RSA vs RS door panels - good, bad or ugly??

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 05:49 PM

Pelicanites,

It is about time I fixed up my sad old door trims in the '70E. Warped non standard carpet covered fibreglass pockets reside under cracked arm rests and worn out door handles.

With the expense of replacing all these items with original I am considering replacement with RS or RSA door trims.

The RS trims, although period correct, look a bit dodgy IMHO - well, the plastic handles do anyway. The RSA items would look great with Recaros (although only cheapo SE items) and Montecarlo wheel. But on an early car??

Fire away and convince me one way or the other (oh, and if RSA is the go, can the Pelican items be retrofitted to pre '73 - I want to buy from them).

Thanks for comments (hopefully there will be some!)

Cheers,

Ash

maxnine11 · maxnine11's Garage

not sure what to tell you about the door trim... but, I fixed your picture for you!!!.... you're welcome. .....max

911nut · 911nut's Garage

Hey, wait a minute.........the steering wheel's on the wrong side of the car!

I vote for RS panels; simple and clean.

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 06:19 PM

LOL!

cegerer · cegerer's Garage

Ya gotta go with the RS panels. They just look correct.

OTOH, I did overhear a comment from an (obviously!) uninformed Porsche owner at a recent PCA event regarding my RS panels: "well Bill, you could go the cheap route and just make something on your own like those!". Yeah, whatever .....

MotoSook · 08-19-2003, 07:20 PM

The difference is the RSA panel (hardware) is better. Both have marginal asthetic differences..my $.02

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 07:45 PM

hmmm. I really like your panels cegerer. Nice period look. I had nearly convinced myself to go the RSA, but now I'm not so sure. How do you find the plastic handle? OK or kind of fragile?

I agree with Souk - the RSA panels just look, well.., stronger. Could all be in my imagination as I haven't seen either up close.

And Max - I'm was just contemplating the difficulty of driving with the pedals back to front!

maxnine11 · maxnine11's Garage

yeah... i noticed that too!. looks like you have a lot of interior projects to get at

or, you could drive with your legs crossed. LOL

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 08:36 PM

95 views and only 5 votes! C'mon guys - I know you want to vote! Pictures too if you have them

poorb0yw · 08-19-2003, 08:46 PM

Heres a pic of my panels. In a 993 tho.

Scott Clarke · Scott Clarke's Garage

Make it period correct. Face it, we drive antiques!
-Scott

maxnine11 · maxnine11's Garage

that looks pretty neat Princeton!! What steering wheel do you have there??
max

poorb0yw · 08-19-2003, 09:35 PM

Max-
Its a MOMO wheel. Forgot their exact name for it though. Here are some more pics.

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 09:44 PM

Nice bit of gear Princeton.

Deep down I know it needs to be period correct RS panels - just need convincing. Anyone know what Paul Thomas (P-Thomas) is running in his signal orange machine? If not, I'll email him.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

masraum · 08-19-2003, 09:53 PM

Ash, I had to vote for the RS. Go with those.

Princeton, very sweet. I can't wait to see your car at some point again to see all of the changes.

dd74 · 08-19-2003, 09:55 PM

From what I know, the ones like cegerer's are more difficult to install than like poorbOyw's.

When I inquired about them with TRE, I was told there might be some fabrication of parts that has to be done to make the installation easier - though I forget which version that was for; RS or RSA.

Either looks great IMHO.

You might want to give Dave a call at TRE, just to be sure.

poorb0yw · 08-19-2003, 10:37 PM

Steve- I'll pm you after the widebody conversion is done. Probably within the next few months (around early next year). The modification cashflow is really hurting with my Tilton clutch FINALLY on its way..

The car is sitting with its interior in pieces right now (getting custom carbon fiber parts made) so not much to see.

Jack Olsen · 08-19-2003, 11:28 PM

Here's my opinion: if you go with period-correct seats, then the RS panels look more appropriate. If you have newer seats, then (again, my opinion) the RSA panels look a lot better, and are sturdier (and less likely to be used incorrectly by passengers).

tangerine911e · 08-19-2003, 11:46 PM

Jack - that was my original thought. The current seats really aren't period, and the steering wheel could be from any model. You are dragging me screaming and kicking back to the RSAs.

I think I will need to sleep on it (knock off time here in Aus). Good thing is I'd be happy with either option, so I can't really go too far wrong.

Any idea if the Pelican items will fit the early cars? I know other companies offer two models - one of pre and on for post 73, but I'd rather make the Pelican items work if I go that way.

Ash

901/05 · 901/05's Garage

are from the spartan race cars...the RS with the pull straps are the best looking IMHO. Of course, until then...these are the best looking.

Shawn.