Last time we started to frame the rear of the Pyle beast and create the dashboard and center console. In this installment, we’ll look at the construction of the door panels and we’ll continue with the design of the center console area. I’ll turn things over to Maddog who was responsible for creating the door panels and helping out with the dashboard...

Yo everyone! One of the biggest challenges of this truck is that it’s a dually with four doors, but we decided to create custom door panels. I know that there are exceptions, but most of you guys with competition vehicles have vehicles with only two doors (imports, pick-ups, and coupes). The problem with creating custom door panels for four-door vehicles is the duplication. You want all four of your panels to look exactly the same, but after you make one panel perfect (the driver’s door), you lose energy quickly and realize that you have to repeat your steps three more times! The advice I can give you is to make as many molds as possible for the shapes you’re going to be using, and just try and keep your patience and your sanity. I decided to start with the rear doors, because the front doors kept me looking at the center console which was distracting me. Sometimes it’s good to just concentrate on one particular section so you don’t lose focus.

In our last installment, we got rid of the Pyle Beast’s stock door (recycling is a beautiful thing). I started out by cutting out 1/4-inch MDF templates in the shape of the door panels. Around the border of this homemade door panel template, I cut out a piece of 1/2-inch MDF and made a 1-inch border to create a 3/4-inch lip. Then I took the unfinished template to the router table and used a roundover bit over the spacer to make it look smooth. Now the door panel will have the look of a beefy 3/4-inch MDF piece without all the weight. I then took this unfinished door panel and screwed it to the door (temporarily) with a screw in each corner to secure it. I then fiberglassed this MDF panel to create a mold.

For speakers, we decided to use two 6-inch midbasses on the front doors and one 6-inch in the rear doors. The mids and tweeters will not be in the doors (we have other sick mounting ideas for these speakers — remember, we’re not looking for the best imaging; we would rather show it off). Once the molds were made, I then had to decide on the speaker angles and how they would sit in the door. I made two MDF rings for each speaker — one to hold it in the proper position and the other one to make it look flush with the panel. I hot-glued the rings into place, being careful to leave room for a power-window motor in my way. I then fiberglassed this for rigidity — we finally started getting some pretty rad looking door panels...

To make the door panels look more interesting, I decided to make a snake-like design with a ‘mouth’ opening where the speaker is. To make the snake-like insert, I decided to go with some carbon fiber. We like to use the real-deal carbon fiber, not cheesy stickers. You can buy carbon fiber by the yard. Because the pattern in the carbon fiber is knitted real close, you have to line up the pattern to keep the checkerboard look. I then used clear resin to cover the carbon fiber that I found at an auto paint supply store. Regular fiberglass resin has a yellowish or reddish tint to it, so it doesn’t lend itself well to carbon fiber. We know that carbon fiber is real hot, so stay tuned for more carbon fiber tricks.

Last time we had the dashboard framed out, and now we wanted to create an access panel for each component we’re planning to mount on it. We cut out the dashboard with holes for the radio, preamp, and other components. We wanted everything accessible from the front, so we created ‘boxes’ for each unit using 1/2-inch MDF. To hold the boxes to the dashboard, we temporarily used double-stick tape. Once the boxes were secure, we then fiberglassed to the edge of the insert. This sets us up with a ring around the box. This ring then gets fiberglassed and bondo’d to create a smooth, flowing lip. To hold the finished pieces to the dashboard, we’ll probably use alan bolts since they lend themselves to the industrial look of the carbon fiber and the rest of the install.

Til’ next time, stay real...