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Thread: A new Idea for Attaching Upper Door Panels

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  1. #1
    Senior Member Chris 16409's Avatar
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    A new Idea for Attaching Upper Door Panels

    I really dislike having to remove my upper door panels. The fir trees are pain. Every time I remove them, one of fir trees is inevitably ripped out of the panel. So I was thinking, what if you glue magnets to the door panel around were the fir trees use to be and use them to keep the panels on. A magnet should adhere to the black metal bracket the fir trees stick into. Here is some magnets I found on eBay. There pretty much have the same diameter as a fir tree. The three millimeters of thickness should be enough to make contact.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pcs-Neodymium...item415b7d17ff

    Has anybody else done this? This would literally turn the job of removing the upper door panel into a 2 second task.
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    Last edited by Chris 16409; 07-10-2011 at 06:59 PM.
    Chris Miles

    For Better or Worse I own a DeLorean!
    1983 Grey Manual, VIN #16409, Fresno, California

  2. #2
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
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    Good idea but I don't think they will be strong enough to hold the panels on. Maybe there is some different kind of clip that could be found.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  3. #3
    Senior Member DavidProehl's Avatar
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    Great idea! The auction you linked to doesn't say how much weight they will hold, but other magnets could work. I found these on Amazon that claim to hold over 2 lbs per magnet! Anyway, my point is that I think you could find strong enough magnets if you wanted to give it a shot. I'd love to see this in action if you do it.

    Edit: Here are some with over 6 lbs of force per magnet - http://www.amazon.com/Neodymium-Magn...ef=pd_sim_ac_2
    David Proehl

  4. #4
    Senior Member Chris 16409's Avatar
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    These are the ones I ended up ordering:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pc-N42-1-2x1-...ht_2284wt_1013

    They have a pull force of 5.25 pounds each. I will try five per panel and see if they hold. These Neodymium Magnets are really strong. This seller is in the US, and the other was in China. I'd rather buy from a US seller, and it only came to $5.80 for ten magnets.
    Chris Miles

    For Better or Worse I own a DeLorean!
    1983 Grey Manual, VIN #16409, Fresno, California

  5. #5
    Let's see if you bastards can do 90. dvonk's Avatar
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    if you can secure them properly to the vehicle & headliner, there are magnets that will surely hold. one issue i could imagine is the magnets having more attraction to each other than the glue (or whatever you use) and pop off and stick to each other when being removed.

    also--depending on how powerful the magnets are--i would suggest embedding them in or covering them with a thin pad or shock absorbing material of some sort. super strong magnets will snap together with such force they will actually fracture and crack bits off each other.

  6. #6
    Senior Member ramblinmike's Avatar
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    Magnets stick to stainless? They don't stick to my fridge.
    Yeah, it's dirty. I drive it.

  7. #7
    Let's see if you bastards can do 90. dvonk's Avatar
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    depending on the strength of the magnet, the attraction to the stainless would be very mild at best due to the low content of ferrous metal in the alloy. it would not be enough attraction to support the weight of the headliner.

    he would need to secure the magnets in some manner--a bracket, glue, etc. or, conversely, install the magnets in the headliner and attach ferrous metal strips to the doors.
    Last edited by dvonk; 07-10-2011 at 11:27 PM.

  8. #8
    EFI'd dn010's Avatar
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    Thank you for that link. I may have to get those instead. I got N52 20x3mm and considering I can barely get them apart off the stack, they may be too much for this application.
    -----Dan B.

  9. #9
    EFI'd dn010's Avatar
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    To update, I used the N52 20x3mm magnets. I used 5 minute epoxy on them and used 4 per panel. Holds tight and looks good. Good god! I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.
    -----Dan B.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Drive Stainless's Avatar
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    So how tight are we talking, in terms of holding power? For example, do you need to use a screw driver to pry them off?

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