Custom aluminum door panels

[V8-valiant]

Hey everyone, I’m considering having some aluminum door panels made up for my 65 valiant. The idea I had was to mimic the original styling with bead rolling and then having them powder coated. But I’d also be open to a set of custom designed panels. Also ideas or suggestions on how to attach them. Looking for pictures of aluminum door panels if you have done this I’d love to see them!

 

[Matts440]

@Cope would be a guy to ask, he's done some awesome interior work. I could see using self tapping screws or these:

 

[Cope]

Hi.
I do custom aluminum interiors and bead rolling.

A LONG time ago i made a set for my dart that perfectly replicated the original door panels. It was a lot of work due to all the parallel lines. It looked ok.

As far as attaching the panels goes. Tech screws, rivets or my favorite but WAY more work is the 1/4 turn Dzus Fasteners. (Shown above) They just look super race car.

Let me dig up some aluminum pics.
I probably won't be able to post them until after work so give me a while.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Just go with aluminum checker plate. lol

 

[Matts440]

Hi.
I do custom aluminum interiors and bead rolling.

A LONG time ago i made a set for my dart that perfectly replicated the original door panels. It was a lot of work due to all the parallel lines. It looked ok.

As far as attaching the panels goes. Tech screws, rivets or my favorite but WAY more work is the 1/4 turn Dzus Fasteners. (Shown above) They just look super race car.

Let me dig up some aluminum pics.
I probably won't be able to post them until after work so give me a while.

Knew you'd be the man to go too. Just by chance how much would you charge for aluminum door panels?

 

[Dfr360cuda]

Summit has some generic ones. Id planned on doing the same thing. I have a roll of metal from an HVAC friend for when I do get started.
Stay tuned

 

[Cope]

Not a door panel but here is the "seat delete" in my dart.

I just about always use the two inch revile then do a two inch trim bead and then engine turn the two inch bead.

 

[Cope]

Knew you'd be the man to go too. Just by chance how much would you charge for aluminum door panels?

Usually its about 500 for each panel. That changes based on the shape of the aluminum and the complexity of the bead rolling.


Door panels i use .040 or .050 depending on who I buy it from. Thicker is harder to warp but also very hard on the machine and my hands.

 

[Cope]

One issue on MOPAR door panels is the design of the interior door handle. It pulls in the wrong direction for flat pannels. You must replace it with a standard handle and re work the linkage or you have a big ugly hole in your door panel.

The dash board for my dart.

My sail panel / package tray.

As you can see, i am a big fan of picking a style running with it. My car is all 2 inch stand off, two inch bead and everything that is raised is engine turned. No exceptions.


More two inch

Here is some interesting panels. The I made for free for a buddy so... they are a mix of super awsome and i dont give a chit.

I just did a single roll to stop them from "oil caning" and no engine turning but I did use counter sunk 1/4 turn Dzus fasteners so its eh.... not bad for free...

Anywho. You get the idea. If you want some advice on how to do it shoot me a PM and i will walk you through it. I dont really want to post all the info as it is what I do for a living.

 

[Demonracer]

Cope, you do some trick looking work, my compliments.

 

[Cope]

Thank you. Me and my pops basicaly gave up everything we had to open this shop and we are operating, living and working with zero saftie net but we been making it work for a while now so thank you.
It realy means a lot when people in the race world like our hard work.

So thank you sir!

Our 1927 Model T, big block drag car.