Door panels

[Driftwood]

What a great picture!! Has the appearance of black and white except for the foreground - awesome!! Should be on a calendar somewhere for December!!

backroadin'
Thanks! No camera magic or photo editing was used. The picture was taken with my Samsung Note 8.


So this past weekend, I met up with a local group and completed a 140 mile trip in the high desert of Eastern Oregon. In the 11 years I have owned my 79, I have never done any type of hard 4-wheelin like this.

I was VERY impressed with the Quadra-Trac and its versatility/functionality. Steep inclines, declines, swamp, thawed permafrost, sand, large rock beds, mud, loose gravel......the balding street tires and Quadra-Trac simply owned it all like a boss.

The Lo range, High Range, and Emergency drive modes far surpassed my expectations. Most everyone in the group were surprised as well. My old 79 was able to show up and keep up. Even with balding street tires, it still kept up with the other ten rigs in the group.
I'll admit it got stuck twice. Both times I got high centered due to the low ground clearance of its stock suspension.

I'm not certain if I'll want to do it again. The dirt and mud has been a real chore to wash and remove. The cabin is filled with thick dust. Bottom line, I gotta take care of my "grocery gitter".

[Driftwood]

Finally got it some what cleaned. Washed it by hand....Backbreaking.

[CTGW]

Excellent door panels!
I dont know what you do for work but you could make some extra cash making and selling these. The door panels in grand wags are usually shot and very hard to find in good shape. And I need some....

[Driftwood]

Excellent door panels!
I dont know what you do for work but you could make some extra cash making and selling these. The door panels in grand wags are usually shot and very hard to find in good shape. And I need some....

Awww shucks. Thank you for the compliments. I wouldn't want to make these for a customer. There was a lot of detail work in creating them. attention to detail was key. Considering the condition of the original door panels, I simply had to do something to replace them. I was having no luck locating decent panels (that matched) in the wrecking yards, so I made these from scratch. I am really pleased with them. there is so much more I can do, Such as cutting holes for speakers, and installing cabin lighting. But I just wanted to keep it simple. I can add these things to them at a later date.
I still have a few other panels to make.
They are, a tailgate panel, a rear cabin floor panel, a cargo cover, as well as headliner panels.

[nograin]

Cleaning can be a chore, but its cool you did it at least once.

What is covering material, and what sort of glue did you use?

[ZackN920]

Cool! Off-road adventure! Wish we had a place for that around here!


You cleaned it by hand? Like as in rubbed it clean? Oh man... I like using a powerwasher for that work... and going to the crappy automatic wash for regualar cleaning durring the summer... Only thing i do by hand is some fine cleaning and maybe waxing after a wash.


mmm, those rear quarters are nice and straight. Mine are all warped... At least they fit though. What are you going to do about jack access? Or do you not have it in the pass. quarter panel?

[Driftwood]

I bought a sheet of 1-in x 4-ft x 8-ft Foam Board Insulation and made a rear area storage cover.

[rang-a-stang]

Holy cats!! That is super cool! I may copy you!!!

What does it sit on? Did you add little brackets? If you wanted to remove it (like to store something big back there), how would you do it?

[Driftwood]

Copy away!

The foam board just rests on four large earth magnets. One under each corner. No brackets. No drilling. Just magnets. Strong simplicity.

The foam does sag, so I glued two small pieces of board together, and stood them on edge underneath for support.

The carpeted foam board really cuts down on the road noise. Its much quieter inside. Easy project. I was bored.

I am considering gluing some of the left over foam board onto the inside of the rear panels to provide even more "cabin quiet".

[Driftwood]

Front door pulls

So I finally got around to painting the front door pulls.

I posted these pics using postimages. Thanks SOLSAKS for posting the tutorial!

[rang-a-stang]

Those look magically better!! Wow!!

[SOLSAKS]

how am I just seeing these last updates by driftwood ?

love the door panels
and like the arm rest you painted/dyed

that material on panels is nice
kinda rugged, burlap look and burber look at same time, looks durable too.

I also like the rear storage cover.

love the photos of the trail ride too !

dave in NC

[SOLSAKS]

just noticed your photoshop magic on the trail ride photos....

sneaky