Hi Guys,
I'm doing the final put together of my FB. I'm replacing all of the body moulding clips and the beater wants to know, "glue on plastic clips or the original metal clips?" What's better? He's worried about metal clips rusting the body.
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mick.
Trim Clips
I have often thought about replacing the rusty clips with plastic ones, (don't know about glueing them on though) if they are available I'll be doing the plastic option.
Unless you are doing up a 100% original show winner, then I would stick with metal one's. Trev.
Unless you are doing up a 100% original show winner, then I would stick with metal one's. Trev.
[img]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f177/trevwood/WOOFTOsmall.jpg[/img]
Woofto Car Club Member No3
Woofto Car Club Member No3
trim clips
Hi,
when I resprayed/refurbed some of my charge, I was going to re-fit the original clips by carefully treating and removing all signs of rust before treating them with some special coatings to resist the rust issue recurring.
After fitting (or almost) the first clip and having it disintegrate, I decided to try and procure some replacements.
I picked up some similar clips and retainers, which included nylon polygon moulding retainers, from Bill Thompson auto rubbers in Ringwood, Vic.
After modifying and trial fitting some of the metal trim clips, I decided to bite the bullet and manufacture/fabricate some from stainless steel strip.
My concerns were that eventually the spring steel would again give way to the elements and further damage the panels on my vehicle.
Most of the trim on our vehicles is stainless steel. Ornaments, badges and letters are alas white metal which has been chrome-plated.
When it came to fitting the door trims (mouldings) I fabricated some stainless plates with small (4 & 5 mm) stainless button head bolts silver-soldered to them to allow fitting. These "plates" hold each end of the moulding to the doors and fenders.
Next time I will solder the nuts to the plates as fitting of washers and nuts to the soldered threads where there is extremely limited access was very time-consuming and nerve testing - especially the front retainer of the rear door!
For the 3-4 intermediate clips between these plates I used the Bill Thompson polygon nylon retainers. Be warned - they are slightly over-size and will result in dented panels if you don't "size" them to your mouldings before pressing and bumping them into place - there must be a slight over-fit however to secure them in place, I would suggest purchasing some extras and experiment with just how much material is to be removed for your application.
Another word of warning, when you are about to re-fit your mouldings, run a string line along adjoining panels so that when all mouldings are fitted, they are in line. Somewhere during the days I took to re-fit mine, I lost orientation of modifying the clips and retainers. The result being that I now have one moulding sitting slightly 'low" from the others - this will be
remedied when I have the remainder finished.
I trimmed the upper side of one panel's retainers and the underside of the rest - the visual result is quite noticeable.
When fitting the nylon retainers, if you have to "move" the position of the retainer, drill another hole slightly away from the original - over drilling will ultimately bring downfall to your fitting.
I sealed the underside (panel/retainer faces) with a thin film or butyl-mastic. This was done to keep out the fine almost invisible grit which flushes in past the moulding (from both down and upward directions) whilst washing or naturally with rain, road spray etc.
I used stainless self tappers to hold the retainers to the panels and over-coated them on both sides with another dab of butyl-mastic.
I also plied a very thin beading of butyl-mastic (grey) along and into the upper moulding and panel joint, applied with a soft thin wooden spatula (modified icy-pole stick) and much later wiped off any the slight excess with a turpentine dampened cloth. I did not seal the lower joint to permit any trapped moisture to drain. To assist with drainage, I ground very small notches into the lower edge towards each end. Unless you tell people about this, and blabber mouth me can't help himself, the grey butyl-mastic blends in marvelously with the stainless trim - a little added weathering eventually makes the sealant almost invisible.
With the roof mouldings, the main sections are held with self tappers - I again used stainless.
The rear section (which runs down to the upper fenders) is a real pain in the *#!!.
I fabricated some clips to shape from slightly thicker stainless strip.
To get the correct "bend" to fit in between the lips of the moulding, I rolled the strip over a small socket extension bar and then cut to size.
I was considering again silver-soldering a button head stainless bolt, but with restricted access into that cavity and having already experienced issues with the rear door retainer, considered washers and nuts a little daunting.
Instead, to mount them to the rear quarter panel pillars, I silver-soldered a brass-alloy brazing rod bent to an "L" shape passed through a drilled hole in the fabricated retainer so that only the "pin" protruded from the underside of it.
To prevent corrosion due to dis-similar conflicting metals (anode/cathode syndrome), I drilled over-size holes in the quarter panel to create interference fitting of small nylon plugs from "Ramset" masonry fasteners - these were sealed in place on both sides with butyl-mastic.
The brass-alloy "pins" from the retainers were now effectively insulated from the bodywork. The lower roof moulding was then carefully slipped onto the main moulding and then even more carefully pushed "home" into the nylon plugs. Unless someone is "told" and I do, the bushings are fairly inconspicuous under the lower moulding.
The project was a little time-consuming, but at the end of the day I am fairly confident that those horrible brown stains should not re-appear in the paintwork nor the subtle crunch sound as rust gives way to pressure when polishing.
Hope these "few" lines have given you some consideration?
frats,
Rosco
when I resprayed/refurbed some of my charge, I was going to re-fit the original clips by carefully treating and removing all signs of rust before treating them with some special coatings to resist the rust issue recurring.
After fitting (or almost) the first clip and having it disintegrate, I decided to try and procure some replacements.
I picked up some similar clips and retainers, which included nylon polygon moulding retainers, from Bill Thompson auto rubbers in Ringwood, Vic.
After modifying and trial fitting some of the metal trim clips, I decided to bite the bullet and manufacture/fabricate some from stainless steel strip.
My concerns were that eventually the spring steel would again give way to the elements and further damage the panels on my vehicle.
Most of the trim on our vehicles is stainless steel. Ornaments, badges and letters are alas white metal which has been chrome-plated.
When it came to fitting the door trims (mouldings) I fabricated some stainless plates with small (4 & 5 mm) stainless button head bolts silver-soldered to them to allow fitting. These "plates" hold each end of the moulding to the doors and fenders.
Next time I will solder the nuts to the plates as fitting of washers and nuts to the soldered threads where there is extremely limited access was very time-consuming and nerve testing - especially the front retainer of the rear door!
For the 3-4 intermediate clips between these plates I used the Bill Thompson polygon nylon retainers. Be warned - they are slightly over-size and will result in dented panels if you don't "size" them to your mouldings before pressing and bumping them into place - there must be a slight over-fit however to secure them in place, I would suggest purchasing some extras and experiment with just how much material is to be removed for your application.
Another word of warning, when you are about to re-fit your mouldings, run a string line along adjoining panels so that when all mouldings are fitted, they are in line. Somewhere during the days I took to re-fit mine, I lost orientation of modifying the clips and retainers. The result being that I now have one moulding sitting slightly 'low" from the others - this will be
remedied when I have the remainder finished.
I trimmed the upper side of one panel's retainers and the underside of the rest - the visual result is quite noticeable.
When fitting the nylon retainers, if you have to "move" the position of the retainer, drill another hole slightly away from the original - over drilling will ultimately bring downfall to your fitting.
I sealed the underside (panel/retainer faces) with a thin film or butyl-mastic. This was done to keep out the fine almost invisible grit which flushes in past the moulding (from both down and upward directions) whilst washing or naturally with rain, road spray etc.
I used stainless self tappers to hold the retainers to the panels and over-coated them on both sides with another dab of butyl-mastic.
I also plied a very thin beading of butyl-mastic (grey) along and into the upper moulding and panel joint, applied with a soft thin wooden spatula (modified icy-pole stick) and much later wiped off any the slight excess with a turpentine dampened cloth. I did not seal the lower joint to permit any trapped moisture to drain. To assist with drainage, I ground very small notches into the lower edge towards each end. Unless you tell people about this, and blabber mouth me can't help himself, the grey butyl-mastic blends in marvelously with the stainless trim - a little added weathering eventually makes the sealant almost invisible.
With the roof mouldings, the main sections are held with self tappers - I again used stainless.
The rear section (which runs down to the upper fenders) is a real pain in the *#!!.
I fabricated some clips to shape from slightly thicker stainless strip.
To get the correct "bend" to fit in between the lips of the moulding, I rolled the strip over a small socket extension bar and then cut to size.
I was considering again silver-soldering a button head stainless bolt, but with restricted access into that cavity and having already experienced issues with the rear door retainer, considered washers and nuts a little daunting.
Instead, to mount them to the rear quarter panel pillars, I silver-soldered a brass-alloy brazing rod bent to an "L" shape passed through a drilled hole in the fabricated retainer so that only the "pin" protruded from the underside of it.
To prevent corrosion due to dis-similar conflicting metals (anode/cathode syndrome), I drilled over-size holes in the quarter panel to create interference fitting of small nylon plugs from "Ramset" masonry fasteners - these were sealed in place on both sides with butyl-mastic.
The brass-alloy "pins" from the retainers were now effectively insulated from the bodywork. The lower roof moulding was then carefully slipped onto the main moulding and then even more carefully pushed "home" into the nylon plugs. Unless someone is "told" and I do, the bushings are fairly inconspicuous under the lower moulding.
The project was a little time-consuming, but at the end of the day I am fairly confident that those horrible brown stains should not re-appear in the paintwork nor the subtle crunch sound as rust gives way to pressure when polishing.
Hope these "few" lines have given you some consideration?
frats,
Rosco
trim clips
Yes I certainly did (I plague members of our club with pix from time to time).
At this point in time however, I am in the midst of another non-car related project and my machine and memory stix are absolutely chocka with pix and video.
I took digi-pix of most of what I did. From memory, I took shots of making those lower roof moulding clips and associated pix to jog my memory - when I find them, I'll post a few to support my jottings..........
until then, if anyone needs more pronto - mail me and I'll express priority them a little.
frats,
Rosco
At this point in time however, I am in the midst of another non-car related project and my machine and memory stix are absolutely chocka with pix and video.
I took digi-pix of most of what I did. From memory, I took shots of making those lower roof moulding clips and associated pix to jog my memory - when I find them, I'll post a few to support my jottings..........
until then, if anyone needs more pronto - mail me and I'll express priority them a little.
frats,
Rosco