This project was a long time in the making. When the car arrived in March of 2017, the tired and tattered Kidney panels lay tossed in the trunk. I have no idea if they are original or not, but I think not based on some other examples I have seen on the internet. The bracketry that clamps onto the center console looks period correct. Maybe someone had done what I was attempting. 

Disassembly showed a disintigrating open cell foam that was laminated in places to provide extra puff / cushion. The cardboard backer was shot and would not hold its shape but was all there to provide a template to work from. I carefully removed the riveted brackets and set them aside.

I purchased a 2 x 4 sheet of 1/8" hardboard from Home depot and traced patterns out and followed up by carefully cutting with a jigsaw. 

I knew I wanted speakers in both the Kidney panels and the footwell panels (I call them kick panels) that are supposed to be covered in carpet. I purchased a pair of 4" Boss CH4220 speakers off of eBay ($16). Using the template that came with the speakers I laid out the pattern on the hardboard.

I used a hand riveter to reattach the mounting brackets in the correct position.

The next step, so I thought, was to use spray adhesive to attach fluffy batting I had obtained. After the adhesive cured I trimmed up the edges to match the hardboard.

Thinking myself clever, I used this hole cutter I had never tried before with my drill press. What you see here is just prior to disaster striking. The twist drill went through the center and pulled the batting right up through the hole. The cutter moved through the hardboard and twisted the batting clear off the entire board in a matter of seconds all around the cutter.. It all happened so fast I didn't know what hit me.

The second one, you'd think I was wiser, right? Well, I trimmed up the batting in the area to be cut thinking that I might escape the same fate. No such luck, the cutter grabbed a stray bit and removed the batting from the second board.

In the end, I stripped all the remaining batting off each panel and reapplied new batting.

I rough cut vinyl that I obtained from Joann Fabrics. Surprisingly, it is a really good Stag grain which is correct for the car and matches the freshly covered center console nicely. I glued it to the batting using the same spray adhesive.

It was at this point, having recently gone to a car show and seen some examples, that I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to add several USB ports to the car to power cell phones, GPS, Dash, Cams, etc. So, I purchased a ShinePick Car Charger, fast Charging 3.0 USB  Charger Socket from Amazon ($13). I laid this out on the driver's side panel above the speaker hole. By my calculations I had just enough room once the speaker grill was on.

Fearful I was going to wreck the whole project I rigged up a hole saw without a center bit. This allowed me to nearly cut through the hardboard, break it away, and disconnect it from the batting. Then, I cleaned the batting from the hole with small scissors.

The speaker hole vinyl was cut into thin pie wedges, then had the ends trimmed off. The areas where the blind nuts needed to go were filed down with a Dremel so that that the speaker could sit uniformly into the hole.

The last step was the one that scared me. The wrapping. I began to cut wedges, spray, let the glue setup, and then wrap. It did not go so well. The back of the hardboard is not smooth and made for a poor bonding surface for the vinyl which was under slight tension from the batting on the reverse. I ended up using 1/4 staples to help hold everything together. Between the wrap over the back vinyl, the 1/8" hardboard, and the batting, the staple points were clear of the vinyl on the front of the panel. The trimmed speaker-hole-pie-wedges were also stapled into place. The power port was a clean cut hole.

The speakers and power port went home easily and were wired into the fuse panel and radio. I finished mounting the panels by tying the middle together with TRF kit RFK512 (about $20) and fixing the rear into the transmission tunnel mounting points.

Overall, I am happy with the way this project turned out. My only complaint is one of my folds should have gone the other way on the front edge of the passenger panel. The cost was minimal, about $25, for the vinyl, hardboard, and batting.

Check out the Kidney Panel Photo Album for Full size pictures

Check out the Kidney Panel Template if you want to make your own.