitely got a lot of funny looks over that. “So, uh, are you going for weight savings here?”

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

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As an aside, I always make terrible fun of my buddy for always buying "Power Fist" crap from Princess Auto, mostly because I am a terrible snob. All joking aside, Power Fist is not horrible quality for the money. Also, I understand from a "source" that they have an insanely generous return policy. That "source" may or may not have once returned an $800 benchtop lathe that was comprehensively used to the point of destruction for a full refund.

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

Link to comment

Step 3: Upholstery

 

I did the actually upholstery in stages, always encouraged by my progress, but at the same time intimidated by the forthcoming step! I think my neurotic overthinking paid off in the end result though. I had a ton of help from both my mother-in-law and Laura with this part of the project. I definitely relied heavily on their skills and advice in working with the fabric, as this was and remains somewhat of a dark art to me!

 

First, I overlaid the 10mm foam over the door panels and cut it to fit. I used a round fabric punch to punch out the mounting holes and this worked very nicely. I then used 3M adhesive spray, left over from the carpet install, to glue the foam down to the hardboard panels.

 

We laid this out over the wool fabric, and my mother-in-law carefully cut out the fabric in the rough shape of the door panel, leaving enough excess to wrap around and staple on the back. She then used a serger machine to finish the edges of the wool so it wouldn’t fray.

 

We then carefully wrapped the foam/hardboard panels in the wool, stapling along the back, and finishing the front and rear edges of the panels with the rubber welt bead, as had been done on the factory panels.

 

image4-L.jpg

 

image5-L.jpg

 

Here again the project stalled for a while, as I had nicely wrapped door panels, without any of the requisite mounting holes. I debated how I wanted to proceed from here, as I did not want the fabric to fray around the holes in it. I thought long and hard about using grommets around all the holes. However, it would be very difficult to install grommets with the fabric stretched onto the panel. Marking the holes, taking it apart, installing the grommets, and re-stretching the fabric seemed like a good way to end up with a poor result, as the pattern in the fabric would likely be distorted from this process.

 

I finally decided to use a fabric punch and hardwood block to make the holes with the fabric in place, and use stop fray fluid to keep the fabric from fraying. As this will discolor the fabric, I was pretty careful using this stuff:

 

image6-L.jpg

 

image7-L.jpg

 

For the big holes where the window switches and lock mechanism go, we punched a small hole in the center and then used a very tiny set of sewing scissor to make x- or pie-shaped cuts, as appropriate. We then stapled the fabric on the back, or in the case of the window switches, held it in place by installing the AppBiz bezels. We also used a bunch of fray stop to (hopefully) keep these bigger holes from fraying.

 

P1011058-L.jpg

 

P1011059-L.jpg

 

P1011062-L.jpg

 

P1011057-L.jpg

 

Next, I debated what to do with the hole where the door opener passes through. In an ideal world, I would have used an oblong grommet, as demonstrated in the above YouTube video. However, in the interest of time, we made some patches from vinyl that we glued into place, later opening up an x-shaped cut. I think this works fairly well.

 

Finally, I glued some thick, high-density upholstery foam to the back of the panel in the same places that the factory did, in order to keep the thing from rattling, and installed it all in the car:

 

image11-L.jpg

 

Anyway, hope that was informative, if you want to attempt this yourself! Like I said, I definitely could not have done this without the help of a couple skilled and knowledgeable ladies. And there were definitely times where I was worried this wouldn’t turn out well, and where I wondered aloud if it was worth doing on my own, instead of leaving it to an upholstery shop. In the end, this was pretty cheap. The biggest outlay was on the fabric ($250-ish, if memory serves) and a couple of tools that will be used for other projects in the future. The remaining materials were very, very reasonably priced.

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

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Interior Complete

 

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

 

P1011066-XL.jpg

 

P1011069-XL.jpg

 

P1011068-XL.jpg

 

That popping-out horn button will be a project for another day. There's always something to be done on this car!

 

In conclusion, this project accomplished two things. First, it made the interior look one million times better than it did before. Second, I was able to bamboozle Laura into working on the car, something she typically has no interest in doing. And where I say "we" above, I basically mean "Laura did this while I looked on patiently but nervously."

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

Link to comment
Thanks Keith! It was good fun - will try to get it out and show it off as much as possible in the coming weeks..

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

Link to comment

Keith, thanks for sharing such detailed report on your door panels. If you ever want to submit an article for publishing in our region's newsletter - please contact me. I'm sure we can find space!

 

Kevin Johnston

22 Porsche Cayman GT4

21 BMW X5

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Thanks Kevin - would be happy to contribute sometime!

Erik

 

2001 911 Turbo X50

1980 911SC - Black, 3.2 litre short stroke SOLD!

2002 BMW M3 - Carbon Black over Cinnamon

Link to comment

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