[78w72]

Originally Posted by PDC

Here is the driver’s door. I really like the pull-strap delete look. And the lower hard plastic panel does screw down onto the L-shaped bracket with machine screws, so the pull-cup in the lower panel is a rock solid place to use to close the door.

The PUI panels are not exact reproductions of the GM panels. A couple of the holes for the metal fasteners needed to be carefully ‘elongated’ the get the clip in line with the hole in the door. I used the original panels as a guide and carefully measured where the original clips were located on the original panels. That allowed me to get 90% close on the first try with minimal massaging after that.

As far as having the upper rail lay tight down to the top of the door - that can be tricky. I found that the holes on the PUI panels that you use to attach the lower door panel were located too low / too close to the bottom of the panel. So when you pop the lower door panel fasteners into place, it would shove the upper panel and top rail up off the top of the door. So I took some more measurements and carefully elongated those holes upward to allow the lower door panel to attach in higher position. That allowed the lower door panel fasteners to mate up with the holes in the door without shoving the whole assembly upward.

The PUI parts are sturdy and well made. They look nice. My advice is carefully measure where every factory fastener attaches to your factory door panels and do as much careful modification / enlargement / relocation of the fastener holes in the PUI panels as possible before you make the first ‘test fit.’ That way, you are not prying the panel on an off multiple times - which can fatigue the fasteners in the door and can fatigue the fiberboard where the fasteners attach to the panel.

thanks for the update on the panels. i didnt elongate the lower holes for the plastic push pins, mine seemed to align nice & didnt notice any upward push on the panel as a whole.

are you saying that by elongating those lower holes for the plastic push pins that will bring the whole panel down enough so that the top rail will fit tightly & securely to the top of the door like the GM ones do? doesnt something have to clip or hook onto the felt pads like the gm ones do in order to actually hold that top rail tight? i dont see anything on the PUI panels of a few years ago that would allow them to do that. there are 3 metal tabs that can be bent but they arent hooks of any sort & dont grab the felt pads like the gm ones do... i dont see those 3 tabs on the metal top rail in your pics, maybe they changed or removed them?

with the door open, are the top rail of yours tight like GM ones are? in other words, can you lift up on that top rail where the inner window seal strip or hole around the door lock is? mine will lift up there with the door open & every other set or PUI ive seen on other cars do the same thing. next time my door panels are off i will look at elongating the lower holes & try to get the side metal push pins to align better, but still dont see how the top rail will be secured to the top of the door.

[PDC]

Originally Posted by 78w72

thanks for the update on the panels. i didnt elongate the lower holes for the plastic push pins, mine seemed to align nice & didnt notice any upward push on the panel as a whole.

are you saying that by elongating those lower holes for the plastic push pins that will bring the whole panel down enough so that the top rail will fit tightly & securely to the top of the door like the GM ones do? doesnt something have to clip or hook onto the felt pads like the gm ones do in order to actually hold that top rail tight? i dont see anything on the PUI panels of a few years ago that would allow them to do that. there are 3 metal tabs that can be bent but they arent hooks of any sort & dont grab the felt pads like the gm ones do... i dont see those 3 tabs on the metal top rail in your pics, maybe they changed or removed them?

with the door open, are the top rail of yours tight like GM ones are? in other words, can you lift up on that top rail where the inner window seal strip or hole around the door lock is? mine will lift up there with the door open & every other set or PUI ive seen on other cars do the same thing. next time my door panels are off i will look at elongating the lower holes & try to get the side metal push pins to align better, but still dont see how the top rail will be secured to the top of the door.

This gets a bit confusing - and its my fault for not taking better dedicated pictures of this issue. If you look at the picture I posted of the back side of the original GM upper panel and he PUI upper panel you will see along the bottom edge of the PUI upper door panel, there are 5 round holes. These are the holes where the plastic tabs on the lower door panel push through and attach with those flat plastic clips so that the upper and lower door panels form one, full size panel (in 2 pieces).

On the original GM upper panel, you can see that the holes are rectangular slots so there is room for the lower plastic panel to slide up and down in the slots increasing or decreasing the overall height of the completed panel when the 2 pieces are attached.

I had to ‘slot’ the round holes in the PUI panels so that the lower plastic panel could slide up relative to the upper panel - like it could with the original GM panel. This allowed me to position the lower door panel in the bottom of the door without shoving the upper door panel up and off the top of the door. I hope that all makes sense. I did not see any sort of fastening tabs to secure the upper rail of the upper PUI panel to the top edge of the door. But once everything was attached, the hard rails of the PUI panels stay secure to the top of the door.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by PDC

This gets a bit confusing - and its my fault for not taking better dedicated pictures of this issue. If you look at the picture I posted of the back side of the original GM upper panel and he PUI upper panel you will see along the bottom edge of the PUI upper door panel, there are 5 round holes. These are the holes where the plastic tabs on the lower door panel push through and attach with those flat plastic clips so that the upper and lower door panels form one, full size panel (in 2 pieces).

On the original GM upper panel, you can see that the holes are rectangular slots so there is room for the lower plastic panel to slide up and down in the slots increasing or decreasing the overall height of the completed panel when the 2 pieces are attached.

I had to ‘slot’ the round holes in the PUI panels so that the lower plastic panel could slide up relative to the upper panel - like it could with the original GM panel. This allowed me to position the lower door panel in the bottom of the door without shoving the upper door panel up and off the top of the door. I hope that all makes sense. I did not see any sort of fastening tabs to secure the upper rail of the upper PUI panel to the top edge of the door. But once everything was attached, the hard rails of the PUI panels stay secure to the top of the door.

ok i did misunderstand which holes you elongated. but on mine, when they were all assembled as 1 piece & i went to put them on the door, i didnt notice the panel really being pushed up any, or at least not enough to cause what i described for the top rail. on mine there are 3 tabs about 1/2"x1/2" that you can bend down or they come mostly flush but are cut out by PUI for some reason. i will have to remember this thread for when i remove mine i can post a pic of them & maybe even show how the top rail just kind of flops around if the door is open, seen it on many other cars too over the years too.

maybe PUI changed that top rail somewhat to fix or help the top rail fitment because i dont see & you confirmed those tabs arent there on yours.

[PDC]

So here is the passenger door panel. I tried something new this time around.

Maybe you have seen those magic markers that write in metallic silver and gold? My wife happened to have one of those in the kitchen drawer that we had used to write on a champagne bottle as a gift to friends for New Years. I grabbed that Silver Magic Marker and applied it liberally to all of the round plastic holes in the door for the metal push-clips that go on the back of the door panel.

Then I dropped the PUI door panel into the ‘ideal’ position with no clips attached - and pressed the panel against all the plastic anchors in the door - that were doused with silver magic marker. That left distinctive silver ‘rings’ on the back of the PUI panel where the clips needed to be centered. That allowed me to lengthen / enlarge a couple of the holes as necessarily to allow me to position the metal clips exactly where the needed to be in order to be centered with the round silver marks left by pressing the new panel against the door.

It worked like a charm. The first ‘test fit’ was perfect with literally no additional monkeying around.

FWIW - I did need to lengthen the round holes along the bottom of the PUI panel into ‘slots’ to allow the anchors and clips for the lower door panel to slide ‘up’ relative to the upper panel. This allowed the plastic pins on the back of the lower door panel fit the holes in the door without shoving the upper door panel up and off the top rail of the door.