78-81 1 piece door panel install on 1972.

[grzewnicki]

Never cared for the plastic map pocket bottom, like to smooth look of the later panels. I am also using 1969 Mustang arm rests. So first problem.... has anyone else run into this issue with clips on door panels not aligning with holes in door? Now I am installing 78-81 1 piece door panels but had same problem with just some of edge fasteners on original panels (just the mid panel, one covered in vinyl). I marked with blue tape holes I had to move to get new panels installed. These are Legendary panels so not cheap stuff. Also the spots where the bottom Christmas tree plastic fasteners fit into the door panel itself were hard to get in. I made a metal "spoon" up to slip into holes and gently pry the foam backing away from the hard base material, It's like they were glued tight right up to the hole. Once I loosened the material around the hole I could finally get the Christmas tree fasteners in and they had room to move around a bit for alignment to hole in door skin. On one bottom fastener I couldn't get it close enough to work so I drilled the hole out and am using a plastic receptacle/metal clip, since it gives me more wiggle room. Disregard the tape with arrow in center that is where the Muzzie arm rest is fastening to.

 

[grzewnicki]

I thought this was going to be pretty easy, but turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. Figuring out where to position the arm rests was a bear. 1. it has to be close to originals height and 2. the pull section of the arm rest needs to be positioned fore and aft correctly to give you the right leverage to pull the door closed. I found a spot forward of the spring for the window regulator where I had room for the front arm rest screw to go in. I cut a piece of 1/2" HDPE plastic to fit behind the door skin, (held in place by one small screw) the screw holding the arm rest on will thread into the door skin and the plastic, figured that was much better than just threading into the metal skin. You can see where I marked out where the spring is (hatched area). I used some modeling clay and stuck it into the pocket and installed regulator to make sure it was a clear spot. Then I needed a spot to the rear, I had to add some sheet metal because it was just a hollow area (and the window regulator still fits in without pulling the metal plate. Same thing on this one, piece of HDPE plastic on rear side to give screw something to bite into. The fun part was figuring out where the corresponding holes in the door panel needed to be. I cut the head off a sheet metal screw and sharp end the cut end to a point. Threaded it into its holes, installed door panel and tapped on panel where screw was sticking out to leave a mark on back side of panel. You can see a cut off screw sticking out of rear mount point, the tape for the forward screw is actually pointing to wrong screw hole, the one a bit forward and lower is the one I am using, the other one missed my plasstic block, just catching the edge of it. You can also see the small screw holding the plastic block to the door skin. Today I am hoping to get the new side glass installed and adjusted, also replace regulator, old one had so much play in one joint it rattled like heck when closing the door.

 

[Twisted_Metal]

Will the inside door handle cup fit the door skin and the panel?

 

[grzewnicki]

Yes, I was constantly anchoring the door panel in place using the door handle cup while I was marking where holes needed to go. I have had that panel off and on so many darn times! Like I said, I had elongate some of the metal clip holes in the 3 piece vinyl covered panel to get them to go into their respective holes. This time I decided to reposition the recepatacles. So far it is working out.

 

[Chuck71RS]

I installed 1978 Legendary in my 71. Like you I can't stand the hard plastic piece at the top and bottom. The 78 panels provides a finished look to the interior

To secure the panel to the door I used plastic anchors that twist into the openings on the back of the panel. The fastener locations did not line up with the fastener holes in the doors. Had to guestimate where to drill and taped that area of the door. My install was complicated by having 6 1/2" speakers in the lower front.

My door handle was a simple install. With the seat all the way back, the 71 location was better for reaching and pulling. I cut out the pull section from the lower 71 door panel. Cut a couple of abs to close the ends. Used the same horizontal support

I still have a problem with the windows being extremely hard to roll up and it is not the seals. The windows went up and down with not much force when I worked the interior with the 71 panels before switching to the 78. Once my current batch of work is done will take the panels off again to work on the windows

 

[grzewnicki]

The weird thing was back in 2013, on my replacement center panel for my original 3 piece door panels some of the fasteners didn't line up, I ended up enlarging the clip holes on the panel to get them aligned, I think they were PUI Brand. I read one other post about someone doing the 1 piece door panels in a 3 piece door and they didn't mention any problems with fastener holes not lining up. For right now I have 2 of the 3 metal clips on the front and rear edges lined up and working (top and bottom fasteners), They seem to fit ok without having a clip in the center hole. And 3 of the 4 Christmas tree plastic fasteners at the bottom line up, changed one to a metal clip. That other post I saw said they used 67 Mustang armrests, I found those to be too short to look correct, the 69 ones are about 3 inches longer than 67 and match the door panel nicely. I would not have thought about cutting a section out of the old panel, I'd like to see a pic of what that looks like. I'm pretty sure the 69's with my added HDPE blocks behind the skin of the door will work good. I'm almost done drivers door, was putting my Metro door frame weatherstrip on and the rear ends didn't even come close to fitting properly at the contour at the top of the door. The Metro roof rail ones fit fine and door closes pretty nice without having to readjust window. Ordered some Steele Products door frames one, so once they get here, I can finish the weathershield and door panel install and get the arm rests in place.

 

[Chuck71RS]