honeycomb panel trim black or not?

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87fox72mach

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My Car
1995 firebird rebuilt motor 5 spd dail driver
1987 grand wagoneer plow truck
1987 mustang lx 5.0 work custom engine bay and paint
1972 mach 1 project
i was wondering what warranted the aluminum trim on the tail light panel honeycomb piece to be half black and half polished or just normal polished? im trying to get it right on my mach 1. also if black what color is the black semi gloss? flat? satin?

also as a side note does anyone know how to adjust deck lid side to side? i have about 1/2 inch gap on one saide and no gap on the other.

 
Side to side adjustment should be as simple as loosening the 4 bolts that hold the lid to the hinges. You should mark the current position before adjustment. I like to use a couple strips of painters tape and a sharpie to create index marks. This allows you to see just how much movement you are making and doesn't leave anything to clean off of the paint. It is not a bad idea to protect the edges of the lid and the opening with tape as well and to be gentle when closing the lid until all tweaks are complete.

 
i was wondering what warranted the aluminum trim on the tail light panel honeycomb piece to be half black and half polished or just normal polished? im trying to get it right on my mach 1. also if black what color is the black semi gloss? flat? satin?

also as a side note does anyone know how to adjust deck lid side to side? i have about 1/2 inch gap on one saide and no gap on the other.
I'm not totally sure, but I know the 71's had blacked recesses alone the under edge of the molding strips, likely to match the black paint around the tail light lenses. I think the 73's did not get painted moldings as the tail lights were not painted either. I like SEM Trim Black. I've used it for years with very good results when I was working in Automotive prototyping. I like the sheen and it's very durable after it has set up for a couple of days.

Hope that helps, but if I'm wrong, I'm sure it will be corrected.

Geoff.

 
On the trim question. The 71 & 72 had the half black out of the trim. It is more of a Satin in my opinion. When the government told Ford they could not raise prices on vehicles for 73 with the extra crash and emission equipment they removed the black out on the trim and the tail lights to save a few pennies. Of course they sell it to the customer as styling changes.

I hope you had the trunk on and in position when you painted the car. That is why Ford did that much easier to align before paint less chance for damage. If you have ever seen them on the assembly line doing alignments of trunks, doors and fenders you would think they are going to ruin the parts. They put blocks of wood in and push down to twist the trunk. Pull it sideways to bend the hinges into alignment. Yes there is some play in the bolts but not usually enough to get it right. They have special pry bars for the doors that they hook over the latch on the door jam and into the door latch and lift or push down to bend the metal holding the hinges. When the fenders are put back on after paint they put flat bars in the gaps and pry and hit with huge rubber hammers. They did the alignment in seconds that we probably take a day to do. You should have the car on it's wheels with the drive train in place before doing your final alignment to bend the body into it's working shape.

On today's assembly line there is much less adjustment than in the 70's. When you build up a body you stack up tolerances and there has to be some adjustment made no matter what the part tolerance is. If you were to try to build a car that did not need front end alignment it would be impossible.

Remember the old Pontiac Fiero? They would weld up the under body on that car then put in this huge fixture that actually came in and machined mounting points for the PLASTIC body panels. When they tried just welding and assembly it warped the outer plastic panels and look like it had been in a crash when new.

Don't be afraid to put some grunt into the force to move it. ALWAYS ALWAYS fit the panels before paint. Yes the front fenders, hood and valance panels were painted then installed. The trunk was not. They had a sub assembly fixture to put the fenders, grill, valance and all that together before sitting on the car which helped them start out closer than we can.

David

 
The honeycomb taillight panel is actually a 3-piece assembly - 1 black plastic honeycomb panel, and 2 aluminum molding pieces (well... with 12 fasteners, that is). The flip-open gas cap is separate, of course.

Here's mine right after installation (repop from OMS).

attachment.php


The two aluminum pieces have twist-lock fasteners (6 each to correspond with the holes in the taillight panel) that must be snapped into place on the aluminum pieces while the plastic piece is slipped into the aluminum pieces as well. It's quite a dance, but I'm sure the use of blue painter's tape might've made things a lot easier.

I still had my original trim and I don't believe there was any paint involved at all - it was basically just natural black plastic... just like the grille.

But, if you're repainting it to restore an original to some kind of newer looking finish, then a satin finish would probably be the best.

Hope this helps.

 
thankfully the car is not painted yet im trying to get stuff some what lined up before it gets painted. the trim is the two aluminum pieces mines a 72 and tail lights r blacked out. i will be adding the black to the strips thanks!

 
Honestly, I think that'll look pretty sharp. There have been a few of the guys here that blacked out the chrome trim on their cars (Luxstang, comes to mind) and it actually looks really good! Make sure to post up pics. ::thumb::

 
thankfully the car is not painted yet im trying to get stuff some what lined up before it gets painted. the trim is the two aluminum pieces mines a 72 and tail lights r blacked out. i will be adding the black to the strips thanks!
It is just the lowest part of the trim that gets the black. There are areas behind the honey comb panel between it and tail light and around the gas filler that get black out also. This is after the color coats have been applied before the trim goes on. Someone posted the Ford picture of where to black out in the past. Picture attached of a 73 you can see the black in the gap.

Ford used alignment shims or U washers under the front fenders to get the curve to align with the hood. If you are using a Dyancorn hood it probably will not match the fenders and will need some help. Not much of a way to bend the hood so you have to work with the fenders. You will spend many an hour getting everything aligned then take some apart for paint.

David

 
Yup - here are the pics I took of mine just before I pulled the taillight panel and rehabbed the whole rear end.

taillight1.jpg

taillight2.jpg

trunk2.jpg

 
When you're 90 miles from the next nearest 'berg (with almost literally nothing in between), you tend to be less picky. ;) :whistling:

As a '71 Mach 1, it was definitely going to be getting a pop-open cap (standard feature), so painting the black around the filler hole most likely wouldn't have been a priority. I can see where there might be a gap to cover with a standard cap on a honeycomb panel, for non-Mach 1 models. I'd wager that other years and/or models received the filler hole paint, but the '71 Mach 1s were going to get pop-open caps because it was decreed based on their VINs.

 
your original aluminum trim in your signature photo doesnt look like its half black? or was it

 
It was not [half black]. It was exactly the same as the new reproduction pieces I put back onto the car.

 
Interesting. I wonder what the conditions were for some to get the black, and others to not get the black. Mine didn't have a speck of black paint on them.

 
My point exactly. Very odd.

 
I think it came down to the exterior colour of the car. As my Pastel Blue car did have this blackout evident on the pinch welds, I will be replicating on the restoration. the tail lite panels I could not tell as it had been repainted previously. Indications in various documentation point to lighter coloured cars receiving the blackout treatment. Does look a lot better imo.

 
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