Wow. Thanks, stonesg. I'm always impressed when someone makes it all the way through -- there ought to be some kind of prize. I'm glad the discussion helped you get an idea of what you want to go for. Make sure to document it here on the Journal.
And thanks, CoopVA! I've been working out there since I refinished it -- enjoying the fruits of my labor, I guess. At least I was until this two-day heat wave we just got. 105° today.
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On the car front, I just did a Fathers Day project for the 911. 12 years ago, I put in some lightweight door panels in the style of the RS America model. While there were a lot of nice features about them, including sound deadening and nice, precise die cuts -- mine had gotten some pucker and warp over time -- mostly from driving in the rain. So I recently decided to re-do them. I wanted the same functionality, but with better weather/water resistance. And I was also curious if I could save some more weight.
My factory door caps up above the panels weighed a little over 2 pounds each, and the aftermarket lightweight RSA door panels added another 2 lb 12 ounces to each door.
For weather resistance, I decided to not use wood or cardboard for the panels. Instead I got some corrugated plastic, which is a material made of polypropylene in the manner of corrugated cardboard. The stuff I used was 4mm thick. It's used for things like front-lawn signs and those Post Office sorting boxes (although those are thinner). Covered with leather, my door panels came in at 1 lb 8 oz each.
For the cap, at least on the early cars, Porsche used a piece of formed steel bonded to a pretty dense piece of foam. I simply bent a piece of aluminum sheet over a 2x4 and matched the basic C-shape. No foam. Even covered with leather, my cap pieces were only 12 ounces each.
In this picture, you can see the back-side of the C-shape I bent the aluminum into.
I was a little worried about finding something that would adhere leather to polypropylene, but I did a test with three different adhesives, and a Loctite spray I had on-hand passed with flying colors. (I think some polypropylene is pre-treated with a corona wire to allow inks and adhesives to bond to the stuff.)
I sprayed the adhesive on both the leather and the corrugated plastic. I did the same with the aluminum. To hold the panels to my fiberglass doors, I used M4 aluminum rivnuts. You might notice that the cap pieces have a cutaway portion, my window crank is shortened, and my handles are at odd angles. This is all because I have a cage up against the doors.
But I was able to get most of it done during two stretches this weekend where my wife took the kids out to do something. The leather smell in the garage made finishing it up a pretty perfect Fathers Day morning project.
Here it is with the door closed, where you can see the special circumstances that come with having a cage in the cockpit.
And here it is with the door open.
All told, I shaved a little over 5 pounds off the car's total weight, which doesn't mean much -- except maybe that I could enjoy my Fathers Day dinner just a little bit more.
