Finishing touches on door pillar mod...(lots of pics so beware)

[Glyph]

This post is for those that have done the imfamous "door pillar mod" and those that plan to. As if it isn't bad enough that once you're done you still have the small hump on your rear side panels, you are now forced to look inside them at the inner workings of one half of the vert's secondary door latching system. I had a day to kill so I thought I'd try and do something about it (shy of rebuilding the entire panel lol) and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. So, if you're interested...here you go;

Here's what I'm talking about fixing. Ugly isn't it?



So I decided to fiberglass it. For those that have never used fiberglass before; it's both a blessing AND a curse because you can fabricate almost anything you can think of BUT it's gotta be the messiest, worst smelling, stickiest, dustiest stuff in the world. Here's pretty much what you need.



As far as the brush goes I've found the best success with trimming it like this...



Ojkay, I started by covering everything but the opening with a tarp. Cover it good. If you get fg on your interior (or exterior) you will NOT get it off. I then masking taped over the openig with two layers like so...



Then hit it up with a good shot or two of Pam spray..



Start by mixing some hardener with some fg resin and applying it liberally to the taped area. Apply a layer of fg matt. I forgot to mention that you should rip your matt into small pieces before starting. Don't cut it, rip it. It works much better. Trust me. After you get your first layer in place, add another layer of matt, more resin, then if you want; one more layer. Mine looked like this...



After it's no longer tacky (about an hour or so), pop it off and after carefully drawing lines where edges need be, cut it out with a Dremel with a cutoff bit. It should look something like this.



When it's sized exactly how you want it. Apply a thin layer of Bondo and when it's almost dry go ahead and sand it smooth. Now mine looked something like this...



Next I needed to figure a way to attach. I thought of a few ways that would work and ended up going with a modified version of those little metal clips. I'm not sure what they're called but they look like this...



I drilled 4 holes through the new end caps and the edges I was trying to cover. Than I glued the clips on the inside of the panel perfectly lined up with the drilled holes. Tough to explain so here's another pic;



While the glue was drying, I painted the end caps flat back. I could've covered 'em in black vinyl but the flat black paint most closely resembled the panels they were attaching too. Here they are after painting...



and here they are completely done...

Left side...



Right side...



Yes fiberglass canbe great for all kinds of things. In fact, for those of you that have been wondering, that's how I was able to reupholster my door panels and then reattach them without using any nails, staples or bolts. Here's a puic of the inside of one of my door panels...



So anyway, I hope this helps someone. If you have any questions, or if I accidentally forgot anything, please let me know. -Glyph

PS Sorry for all the pics but I couldn't resist. My digi-camera broke a few months back and I just replaced it.

[ishkabibble]

Nice work. When I do mine I'm going to fill the gap with some smooth cardboard dyed black and see how it looks.

[AZhitman]

Glyph, that OWNS!!!!!

Great work bro, I'm impressed.

How about another thread about the door panels? I'be been considering doing mine like yours.

Also, I'll be removing the rear hump this summer and making new rear side interior panels - maybe from FG or even heated/molded plexi, covered with black vinyl.

[Florida240sx]

Nice. I'm goign to start playing with some fiberglass again. I just hate it because of it getting on you. Buitl a Soap box derby car and had to keep getting in and out of the car when we were shaping it. I couldn't sleep for a while.........