Door Trim

[Peter Delaney]

I was wondering if anyone has some bright ideas on how to securely fix interior door trim panels to the doors ?

I would like to make the panels easliy removeable - a local upholsterer suggested those horrid little plastic "christmas tree" fittings that you see on new cars, but I reckon that a few removals would see the holes in the f/glass become pretty ragged.

Given that I don't want screws visible from the inside, I figure the best way would be to mount studs into the trim's backing plate prior to covering - these would just slide into holes in the doors & have nyloc nuts & washers fitted inside the doors. (I am going to keep the main access holes in the doors open (carpet inside to doors) so that I can access the storage space without opening the doors - as is necessary with those hinged fold-down type of door trims).

So, the big question is how to secure coutersunk head bolts into the backing plates without using nuts ?

My thoughts so far have run to :

- Backing plate made from MDF, c/s bolts held in place by a thin sheet of f/glass in each side.

- Backing plate made from aly sheet, c/s bolts brazed in place across the heads (don't know if you can braze across s/s & aly).

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks & Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Steve Kulper]

If you use good quality plastic clips it shouldn't be a problem, also make sure you use male and female clips so you don't get the ragged look later on. Also use the correct trim removal tool and a half decent tool operater and the clips should last at least up until your funeral

Steve

 

[Paul W]

Did mine with 5mm plywood frames, then put in rivnuts into the wood and just pop a m4 allen head bolt in from the inside of the door pocket out. Once you know it fits ok you can cover the outside with foam/trim and they are easily removable. I also put a piece of angled ally along the bottom edge so that there isn't too much flex when you pull on it - negating the need for a door handle.

 

[Peter Delaney]

Thanks Steve - cheeky young lad ! FYI, I am planning on outlasting a few miserable plastic clips !!

Paul, that sounds like a good approach. Did you put the riv-nuts in from the door-side of the ply ? Also, my only experience with riv-nuts has been with the ones that lock into fairly thin sheet metal - did you use these & just rely on the nut body squeezing out into the ply & locking it in ?

Thanks guys,

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Steve Kulper]

Mr D,
You can get rivnuts that will go into softer material, I have all the tools for rivnuts if you need it. A good place to get them from is Aerobolt at Chipping Norton, if you are using the standard nuts I have them.

Steve