A couple issues with new door panels

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Offline blown motor

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A couple issues with new door panels
« on: April 08, 2015 - 04:52:19 PM »
I put new door panel on the passenger side but it didn't pull in very good on the top corners. Also there is virtually no clearence between the panel and the window crank at one spot in the rotation. Suggestions please.
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Offline 67vertman

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2015 - 05:19:19 PM »
Wow! that fitment is not good.   :hyper:

Maybe a couple of more scews will close the gaps along the door.  But for the window crank?  :clueless:

Maybe a spacer, or bend the handle some.



Ron - Born and raised in Southern California

I got the 1970 Cuda, but still need the hot blonde to ride shotgun!

First car -1969 Road Runner 383 4sp

Current ride - 1970 Barracuda 440-6 4 sp Dana 60  (4:10)

Offline marc70challenger

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2015 - 05:29:37 PM »
I know (or am assuming) yours are reproductions?

Mine has a  similar fitment issue on bottom ....

I found this doing some general reading about Challengers:

Colin Neale (chief of interior design) loved the sculptured look of the plastic molded door trim panels. He said he would “soften” the hard touch of the molded panel with a textured surface. Well, it was still hard---texture or no ... it had a cost advantage as well as the 3-D freedom of a molded part, but it was unfriendly to the touch and had no sound dampening quality and, therefore exaggerated any rattles in the door.

Burton Bouwkamp added, “The polypropylene material was unstable and every door panel was a little different dimensionally which made a problem for Car Assembly. The material was flexible so the assembler could force it to fit.”

As Burton Bouwkamp wrote:
...the compact specialty car market leveled off below 1,000,000 cars per year and our E body sales never hit even 100,000 per year. We lost money (unhappy management) and we did not build the cars well (unhappy customers). 1970-1974 Barracudas and Challengers are admired and collected today but 35 years ago they were seen as problems.

   http://www.allpar.com/model/challenger.html

I know it doesn't help your situation out ... and more experienced people here I am sure can vouch for reproduction stuff ...

1970 Challenger 340 Performance Package
1965 Barracuda - "The Pumpkin"  http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=116471.0

Offline roadman5312

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2015 - 05:38:05 PM »
I know (or am assuming) yours are reproductions?

Mine has a  similar fitment issue on bottom ....

I found this doing some general reading about Challengers:

Colin Neale (chief of interior design) loved the sculptured look of the plastic molded door trim panels. He said he would “soften” the hard touch of the molded panel with a textured surface. Well, it was still hard---texture or no ... it had a cost advantage as well as the 3-D freedom of a molded part, but it was unfriendly to the touch and had no sound dampening quality and, therefore exaggerated any rattles in the door.

Burton Bouwkamp added, “The polypropylene material was unstable and every door panel was a little different dimensionally which made a problem for Car Assembly. The material was flexible so the assembler could force it to fit.”

As Burton Bouwkamp wrote:
...the compact specialty car market leveled off below 1,000,000 cars per year and our E body sales never hit even 100,000 per year. We lost money (unhappy management) and we did not build the cars well (unhappy customers). 1970-1974 Barracudas and Challengers are admired and collected today but 35 years ago they were seen as problems.

   http://www.allpar.com/model/challenger.html

I know it doesn't help your situation out ... and more experienced people here I am sure can vouch for reproduction stuff ...

                Thats really interesting.   :popcorn:

Offline marc70challenger

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2015 - 05:56:33 PM »
                Thats really interesting.   :popcorn:

People have a tendency to glorify the past ... the "good ol days". 

My dad had a 68 Charger (my first spoken word was "car" ... not mom or dad ...   :lol:  )  ... I remember when it was only a few years old going through a car wash in it ..... it was like running through a sprinkler ....  :rofl: .... last time he tried that ...

Other cars we had from 60's and 70's always had some kind of issues .... but that was they way it was .... leaks here, belts always throwing there ... you carried extra stuff, fixed most if it yourself .... it was just par for the course ...

I have a friend today who had a 69 Charger back in the day (actually met his wife at dealership he bought it new) ... he had an alternator mount bolt that would sheer or break ... no matter what he did .... every few months or so, he would have to pull over, take a hockey lace on it to get home, and put new one in.

For issue of OP .... I wonder on the original production line if the holes in the doors were pre-drilled ... or they took what they got from polypropylene's of the day and then drilled the holes .... and if holes were pre-drilled .... well ..... the man-in-charge admits the QA/QC sucked - so even decent reproductions won't match perfectly ...



1970 Challenger 340 Performance Package
1965 Barracuda - "The Pumpkin"  http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=116471.0

Offline brads70

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2015 - 07:12:13 PM »
Oh great... :banghead:  For those that don't know I bought a full set ( front and rear), Murray picked them up for me at Roseville. They are suiting at his place. Plan is to pick them up at the BBQ Murray is having in June.

When I first got my car I found some used door panels and they bolted/screwed right up to the existing holes.



5 , 4 , 3, 2, 1 .....
Brad
1970 Challenger 451stroker/4L60 auto OD
Barrie,Ontario,Canada
Proud to own one of the best cars ever made!!!!!

My restoration thread 
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 My handling upgrade post
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=73985.0

Offline CudamanTom

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2015 - 07:22:51 PM »
Is it possible to apply a heat gun to the affected areas to help it relax? :dunno:
I'm sure some concentrated heating will be needed to make it happen.
I would try that before drilling more holes, which would stand out and not look right anyway.
1971 Cuda Vert 440-833 - (clone)
1971 Cuda 440-727 - (clone)


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Offline blown motor

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2015 - 11:09:12 PM »
I don't think drilling new holes will help. I couldn't push the panels in flush even before trying with screws. The bottom of the panel fit good but the further up I went the worse it got. The screws are really pulling to hold the panel in that close. Others bought panels on the sale at Roseville, has anyone else had trouble? I should also add that the with the old panel the passenger side window crank also rubbed the door panel. It wasn't a problem on the driver's side.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2015 - 11:20:01 PM by blown motor »
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Offline anlauto

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2015 - 07:00:19 AM »
Maybe you have a Cuda window regulator and not a Challenger regulator :dunno:
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Offline blown motor

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2015 - 08:55:26 AM »
Alan, can I put a washer behind the regulator attachment point somewhere to move the crank shaft out a bit?
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Offline anlauto

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2015 - 09:00:29 AM »
Alan, can I put a washer behind the regulator attachment point somewhere to move the crank shaft out a bit?

Nope Do you have a picture of the door without the panel in place ?
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Offline brads70

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2015 - 09:05:07 AM »
Murray did the passenger side fit the door good , just like the originals?
Has anyone else had this trouble with these panels?  :feedback:

I bought the front and rears and after seeing this I'm inclined to just send them back.  For what they cost they should fit!  :pullinghair:
Brad
1970 Challenger 451stroker/4L60 auto OD
Barrie,Ontario,Canada
Proud to own one of the best cars ever made!!!!!

My restoration thread 
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=59072.0
 My handling upgrade post
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=73985.0

Offline blown motor

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2015 - 09:25:11 AM »
Brad, the picture is of the passenger side. I know others bought these panels this winter. I'm hoping someone else will chime in here with how their's fit.

Alan, I don't have a picture of the door without the panel in place. There are horizontal "posts" on the panel that I expect act as spacers that butt up against the door frame to maintain the correct position of the panel. I wonder if trimming them would allow it to fit closer. It just didn't want to sit in flush enough.
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Offline burdar

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2015 - 09:37:08 AM »
Do you have the thick plastic spacer between the crank handle and the panel?  Do you have the large spring behind the panel?

Is your car a 73 or 74?  74 uses a different rear panel for the shoulder belt retractor.  Maybe there are more differences then that.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2015 - 09:39:19 AM by burdar »

Offline JayBee

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Re: A couple issues with new door panels
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2015 - 09:57:12 AM »
I should also add that the with the old panel the passenger side window crank also rubbed the door panel.

That being said, I'd be taking a close look at the regulator. Like Alan asked, could it even be the wrong one.
John

1970 Barracuda convertible
2014 Toyota Avalon