Front hood trim

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Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
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Location
New Jersey
My Car
1973 Mustang Convertible (Mach I Tribute)
Unfreakinbelievable.

I recently changed the acorn nuts on the hood trim and all looked good and I know I tightened them up good.

I just got the car back from the shop...jump on the parkway and the freakin front hood trim comes flying off the car. Lucky it landed on the service road.

I was able to get it, but now it's all scratched up and needs to be sanded and painted. Plus when it flew up, made 3 small chips on the black matt hood.

I had a feeling that when I got the car back from the shop I should have checked the nuts before pulling away.

But no!!!!!!! Stupid me.

 
That's not good at all. What do you think has happened here to cause this situation?:-/

While i'm here, could i invite you to leave your first name with us for the first name library please?

Greg.:)
Life happens...really not sure why, but I know I tightened the new acorns nuts when I put them on last week. Even if the shop slammed the hood down, can't imagine all of them coming off. Think I'm going to pass on new acorn nuts and just go with regular nuts as they should be better to hold the piece in place.

Do you know the color black of the Mach 1 stripe (matt, satin, etc)?

I figure I need to pick up touch up paint for the few small chips

Thanks

Mark

 
Hi Mark,

I hear what you say, but i don't understand a couple of things. Firstly, you mention taking your car to the shop.What sort of shop? Was it a panel shop, a mechanical shop? Why i ask, is because i myself recently installed my new repro front molding on my '73 Vert, and used the acorn nuts to hold on. Granted, they are not the strongest fasteners around, but did the job well for me, and my molding has never played up or wanted to come off at all.

If you secured them on well yourself,and not overtightened them, they should not have played up also. This points to me that the shop had something to do with this happening. Yes?

Also, you can pencil touch up your chipped red paint, but i think you will have to respray your damaged satin or matt black hood relief to make that right again. Bummer.:mad:

Let me know what you think here, and thanks for your first name info.

Greg.:)

 
Hi Mark,

I hear what you say, but i don't understand a couple of things. Firstly, you mention taking your car to the shop.What sort of shop? Was it a panel shop, a mechanical shop? Why i ask, is because i myself recently installed my new repro front molding on my '73 Vert, and used the acorn nuts to hold on. Granted, they are not the strongest fasteners around, but did the job well for me, and my molding has never played up or wanted to come off at all.

If you secured them on well yourself,and not overtightened them, they should not have played up also. This points to me that the shop had something to do with this happening. Yes?

Also, you can pencil touch up your chipped red paint, but i think you will have to respray your damaged satin or matt black hood relief to make that right again. Bummer.:mad:

Let me know what you think here, and thanks for your first name info.

Greg.:)

The shop had to change a seal on the AC and recharge it, since it was drained prior to the engine rebuild.

It's actually the matt black that chipped (2 small areas) on the ram air inserts. The stang isn't a trailer queen so I'm not going to pull the inserts out to have them repainted.

Both small chips are on the edge and I should be able to do a decent job of touching up, but need to know the paint type (ie: matt, satin, whatever). The paint type should be same as the Mach 1 side stripe.

The red paint on the molding trim is way to scratched. This will need to be sanded and repainted.

Mark

 
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OK,

So as to why the acorn nuts have let you down is still a mystery. I have no answers there for you, unless someone has tampered with them since you first installed them. If you nipped them up properly in the first place, they should not have failed you and let the front molding come off. That's for sure.

With your red color, you will have to make sure your color match is close or spot on. As to the matt black. That's a problem. You will have to try your best to workout exactly what paint was used to spray your black hood. If you can't that's a problem. Why? Because even though the vents have been chipped only, that won't get you out of jail.You could mask them off and respray them only, but your big concern is matching the gloss level to the rest of the hood. Also, you can't respray the vents and blend the black into the surrounding areas, because matt and satin blacks can't be back blended into and look ok. You have to respray the whole hood black relief. Also, even if you were to obtain the exact black paint that was used on your black relief, and spray the vents on their own, it is very hard to match the same gloss level, because how you apply the black paint can change the gloss levels as well. It's a very tricky business indeed.

Greg.:)

 
OK,

So as to why the acorn nuts have let you down is still a mystery. I have no answers there for you, unless someone has tampered with them since you first installed them. If you nipped them up properly in the first place, they should not have failed you and let the front molding come off. That's for sure.

With your red color, you will have to make sure your color match is close or spot on. As to the matt black. That's a problem. You will have to try your best to workout exactly what paint was used to spray your black hood. If you can't that's a problem. Why? Because even though the vents have been chipped only, that won't get you out of jail.You could mask them off and respray them only, but your big concern is matching the gloss level to the rest of the hood. Also, you can't respray the vents and blend the black into the surrounding areas, because matt and satin blacks can't be back blended into and look ok. You have to respray the whole hood black relief. Also, even if you were to obtain the exact black paint that was used on your black relief, and spray the vents on their own, it is very hard to match the same gloss level, because how you apply the black paint can change the gloss levels as well. It's a very tricky business indeed.

Greg.:)

I'll take a pic of the chips tomorrow and post them here. I really don't think it's that bad and they can be touched up. But the paint is either matt or satin on the hood and ram air inserts, not both.

I'm also baffled on why the acorns nuts failed and came off as I tightened them real good. But it is strange as Ford only used 7 acorn nuts to hold the piece in place considering it's in the front of the car and getting a lot of wind resistance.

In regard to the red paint, my wife just reminded me that the body shop gave me a small can of the red paint when they did some work on the car two years ago. So even if the can doesn't have enough paint for the molding trim, they can order it to match.

 
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OK Mark, i'll wait for the pics. BTW - some guys use an epoxy glue like 5 minute Araldite, or superglue, or locktite thread locker on the threads as well as the nuts(acorn or regular) to make sure the nuts never come loose and work their way off.

I didn't do that myself, but it's a good idea if you're worried about future issues there.

Greg.:)

 
OK Mark, i'll wait for the pics. BTW - some guys use an epoxy glue like 5 minute Araldite, or superglue, or locktite thread locker on the threads as well as the nuts(acorn or regular) to make sure the nuts never come loose and work their way off.

I didn't do that myself, but it's a good idea if you're worried about future issues there.

Greg.:)
Here's a pic of one chip and the pic looks alot worse than it really is.

IMAG0138.jpg

 
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Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh,

a little bit hard to tell from that pic, but yeah, you might be able to get away with what we call an edge touch up in the trade. That involves edge block sanding down the chip so as to feather out the blemish, then soft edge mask the main edge line itself, and then carefully blow in the matt black color on the edge line only.[/align]

This technique can work sometimes and get you out of trouble.

Greg.:)

 
The hood molding, fender moldings and marker light bezels use nuts that cut the threads as they are installed. If the part gets removed and re-installed - each time a little more material is cut off [ or the studs corrode and get thin ] Marker light bezels are notorious for this -but all of them can become loose.

You can use a bit of glue, adhesive sealant or two sided tape on the hood to help hold the molding on.

Don

 
You can use a bit of glue, adhesive sealant or two sided tape on the hood to help hold the molding on.

Don
+1, if my memory hasn't failed me, it seems like many years ago they came from the factory with a rubber cement kind of adhesive in them.

 
The hood molding, fender moldings and marker light bezels use nuts that cut the threads as they are installed. If the part gets removed and re-installed - each time a little more material is cut off [ or the studs corrode and get thin ] Marker light bezels are notorious for this -but all of them can become loose.

You can use a bit of glue, adhesive sealant or two sided tape on the hood to help hold the molding on.

Don
Once the trim is repainted I'll use some sort of glue (locktite) and two sided tape.

Just pissed me off that I just got her back from the shop...Oil Leak found and fixed, AC gasket replaced and working right. Horn working again and thinking how nice and bam!!!

Thanks

 
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The hood molding, fender moldings and marker light bezels use nuts that cut the threads as they are installed. If the part gets removed and re-installed - each time a little more material is cut off [ or the studs corrode and get thin ] Marker light bezels are notorious for this -but all of them can become loose.

You can use a bit of glue, adhesive sealant or two sided tape on the hood to help hold the molding on.

Don
Would these work or would you recommend something else. (I'm also going to be using locktite. Taking no chances).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Scotch-1-in-x-1-66-yds-Outdoor-Mounting-Tape-411-DC/100575385

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Scotch-1-in-x-1-66-yds-Extreme-Mounting-Tape-414-DC/203405976

Thanks

 
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HMMM??? Since the piece needs to be sanded down and repaint, does it pay to go this route or I've seen a number of sites that sell either a repo or orig tooling piece from $70-$110.

Might be cheaper in the long run with an aftermarket piece or orig tooling piece, but sometimes you can't beat OEM.

Thoughts?

 
HMMM??? Since the piece needs to be sanded down and repaint, does it pay to go this route or I've seen a number of sites that sell either a repo or orig tooling piece from $70-$110.

Might be cheaper in the long run with an aftermarket piece or orig tooling piece, but sometimes you can't beat OEM.

Thoughts?
Hi Mark,

My advice to you would be to get your hood molding sanded down, primed, and properly refinished and reinstall back on your hood.If you then choose to use the combination of double sided tape and glue on your acorn nuts as well, you will end up with a very secure way of keeping that molding on your car for sure.

In my case i bought a new repro Nasa style hood for my Vert and then reinstalled the original Ford factory hood molding back on. Believe me, it was a nightmare trying to fit the original molding to the repro hood. The holes in the repro hood didn't line up properly with the mounting poles in the original hood molding. The whole thing was not a good experience for me.

I assume your hood is an original factory one, i don't know, but you will have trouble trying to match up an original part with a repro part. If you can match up an original part with an original part, you should be OK.

So i wouldn't mess around here, and try to experiment with using other parts. The combination of using glue and double sided tape with your existing mold is the way to go here. As OHS Don has said, the acorn nuts cut their own thread as you tighten them up, and yes this type of fastener has always proven to be an inferior concept, as the more you attempt to remove and refit the acorn nut, the weaker the gripping or clamping power of the nut becomes. That is why you need that extra help with the glue on the nuts plus the double sided tape for insurance. Again, in my case, my acorn nuts were only installed once, and therefore gave me all the clamping power i needed to hold the molding on properly. So even if you bought a new oem molding for example, the same thing would end up happening to you if you started to fit and then remove and refit the acorn nuts on and off with the new mounting poles on the new oem molding part. You would be back to square one so to speak. That's my 2 cents worth anyway.

Greg.:)

 
HMMM??? Since the piece needs to be sanded down and repaint, does it pay to go this route or I've seen a number of sites that sell either a repo or orig tooling piece from $70-$110.

Might be cheaper in the long run with an aftermarket piece or orig tooling piece, but sometimes you can't beat OEM.

Thoughts?
Hi Mark,

My advice to you would be to get your hood molding sanded down, primed, and properly refinished and reinstall back on your hood.If you then choose to use the combination of double sided tape and glue on your acorn nuts as well, you will end up with a very secure way of keeping that molding on your car for sure.

In my case i bought a new repro Nasa style hood for my Vert and then reinstalled the original Ford factory hood molding back on. Believe me, it was a nightmare trying to fit the original molding to the repro hood. The holes in the repro hood didn't line up properly with the mounting poles in the original hood molding. The whole thing was not a good experience for me.

I assume your hood is an original factory one, i don't know, but you will have trouble trying to match up an original part with a repro part. If you can match up an original part with an original part, you should be OK.

So i wouldn't mess around here, and try to experiment with using other parts. The combination of using glue and double sided tape with your existing mold is the way to go here. As OHS Don has said, the acorn nuts cut their own thread as you tighten them up, and yes this type of fastener has always proven to be an inferior concept, as the more you attempt to remove and refit the acorn nut, the weaker the gripping or clamping power of the nut becomes. That is why you need that extra help with the glue on the nuts plus the double sided tape for insurance. Again, in my case, my acorn nuts were only installed once, and therefore gave me all the clamping power i needed to hold the molding on properly. So even if you bought a new oem molding for example, the same thing would end up happening to you if you started to fit and then remove and refit the acorn nuts on and off with the new mounting poles on the new oem molding part. You would be back to square one so to speak. That's my 2 cents worth anyway.

Greg.:)
Hi Greg,

Your 2 cents is worth alot more than that. But what are your thoughts on "original tooling"? I went for the extra bucks when I changed the top of the dash pad with original tooling and really didn't have any problem putting it on.

I can buy if necessary the molding as "original tooling".

Either way I'm going to bring the molding into the shop tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the cost to sand and paint won't be through the roof. But when it's going back on, double sided tape and locktite will be there.

Thanks again.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
HMMM??? Since the piece needs to be sanded down and repaint, does it pay to go this route or I've seen a number of sites that sell either a repo or orig tooling piece from $70-$110.

Might be cheaper in the long run with an aftermarket piece or orig tooling piece, but sometimes you can't beat OEM.

Thoughts?
Hi Mark,

My advice to you would be to get your hood molding sanded down, primed, and properly refinished and reinstall back on your hood.If you then choose to use the combination of double sided tape and glue on your acorn nuts as well, you will end up with a very secure way of keeping that molding on your car for sure.

In my case i bought a new repro Nasa style hood for my Vert and then reinstalled the original Ford factory hood molding back on. Believe me, it was a nightmare trying to fit the original molding to the repro hood. The holes in the repro hood didn't line up properly with the mounting poles in the original hood molding. The whole thing was not a good experience for me.

I assume your hood is an original factory one, i don't know, but you will have trouble trying to match up an original part with a repro part. If you can match up an original part with an original part, you should be OK.

So i wouldn't mess around here, and try to experiment with using other parts. The combination of using glue and double sided tape with your existing mold is the way to go here. As OHS Don has said, the acorn nuts cut their own thread as you tighten them up, and yes this type of fastener has always proven to be an inferior concept, as the more you attempt to remove and refit the acorn nut, the weaker the gripping or clamping power of the nut becomes. That is why you need that extra help with the glue on the nuts plus the double sided tape for insurance. Again, in my case, my acorn nuts were only installed once, and therefore gave me all the clamping power i needed to hold the molding on properly. So even if you bought a new oem molding for example, the same thing would end up happening to you if you started to fit and then remove and refit the acorn nuts on and off with the new mounting poles on the new oem molding part. You would be back to square one so to speak. That's my 2 cents worth anyway.

Greg.:)
Hi Greg,

Your 2 cents is worth alot more than that. But what are your thoughts on "original tooling"? I went for the extra bucks when I changed the top of the dash pad with original tooling and really didn't have any problem putting it on.

I can buy if necessary the molding as "original tooling".

Either way I'm going to bring the molding into the shop tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the cost to sand and paint won't be through the roof. But when it's going back on, double sided tape and locktite will be there.

Thanks again.
I'm not an expert when it comes to knowing everything about original tooling in respect to quality and fit. I would imagine though that you should end up with a good fitting molding. However, i still stand by what i have said before about removing and refitting the acorn nuts a few times and weakening the clamping power of the nuts. Over tightening the nuts can weaken them as well. So buying an original tooling product may work for you in respect to being a good fit, but you will be back to square one again IF you end up removing and refitting the acorn nuts on your new molding too many times. But that's up to you to decide what way you want to go there. If it was me, i'd just refinish the molding you have now, and then use your acorn nuts with the tape and glue to secure the molding back in place. You, will then get the results you are looking for. Even just using the glue on the nuts alone without the tape should be all that's needed.

So best of luck with the whole thing. Do let us know later how you ended up getting along.

Greg.:)

 
Just a few more thoughts on your trim coming off and that does suck.

Like Don said the acorn nuts score a line on as the go on. They are like spring steel and if you over tighten them you can cause the nut to turn the holding edge on the nut wrong side out. If you try to put a regular nut on it will probably break the stud off trying to cut the threads.

When I assemble any of the trim pieces like the hood, fender caps, marker lights, honey comb tail panels, or tail lights I use some of the same material you use to glue in your windshield. This never hardens and is very sticky. I put a small ring around the stud before putting on the trim and then a small ring around the stud after it on the mating panel. When you tighten down the nut the material can squeeze out and allow the trim to fit down as intended but the sealer does not hold the pieces apart. If you ever have to take it apart again a slow steady pressure will make the two parts separate but the nuts will not work loose. What I use is made by 3-M "Ribbon Sealer" and I get the strip type that comes in a roll with non stick tape between the layers. You can order or buy different diameters and you can roll it or stretch it to what dia. you need. This also seals out any water that might get in. This stuff is much more tacky than the sealer they make to go between like the front fender and inner fender. If it holds in your windshield I think it will work on trim. I also use it to seal around the two halves of a heater box. If you ever take apart you car roll most of the sealer off with your finger and use lacquer thinner to clean up completely. You might be able to go to a body shop and bum enough for what you need. I don't use the type that is in caulk tube it ends up going bad before I use it the ribbon stuff stays sealed in zip lock bag and lasts for years and years.

Do not over tighten the nuts or it destroys their ability to hold. If you put the two faced tape under the trim it is going to jack it up off the hood and not look correct for sure.

I attached a couple pics of the material. I had to pull the rear sliding window out of my F-150 yesterday and it is held in and sealed with the same material.

Just some more information and let us know how you work it out.

David

DSC_1797.JPG

 
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