I went to Lowes and bought
a few 2x4 "handy panels" that were made out of 1/8"
tempered hard board and used them for my first practice
set. What I learned was that these panels do not
bend............they just crack and break when they try
to conform with the curve for the wheel arch panel. Then
I discovered that there's different types of hardboard
and you want the type that is shiny on one side and
rough or cross hatched on the other side. I got a 4/8
sheet at Home Depot and they cut it into 4 2x4 panels
for me......no charge for the cuts and a lot easier size
to handle.
On one 2x4
sheet I was able to fit one door panel, one
wheel arch panel and one passenger side
kidney pad. I needed another sheet for the
trunk panel and the driver side kidney
panel.
I outlined the
original panels on to the hard board.
And then I
stapled two sheets together so that one cut
gave me two panels of what ever piece I
needed.
I cut
everything out on my band saw and then used
a stationary 1" belt sander to smooth out
the corners.
This is my
completed door template with all the holes
transferred from my original door panel. In
this picture the template is clamped to a
cut door panel, actually 2 stapled together
door panels, ready to have all the holes
drilled out.
I want to
make sure I get perfect hole alignment so I
use a forstner drill bit as a punch. It's
hard to see but they have a center point on
them. The 1/2" bit was used to mark all the
door clip locations.
The door and
window crank holes were centered using a
1-1/8" bit. Once I had all the holes marked
I removed the template and drilled the
marked panels on my drill press. I always
cut and drill two panels that are stapled
together at the same time. That way both
panels are pretty much identical.
I think these
panels actually ended up being the ones I
used as a template. I spent a lot of time
test fitting them, sanding the edges a
little etc to make sure the templates were
as perfect a fit as I could get. By getting
the templates right, I had the basis for
getting future panels cut and drilled right.
