door cards and arm rest

[John Dol]

Worked on the door cards and arm rest/door pull idea I had yesterday and today. Formed the door cards out of hard board after making a cardboard templet. Covered them with head liner foam, and then put on the upholstery. The headliner foam had a nice give to it when you bump your arm into it to cushion the impact. Used glue to install the head liner foam, then staples to install the upholstery to the door card.

When I finished the door cards I thought it would be neat to have a door pull/arm rest so started noodling on that. Ended up having to cut the bottom lip of the inner door opening as I undersized the door card opening for a more finished look. It also gives a flat surface on the steel frame instead of half frame, half door panel.

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First I made a few relief cuts and removed the pieces, then I used a Sawzall to follow along the steel frame. Finished the edges with a coarse file.

Then made the arm rest pieces. At first they where rectangular. Then I added a 1/4 round with the router. Sitting in the car I thought it may interfere with exiting the car. So made a swoop towards the front to create more room for your feet to swing out.

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I used wood-serts (for lack of a better term) for mounting purposes. Before putting those in I put the arm rest in place and marked/drilled the steel frame for 1/4x2" bolts

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Then upholstered the pieces with head liner foam, and left over headliner material.

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Installed the arm rests to the steel frame from underneath. I used oversized nuts as spacers to get everything to align properly.

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Then put the door cards in place for the time being. I ordered the same Velcro like material as Paul to hang the door cards for easy removal. That will be in on Tuesday to do the final install.
Looks pretty cool and is very functional.

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John

[Jimtmich]

Looks good. Nice solution.