The fibre board was reverting to just fibre.
Had a sheet of 1/4 plywood laying around, carefully measured the panels, cut the plywood, used what was left of the old panels to mark out wheel well etc, carefully re-measured the panels, cut them the right height this time used the old panel to mark out, etc, etc. Cut 'em out.
I was gonna paint 'em brown but after I sanded 'em down they looked pretty good so I got some Varathane mahogany spray stain/finish. I think they look good.
One other faux pas, When I marked and cut the left side, I used the right side as a template. I should have flipped the plywood over to the 'good' side before I did, ended up with the not smooth side out, no worries though a bit of extra sanding and it's fine. It's a friggin' LandCruiser!
I used speed nuts, #10 machine screws and cup washers to attach.
1st problem is some of the holes are too far from the edge for the square "u" speednuts to work--solved by "j" speed nuts I'd bought 'cause they ran out of "u" washers. The "j" washers were sloppy so I squished 'em a bit with pliers.
Next was the problem of 'landlocked' holes. Solved this by cutting a slot above the hole with a dremel cut off wheel and whacking the top with a hammer and punch enough to get the speed nut on. See pic.
Then for some reason the 3/4" screws were too short for some holes, so I used 1". They were marginal, if I do it again I'm gonna use 1 1/4" 'cause no one's gonna be looking at the back of the panels.
Some of the holes were off a bit, don't know how that could have happened, so I oval'ed 'em out with a dremel tool.
Finally I pulled the metal ring from the old panel and mounted it on the plywood which is a little thicker. All you have to do is bend the ears on the cap ever so slightly out and you're good to go. Might have to paint that red.
Had a sheet of 1/4 plywood laying around, carefully measured the panels, cut the plywood, used what was left of the old panels to mark out wheel well etc, carefully re-measured the panels, cut them the right height this time used the old panel to mark out, etc, etc. Cut 'em out.
I was gonna paint 'em brown but after I sanded 'em down they looked pretty good so I got some Varathane mahogany spray stain/finish. I think they look good.
One other faux pas, When I marked and cut the left side, I used the right side as a template. I should have flipped the plywood over to the 'good' side before I did, ended up with the not smooth side out, no worries though a bit of extra sanding and it's fine. It's a friggin' LandCruiser!
I used speed nuts, #10 machine screws and cup washers to attach.
1st problem is some of the holes are too far from the edge for the square "u" speednuts to work--solved by "j" speed nuts I'd bought 'cause they ran out of "u" washers. The "j" washers were sloppy so I squished 'em a bit with pliers.
Next was the problem of 'landlocked' holes. Solved this by cutting a slot above the hole with a dremel cut off wheel and whacking the top with a hammer and punch enough to get the speed nut on. See pic.
Then for some reason the 3/4" screws were too short for some holes, so I used 1". They were marginal, if I do it again I'm gonna use 1 1/4" 'cause no one's gonna be looking at the back of the panels.
Some of the holes were off a bit, don't know how that could have happened, so I oval'ed 'em out with a dremel tool.
Finally I pulled the metal ring from the old panel and mounted it on the plywood which is a little thicker. All you have to do is bend the ears on the cap ever so slightly out and you're good to go. Might have to paint that red.
