Hot Rod Forum banner

1952 chevy trim trouble

4K views 7 replies 2 participants last post by  AustinPhoenix 
#1 ·
Ok so I'm stripping my girl down and have come to a stand still with the stainless exterior trim. I would like to reuse the trim along the doors and underneath the doors, but I can't seem to pull it off. The hot rod shop I bought it from just said to "pop it off with a screw driver." But it completely trashes the trim!!!

For the door trim, can I just turn the nuts that fasten it to the car until the wafer is no longer in the groove on the trim? Then at that point, do I use some vice grips to hold the head of the bolt and ratchet off the nut?

Also, the bottom trim...how is that held on? How do I remove it?
 
#2 ·
"Hot rod shop" what kind of "Hot rod shop" would tell someone to "pry off" mouldings that anybody doing old cars like that would know they MOST CERTAINLY don't "Pry off"!

They are held on with "T" bolts like this...


http://northlandfasteners.biz/Store/product_info.php?cPath=25_63&products_id=191

If you will notice they have a "wave" look to them. They are designed to be held in the moulding with a twist and then the spring holds pressure keeping it in the moulding. When you turn the nut tight on the stud it rotates it even tighter in the moulding. This is the trick, when you unscrew it, the darn thing will rotate OUT of moulding. If you apply pressure to the moulding pressing it against the body as you unscrew the nut the "T" will stay in the moulding until you have the nut all the way off.

This is of course in theory, in reality the damn thing still comes out because the threads are all screwed up. Or the stud breaks off the T or a number of other things. But if you can unscrew the nut far enough the T will rotate and come out of the moulding and you just move onto the next one. After you get the mouldnig off, hold the stud with a vice grip and screw the nut off all the way and throw the T bolt into a bag for reference when you go looking for new ones.

The mouldings around the windows I have to assume are held on with T bolts AND some push in clips as well.

Like these...



Or these....



Or a stamped steel clip that goes in the hole on the body and then the moulding clips over it.

What it takes is a LOT of time looking on the back side, pull out the interior panels so you can look up inside with a flash light to see what is holding it on. On the inside of the door frame, pull out the window channel, it IS going to come out at some time right? So pull it out and shine a light thru any holes you can find to see how this moulding comes off.

Many times you can unbolt what you can see then GENTLY pry up on the moulding while shinning a light down under it to see what is holding the next point. Many times there are MANY different fasteners holding the mouldings on.

Brian
 
#3 ·
Sweet!!

Thanks a lot!!

The hot rod shop guys were really cool and good at what they do...make hot rods. That being said...they don't seem to do a good job rebuilding old cars or keeping them close to being original...I saw a lot of chopped frames and massacred bodies lying around their property. My car, fortunately, was untouched except for one of the trim peices that had been pried off. :nono:

I'll start looking at the trim around the rockers to see what's holding that on. I want the front of my car off by Friday so I can pick up my new (to me) bike and help my parents set up their new TV.

My car is loaded with trim. Some reusable...some not. But I hope to reuse as much as possible. I really appreciate your help Brian. Any other suggestions from people is totally appreciated as well!!
 
#4 ·
Don't throw out ANY part on that car before you have replaced it. Here is a "Basics" on repairing the bent stainless mouldings.

Brian

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


“Basics of Basics” Molding repair / metal finishing
By Brian Martin

When straightening stainless moldings you are "metal finishing" just as you would metal finishing a ding on a fender. The following method would only be used on small damage of course, but depending on the time spent, you could use the same theory on a larger dent.

If you do this on a fender, you don't need filler of any kind. The art of metal finishing is not easy. But if you are doing it on these moldings, you are on the way to doing it on your dented fender or door.

The most important thing you want to remember is that when you file (a VEXON file for auto body work is the best tool) on something like this, it is more for spotting high and low spots than "cutting" those high spots. You run the file over the area then look closely to see what the file hit. If there are areas where the file hit hard, these are likely high spots that need to be tapped down a little before you proceed. You don't want to keep filing (or sanding) if you are hitting some spots hard and others aren't even being hit.

If there are spots that aren't being hit, those need to be brought up.

When there are large high and low spots a small hammer or rounded ended “chisel” can be used to “rough” it into shape. All the while, checking with the file, THAT is the tool to see where you are at.

I was taught to use a sharp tool like an awl to push up these low spots. It works well because the pressure is so localized. You want to push up from the back with an awl, and DO NOT MOVE where the awl is making contact. As you push up, the pressure is so localized you can usually see on the other side where you are pushing. If you are right on the money, go ahead and bring it up as much as you want. If you are off a little, you can move the awls tip over to where you think you need to be and apply pressure there, again, watching closely on the out side.

If you don't move where the awl's point is making contact, you can easily move it a little to where you need to be, remember we are likely talking about moving it an eighth inch or less, sometimes a thirty second of an inch. If you move the awl after pushing an area up, you may not be able to find that exact spot again. The point is (if you'll pardon the pun) to hold pressure on the awl where you pushed up as you look at the outside to see if you hit the right spot. If you do need to remove the awl to file, take a good look at the back and make a mental note of exactly where you pushed. That way you can go right back to the spot if you need to after seeing what the file is telling you. If you don’t move it, you can easily “slide” it over that eighth inch or less to the exact spot you need to bring up. What I do is hold the molding in my hand with my index finger and thumb. In the middle of my hand is the awl. I squeeze the molding pushing the awl up into it. My hand is upside down so the molding is facing up towards me. That way I can easily push up the low spot while I look at it from the other side.

The trick is, DO NOT file much, and just run it over the surface until you can see the high and low spots. After you have worked the area to near perfection, you can file a little more to knock down highs to make it perfectly flat for sanding and polishing. But if you rush this identifying of high and low spots and think you can file the damage away, you will end up with too thin of metal and blow the whole thing. When I was learning, I even went thru the metal a time or two. It is easy to do if you ask the file to do too much. The file should be looked at as a straight edge, more than a cutting tool.

This process can be long and tedious, you must take your time or you will do more damage than good. If you push up a little too much, just tape it down and try again. We are talking moving the metal a few thousands of an inch or so. Don’t move the metal so much as to make a visible “dent”. Most of the time you will barely be able to see where you moved it (thus the importance of not moving the awl) only the file will tell you if you did or not.

Now, once you get the area flat, you have filed it and the file says it is FLAT, you need to sand the file marks out. This is a trick I thank one of my mentors for. I have shown this to many bodymen and they will always be amazed at how good it works. You need a DA, a good old DA that you can lock the head to a grinder mode. Not an “orbital” sander, but a true “Dual action” sander. My favorite is the National Detroit “DAQ”. This tool is the best version on the market in my opinion. It has the most torque using he least amount of air.

Ok, you have listen to a story. I mentioned I have shown this trick to many bodymen, well the last time I did, it cost me. I had a nearly brand new DAQ (my last one lasted 25 years!) that I used to demo this procedure on a door skin a co-worker was doing. I was helping him with a problem door and when we came to the point of metal finishing the skin he went to grab his air grinder with 80 grit, NO, NO, NO, wrong tool! I went to my box and grabbed my DAQ with some 120 and quickly knocked the thing down flat and beautiful. There was a few guys there by this time and all were amazed at how well this worked. Well, one of them liked it so much they thought they would “trade” their worn out DAQ for my brand new one. Yep, a few days later I went to use my DAQ and found that in my box was not my new one, but an older abused DAQ!!! To this day I have not found my nice new DAQ, I suspect it is in one of my “buddies” garages at his home.

Ok, here is the trick, you use the DA pad as a 6” “block”. If you put the DA on grinder mode with some 600 or 800 on it you can hold it flat as you run it over the surface, favoring the left to right direction. The disc is turning clockwise, so you want to run the disc over the area hitting ONLY the top half of the disc on the metal, against the rotation of the disc. This top area is flat right? It is one half of a perfectly flat circle, so it is in effect a “block”. On this stainless you would use the 600 or finer to “block” it. On sheet metal you could start with 120 or 180, and prime over that. If it was going to be chromed like a bumper that is thick metal, you could still use the 120 or 180 and then move on up to 600 and leave it, the chrome shop will take care of the rest. Heck, I don’t think they use anything finer than that anyway.

I have used this method on stainless steel moldings, steel being chromed, thick steel like bumpers being chromed, sheet metal parts like fenders or doors being primed and painted, it WORKS.

The neat thing is, when I was taught this trick back in the seventies, the finest paper you had was 600. Now, with paper all the way up to 3000, you can REALLY do some trick stuff. I had a set of aluminum wheels to sell on eBay. They had some curb rash on the bead. I used this method with 120, 180, 320, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000 and then polished it to a fine luster. It really works well, give it a try.
 
#6 ·
Wow...

First, I never throw anything away when I have a project. Plain and simple. Even the trashed trim is still next to my car because I know I can smooth it out and make it true again.

Second, wow...great write ups!! You guys are awesome on this forum!!

The pic is perfect! That's exactly the clip.
 
#7 ·
hmmm...more trim trouble

So I got all the trim off the car except two pieces. The lower trim underneath the door. I popped all the clips off the trim except for one bolt up front that seems to be hidden by a few sheets of metal...making it difficult to reach. I'll figure it out today though.

The other piece is the trim on the door itself. Does this strip straight across the middle of the door use the same nuts/bolts or does it use clips? The door itself seems to prohibit that method...but then again, I have the door panel being held on by the handle and window crank handle (i'm getting the tool today). So I don't have a solid look at the door on the interior side. It might be like the door of my 64 that has steel panels that unscrew. If that's the case, somebody just reply with a "take off the panel and then post if you can't figure it out" lol If there's a trick or something different...please let me know.

Thans gurus.
 
#8 ·
Door tool?

So I bought this tool and it popped off a window handle pretty easy. After that...I couldn't get a handle off if my life depended on it. My dad looked at it and said it was the wrong tool. I should have been looking for a tool that looks like pliers to pull the clip out of the handle.

Tell me if this is it? It's too thick to fit inside the slot that holds the clip.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ca...elpandMiscellaneousProducts&_requestid=227832

On a brighter note, I pulled the metal panels and took my door trim off without any problem.

Thanks gurus!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top