Lower side stainless trim attachment

[bac]

Hi All,

Finally getting around to aligning the doors and fenders on my '71 Mach 1 but have run into an issue.  Got the doors trued up but the stainless trim pieces that run along the lower flanks of the car do not.  Obviously the last person to tinker with them did so without aligning the doors/fenders first.

My question is: while the front section of the trim is sandwiched between the fender and the front valance and I can see some locations where there is an attaching stud that comes through the other side of the body panels, at three locations (at least) I can't see how the trim is attached.  I've marked them in the pic of my car below in the hope that someone here knows (a) how the trim is attached at these locations and (b) how/if you can adjust the trim at these points to get everything lined up.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have a couple cars with the Decor Group trim. They are attached from factory with welded studs in the middle of the door and a nut and stud on each end. You should be able to take the nuts off on the ends but the trim is not going to move... If the studs were ground off during body work as many do then they usually put the plastic trim clips back on with screws from the outside. You might be able to move it some is they did that.

Otherwise you are stuck with what you have.

I took the trim off the top of my Mach 1 vinyl roof to polish. There was a trim clip missing and one of the members had an extra one. So when I went back I put the clip on the welded stud and put the trim back on. The reason there was not clip was the stud is out of location and the trim would not stay on. So I took the clip back off.

To remover the trim you take the nuts off each end and use a plastic trim removal tool and they snap off. Clips usually break and not sure if they repo them or not.

BTW they did not line up when new, lol.

If you look inside the trunk you can see the nuts and studs there also. It is not stainless it is anodized aluminum so will dent and bend easily. The car should be black below the trim and across the front valance and rear also. You could use wrap material instead of paint to make it simple and can remove if you do not like.

Couple pics of one of my verts with the trim. Might zoom in on the end of door and see the fastener.

I think the only wiggle room you have is the ends and will not be much.

 

[bac]

Hi David, many thanks for your comprehensive reply - you've confirmed what I had hoped wouldn't be the case, but sort of suspected would be.

I know my car has had at least one (not so great) repaint during its life and where it is flaking/chipping along the lower flanks I can indeed see black underneath, so this just gives me more incentive to return it to its original colour scheme.

Am kind of hoping now that whoever painted the car did grind the welded studs off and replaced them with trim clips to give me some wiggle capability to line things up a little better.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Hi David, many thanks for your comprehensive reply - you've confirmed what I had hoped wouldn't be the case, but sort of suspected would be.  

I know my car has had at least one (not so great) repaint during its life and where it is flaking/chipping along the lower flanks I can indeed see black underneath, so this just gives me more incentive to return it to its original colour scheme.

Am kind of hoping now that whoever painted the car did grind the welded studs off and replaced them with trim clips to give me some wiggle capability to line things up a little better.

Just be careful with the trim it is difficult to find in the U.S. and I am sure impossible there.

 

[Fabrice]

The door looks a tad low on the pict. May be once aligned the diff could be ok?

 

[bac]

Just be careful with the trim it is difficult to find in the U.S. and I am sure impossible there.

Yup - will do.

The door looks a tad low on the pict. May be once aligned the diff could be ok?

Doors are now aligned and the trim on the passenger side isn't too bad but driver side is pretty wonky.

 

[bac]

Just be careful with the trim it is difficult to find in the U.S. and I am sure impossible there.

Yup - will do.

The door looks a tad low on the pict. May be once aligned the diff could be ok?

Doors are now aligned and the trim on the passenger side isn't too bad but driver side is pretty wonky.

Well the driver's side is now complete:  door aligned and gaps done, side tape stripes installed, decor trim lined up as best I can and lower panels beneath the trim repainted back to their original black.

Now for the passenger side...

 

[73pony]

Looks great! Nice work.

 

[bac]

Looks great! Nice work.

Thanks! 

For anyone interested, the decor trim piece that runs along the door was attached by what I assume are the factory mounting studs (small flat head nail type protrusions) along the length of the door.  On the inside of the trim piece were some keyhole moveable plastic mounting tabs that I've not seen before on any other Mustang or parts website. All the other trim pieces (apart from the front one) were attached with moveable threaded studs mounted on the backside of the trim at either end and therefore easy to remove. 

There turned out to be a reasonable amount of height adjustment available on the pieces with the threaded studs as the holes in the bodywork were larger than the studs so I was able to get everything lined up quite well.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I think AMK or Daniel Carpenter repo the clips. Similar clips used in other places like the vinyl roof trim.

 

[bac]

I think AMK or Daniel Carpenter repo the clips. Similar clips used in other places like the vinyl roof trim.

Simliar to those but not exactly the same.  These ones are purely rectangular with little indents in the outer edges to sit snugly in the channel on the back side of the trim.  When I do the passenger side I'll try to pull one out and post a pic.

I damaged a few and would like to get some replacements if possible.

 

[bac]

I think AMK or Daniel Carpenter repo the clips. Similar clips used in other places like the vinyl roof trim.

Started on the passenger side today and sure enough, broke some more of the clips which look like this:

Any idea if they are an OEM part and where I might be able to get some?

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I think AMK or Daniel Carpenter repo the clips. Similar clips used in other places like the vinyl roof trim.

Started on the passenger side today and sure enough, broke some more of the clips which look like this:

Any idea if they are an OEM part and where I might be able to get some?

I think AMK or Daniel Carpenter repos them but not sure. See if Don has them Ohio Mustang.