1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

[Frederick H.]

Attachments:
- Photo of driver side sill plate with kick panel installed
- Photo of passenger side sill plate with kick panel installed
- Photo of carpet overlay where sill plate is to be installed
- Photo of an original, urestored '63 with driver side kick panel and sill plate installed.

Issue:
- How to get existing installed kick panels (from Al Knoch) to fit as in the unrestored photo. I haven't tried bending the metal kick plate reinforcements yet but don't see how they will fit otherwise.
- The excess carpet overlay is an issue but I may leave that to my interior professional to trim it to where it just fits in the raised portion of the sill plate.

Has anyone else experienced this with the repro panels?

Thanks in Advance,
Fred

[Edward J.]

[Frederick H.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

Yep, I have the original kick panels and they do seem smaller (I cannot find the metal supports unfortunately).

[Sven C.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

Fred. The interior of my '63 was not original to the car, so I redid it over the winter of '22-'23 with Al Knoch carpet etc. I had the same frustrating problem as you.

I ended up massaging the panels by slightly curving/bending the front top of each panel toward the interior and I found correct screws at NAPA that were longer and I was able to attach the panel at the front. This allowed the rest of the kick panel and reinforcement holes to line up with the installation holes already in the car.

I began to gently bend the metal reinforcement at the bottom toward the interior and the whole metal reinforcement up toward the glove box. I was very leery of bending this metal reinforcement, but I was very gentle and made sure that it fitted back into the kick plate. Also, I had to ensure that the metal reinforcement holes lined up with the holes in the kick plate and car.

I removed all the excess material from behind the the metal reinforcement where it met the bottom of the kick plate, as this material was not allowing the reinforcement to sit flat. I also removed all the excess carpet from behind where the sill plate and bottom of the metal reinforcement meet to allow them to sit flatter.

I was not 100% happy with how this turned out. As you can see, the sill plate does not fully cover the metal reinforcement and there are wrinkles in the vinyl trim of the kick plate. I debated notching the bottom of the metal reinforcement to try to remove more material from behind the sill plate, but I didn't do it. I spent at LEAST a day on each kick panel removing, test fitting, bending etc., before I was as far as I thought I could go without doing any damage to the panels. The car was judged at National and Regional and no deductions or notes on where the kick panel and plate meet, the kick panels or sill plate.

This took all of my patience and a ton of time.

Hope this helps.

doorkickdriver.jpg

doorkickpass.jpg

[Frederick H.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

Great job on those panels. Did you just bend them by hand or? I found some original metal trim pieces on eBay yesterday - will be interesting to see the difference if any.

Thanks for the help!
Fred

[Sven C.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

Thanks Fred. I just bent everything by hand, but was really careful and took my time. I also looked for originals, but I wasn't lucky enough to find any. I think the original metal reinforcements will definitely make a huge difference for you.
Hope it works out. Sven

[Frederick H.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

Hope so - will let you know.

Thanks.
Fred

[Dorsey F.]

Re: 1963 Kick Panel & Sill Plate Fit

I just installed my originals in my 64 with new carpet. I had similar, but not quite as bad, fitting issues. Amazing what a few blows with a rubber mallet can do.