Morris Minor Owners Club

To avoid damp on the cardboard door panels and stop them breaking down and also affecting the trim material (cloth not regular plastic in this case) it has been suggested that someone is making plywood door panels as a replacement which are then covered with own material. Anyone aware of these panels?
tks

i only know of millboard ones for vans and pickups

Not heard of those before, the normal panels are pretty durable and not made from cardboard.

I made some out of plywood and covered them with the standard cover because the stuff the originals were made from warped badly

I replaced mine with hardboard

Whether you use plywood or cardboard, before you fit the panels in place, cover the aperture with thin polythene sheet (like cheap dust sheet or even bin bags cut open to fit).

Use copydex or similar glue to tack the sheet in place round the edges, covering the clip holes so the panel keeps it in place when fitted. Then fit the door panel as normal.

The plastic acts as a waterproof mebrane, so any water that gets inside the door doesn't get to the trim panel.

If you use small sheets, fit the top one fist, so the overlap drains any water onto the door side of the bottom one, not the trim side.

Just clean and spray the inside of the millboard with clearcoat varnish and make sure the window seals are good.

Use copydex or similar glue to tack the sheet in place round the edges

Another option is to use double sided sticky tape.

I dont know of anyone making these to sell but they'd be easy to make yourself.
I made my parcel shelf and 'kick' boards out of thin ply. Its very easy stuff to work with - a jigsaw and lots of sandpaper work wonders.

Been wondering recently about replacing the ones in scabby the trav with just plain plywood ones. Bit more durable for the abuse it gets inside from the travelling zoo.
Would you have to buy the plastic 'poppy grommit things' and somehow glue them to the back of the thin ply sheet in the right places or what ?
Imagine it wouldnt look out of place on a trav what with the wood theme. Cant be scratched by dog paws and easy to wipe off all the mud from shaking wet coats

Orkney wrote:Would you have to buy the plastic 'poppy grommit things' and somehow glue them to the back of the thin ply sheet in the right places or what ?

On the original door cards there are holes in the hardboard that the metal clips fit through (you can't see them because of the fabric), and they clip to the holes in the door. On Fenchurch, some of the holes in the door had the plastic things in them - I'm not sure if there was supposed to be one in every hole. I accidentally melted a few when I was welding the new bottom on the driver's door.

Four screws, one in each corner, wouldn't go a miss.
Nice chromed dome-headed ones would almost be a 'feature' provided they were all fastened in the same place on each card.

dunketh wrote:Four screws, one in each corner, wouldn't go a miss.
Nice chromed dome-headed ones would almost be a 'feature' provided they were all fastened in the same place on each card.

Plywood == Thanks everyone - seems there is a retaining pop clip solution which I will try to find out about

Hello all,

my reservations about plywood is that of getting a thin enough sheet. Hardboard used by picture framers as backing is a better thickness for this application.

Try any of the trim suppliers for the clips, the originals just fit in holes (accurately) drilled in the panel and hidden by the trim material. If you do use screws get countersunk stainless screws with the correct dished washers again from trim suppliers. They will look right, (good enough for 60's Astons)

Alec

Just last week , I bought thin plywood sheet ( 3.2 mm ) from B & Q for that purpose . £7.00 for 2 ft. by 6 ft . Later I will cover it with the 2m. by 1.5m wide vinyl cloth bought 2006 for £20 from a company called Martrim in Cheshire . www.martrim.co.uk or they sell on ebay as interior trim supplies.
They have a fairly large industrial unit full of leather, vinyl & it may be worth contacting them for the door panel fixing clips .
I have no connection with them , apart from being a satisfied customer .

Andy