Making Your Own Interior Panels

OK...........my bad.......I didn't take pictures of this process because it takes two hands, creativity and patience. But the end result is well worth the effort. In the past I've used a mix of screwdrivers and needle nose pliers to get those blankity blank clips attached with the seals but this time I sucked it up and bought this tool from Moss. And do this with your door panels off of the car as you will drop many many clips down into the door.

When I got this from Moss I was pretty disappointed from a price vs. material construction stand point. It can't have more then $1 of material in it and Moss gets $27.00 for it!!

There's a piece of magnetic tape on the end to hold the clip......which it sort of did. However...........it did make the whole installation process very simple and fast.

After using the Moss tool, someone posted in the 6-Pack Forum about this tool that they found at Home Depot.

It's used for installing/removing vinyl siding and cost about $5.00

I took a grinding disk to the tip and cut this slot in it.

Now the window clip slides into place and..............

Stays put while you pull it into place. You could also put some magnetic tape on the tool.

For the inner fuzzy seal I used the tool to pull all the clips up into place and then I used the tool to hold each clip in place as I pushed the seal down onto the clip. This was different from the tool's directions but was very fast and effective. For the outer seal I wedged the seal in place (next picture), held it down with my finger and then pulled the clip up over the door lip and seal.

These little wood wedges were invaluable. I positioned the window seal and then wedged these between the window glass and the seal. This did three things: nothing got scratched/damaged, it wedged the seal in pretty tight and it created space for the tool between the window glass and the seal

When I redid my interior back in 1997, I bought the only fuzzy door seals that were available and they were pretty crappy. They didn't grip right, lost their gripping ability and kept falling off the doors. This time around I heard about MacGregor British Car Parts and how Martin MacGregor has Bristleflex made to original factory specs. They're pricey at $150 but still $30 cheaper then Moss for the same pieces.

Here's one look at it..............notice anything different?

The rubber seal is not an oval. It's open just like the factory installed back in the olden days. This ensures proper door closure. No hammer needed to install this...... just press it on with your hand and it doesn't come off easily once it's locked on.

Look how nice that looks going by the leather covered "B" Pillar insert!

Just tuck it up under the door cap............

And work your way to the windshield cap. Mark it a little above the cap and cut it with aviation/metal shears.

Then stuff that end under the cap and you're done.