So I've always liked the rosewood door trim, and last night I finally scored a set of them, and I was wondering how difficult it would be to remove the wood from the door panel for reproduction perposes. Any ideas?

All my junkyarding, I've never found them with the wood (in good shape); but many times with the chrome trim ring... Since DC reproduces the chrome trimmed panels, I was thinking some real wood reproductions would be really nice to capture the original look for a higher trim level truck.

 

I can't stress this enough,be very careful when removing the woodgrain trim panels.The tabs are very brittle,and if bent the wrong way,they will break off.When I swapped the woodgrain trim to my door panels,I was as careful as can be,and two or three of the tabs still broke off.If you're careful and take your time,then you should be okay.You will have the drill the holes in the door panel you're swapping them onto,and it is important to make sure the holes are smooth so that the tabs don't catch on the edges.There should be a few fasteners that just slide on the tabs,make sure you put these back on as they provide a little more structure to the tab and help keep the panels down.Good luck with it.

Also,just for knowledge,the Woodgrain door panel trim pieces were only offered from 1980-1984 on 1980-1981 Ranger Lariat and 1982-1984 XLT Lariat trucks..

 

Excellent info, thanks man!

...that's what I thought, and it would explain the rarity. I always loved the look they gave in combination with the dash trim.

 

No problem.And I couldn't agree more.My woodgrain trim isn't perfect,but when I saw them in the Ranger Lariat in the junkyard,I wasn't about to make the mistake of leavin them and then regretting it later.They still look good for the most part.If you put the woodgrain trim on your panels,be sure to take pics and post em up.

Here's mine....

 

I love your interior man. I'm seeking out a rosewood radio bezel with the clock cut out because I want to retain the old school radio look on the dash... That and I want to find a factory fog light switch to go with the bezel I have (maybe an older On-Off heater slide switch would retrofit):



I'm using this photo as the model/goal for what i want to end up with...



I don't know if it's somebodies truck on here, but I just love it.

 

Sweet man,is that your actual cluster bezel,cause those fog light ones are rare,i've never seen one in person.I'm plannin to hit up a few local yards next week,I'll keep my eye out for the switch.

That's gonna look awesome when you're done.I modeled my interior after this...






I got it pretty darn close.lol.

 

Yea, that's the one I plan on putting in, and I've never seen another one ether. I'm planning on carefully removing the A/C vents (mine is a heater only truck), making a factory looking insert for both sides and installing some gauges that mimic the rest of the cluster, possibly like this style:



Hmmm.... I know that black truck ... and yes you did Very nice!

 

That'll look sweet.When I swapped dashes I got lucky,since the new dash and bezels were non-a/c too.

And Thanks man,I appreciate it.

 

My 1985 has the "burlwood" wood grain trim, and I never thought it looked as good as the "rosewood" style. The rosewood looks more like real wood.

Have you ever noticed that the later burlwood style almost always seems to be faded? Mine has faded to a purplish color and looks bad.

 

Yep,the burlwood panels are known for that.I have seen a few that haven't turned purple,but it's rare.The Rosewood panels do look alot better though.

Did you also know that the 6th gen trucks used Burlwood too?I don't think they turn purple,then again,there isn't as much of it to fade.

 

Anyone know of anyplace to buy replacement Rosewood interior pieces or is the junkyard the only way? I need a horn pad for my 81 because it's cracked and broken on the ends.

 

Cruise control equipped?

My next response is geared towards you as well as anybody else that may find this thread in a search for wood grain.

Dennis Carpenter has some wood grain stuff. Not sure if it's for CC or not though. They also list reproduction radio bezels, but the picture they show isn't 100% factory appearance. NPD may or may not have some wood grain stuff. My 2007 LMC catalog lists some wood grain horn pads, but they're non/cc, and I don't trust LMC stuff. You could also try some Ford parts houses. I'd check my catalogs for ya, but i'm at school.lol.

Everything else like the instrument bezel and the door panel wood grain trim is gonna be found on Fleabay or in the junkyards.

As a general note, it's pretty hard to find good condition 80-84 wood grain stuff in the junkyard. As soon as people see it, they take it, even if they don't have a truck to use it in. They'll put it up on Fleabay, so keep your eye out there.

 

for some reason, i think i have one of these laying around here. hmm, must go look now.

 

took a look and for sure, i do have one. if you're interested drop me a pm.

 

Have one of what?