63 door panel nitpicker questions

I am rebuilding my 63 standard interior door panels with (shocker!) OPGI replacements. Guess what, OPGI gets them from Legendary. I know a lot of us have been critical of OPGI, but to my eye, they look pretty good. I just fitted the passenger side and so far I'm very satisfied with the results. It is quite a puzzle though. You must take a lot of metal off your existing panel and re-assemble since the new panels come with no hardware at all. First, take the 3 edge pieces with the nails off and attach to the new panel. Then take off the upper metal piece at the top of the panel and attach it using a combination of the upper trim spears and the tri shield. Then, put the lower spear on. Finally, install a new fuzzy strip along the top. Bring lots of patience, contact cement, clamps and get familiar with an awl. If you are squeamish about upholstery, I'd let a pro do it. If you poke a hole in the wrong spot, it's an expensive do over. I like my upholstery guy but he sniffs a lot of glue so I thought I'd try it myself. When it comes to the seats, he still might get my business, but so far its been an adventure. So I'm almost done and here are two questions for the original interior guys and other nitpickers:

1. There are 5 bright trim screws that attach along the bottom of the panel. The actual panel is carpeted except for a vinyl strip along the base that is about 3/4" wide. Do the screws go through the carpet or the strip?

2. What is the best position for the window cranks handles with all the windows in the full up position? Should all the window cranks be at 6, 7, 8 or 9 o'clock when the windows are all up? To me, 6 looks droopy, 9 looks funny and someplace around 7-8 looks right. What the common practice?

Thanks in advance. PRL

Pete, the cranks look best when they are horizontal with the windows up with the

front crank knobs towards the front of the car and the rear crank knobs towards the rear of the car.

The same indexing applies on the front vent window cranks. This looks best, and also keeps the knobs

away from knees and elbows. Your doors should have holes in the metal indicating where to punch holes in the door panel for the screws. Usually the screws are placed as close to the bottom of the door panel as possible to prevent it from peeling up at the bottom. Notice where the original screws are on my 65 door panel.

The lower door panel screws are usually placed just into the lower carpeted area on the panel - as Winston stated, and his photo shows.

You can probably get a good indication from the existing screw holes in your doors.

Thanks Seafoam and Randy. Looks to me as if the screws on a stock car actually straddle the line between the carpet and the vinyl lower lip from the outside. It may be the reproductions I'm working with or the way I assembled them, but on my rig it looks like the screws only pierce the vinyl lip. That's also where the holes on the metal edges are seen from the inside too and they match the holes in the door. Buick wears those screws loud and proud where you can see them. I have an Oldsmobile where the screws are all in the carpet from the outside and the screw heads are painted black to hide them.

Also, thanks for the information on the crank handles. I read that as both front door cranks at the 9 position facing forward and the back crank at 3 facing backward. Thx PRL

If you have your panels off, stick something in the hole in the inner door that will mark the back of your panel. Then make your hole from the back so that when the screw goes into the panel, it will line up with the hole in the inner door.

Pete - not sure what colour your door panel carpeting is, but I used black oxide screws on my '68, and the screw heads are barely visible against the black carpet on the lower portion of the door panels.

Last night I took 5 old trim screws, cut off the heads, then ground the former head to a point. Then I threaded the double pointed screw without a head into each hole in the door, then pressed the panel against the pointed screws and the impression told me where the hole on the panel should be. It looks to me like once the hole is made and the trim screw installed, from the outside, the screw head will straddle the carpet/vinyl strip line and actually fall more on the side of the vinyl strip. To me, that looks a little sloppy. Also, once I had all the pointed screws installed, I could tell that the holes from the factory were not lined up very well. My carpet is black, and I could conceal the screws with paint or oxide screws as Randy mentioned. Because I am detail freak, I think I'd be annoyed every time I looked at the screw heads straddling the carpet/vinyl line and also be aggravated by the wonkly factory holes. So, I'm going to position the panel correctly, re-drill holes that are inside the carpet area and install stainless screws all in a straight line. I don't think it will matter if I drill new holes since they will never be seen by any eyes other than mine. Installing my interior has really highlighted some of my OCD tendencies. PRL

Pete, If you drill new holes, punch holes in the door panel with a sharp pointed straight pick, and use

the pick to scribe where the holes should be drilled in the door, then remove the door panel and drill

the holes. If you try to drill through the door panel, the drill bit will snag the carpet and ruin it. (Been there and done that)

Seafoam-Completely agree. Thx PRL

From Seafoam65:

"Pete, the cranks look best when they are horizontal with the windows up with the

front crank knobs towards the front of the car and the rear crank knobs towards the rear of the car."

Maybe it's just me, and I have no solid evidence to back this up, but every crank window car I've had (and I've had quite a lot of them) typically had the side window/vent window cranks at the 4 o'clock position on the driver's side doors when the windows are up, or pointing toward the 8 o'clock position on the passenger (right hand) side with windows raised. Just my 2 cents...

Jan, if you look in the 65 Riviera sales brochure, the vent window cranks in the interior sales brochure pictures are all

indexed like I said, with the knob straight forward and the crank horizontal. My unmolested

original interior 65 had them like this when I bought it. I wouldn't be surprised if

some cars got built with them turned a different way depending on who

was working on the assembly line, but the knobs are most out of the way with them indexed like that.

Pete, If you drill new holes, punch holes in the door panel with a sharp pointed straight pick, and use

the pick to scribe where the holes should be drilled in the door, then remove the door panel and drill

the holes. If you try to drill through the door panel, the drill bit will snag the carpet and ruin it.

(Been there and done that)

BTDT x3 Pete !! Once those new panels are installed, no one will ever see those misaligned original holes.

I certainly don't think they had the luxury of time on the assembly line, and as a result, complete perfection was sometimes 'unobtanium' !!

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/window-crank-orientation-136994.html

Some more discussion on this, FWIW...

Pete - not sure what colour your door panel carpeting is, but I used black oxide screws on my '68, and the screw heads are barely visible against the black carpet on the lower portion of the door panels.

On first generation cars, Buick did not try to hide the screws. They used a chrome plated phillips head screw with a built in trim washer attached to it. To be original, you should be able to see all of them. They go through the panel right where the vinyl meets the carpeting.

They did the same on 2nd gen too - but with black carpet door panels, the black screw heads are just about hidden in the carpet.

Just a case of 'personal preference' Ed, not original, and definitely not 100% original !