falconvan Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 Alright, what the heck is going on?? :confused:Three days ago they predicted a blizzard and we got next to nothing. Now they called for no snow until Sunday night but I wake up this morning to 4" and it's still coming down hard! Crazy... Anyway, I have a few questions about the rocker molding on my 48. I had to install after market rockers as the originals were rotted out but the new ones did not have all the little rectangular holes for the original molding clips. I really don't see any way possible to cut those; the stores seem to be fresh out of rectangular hole saws. Has anyone else gone through this and what solution did you come up with? Also, can anyone recommend someone who straightens and polishes stainless trim? My rocker molding needs some work. Quote
Russellc Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 Falcon, could you use a dremel tool to make the cuts? Ive got an old one ,and the available assorted cutting & grinding bits available is remarkable. Quote
greg g Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 The sloted holes wer probably puched into the metal to give the assembly line guys some fudge factor for speed of assembly purposes. Since you are going to be careful and measure your placement before installation, round holes will probably do you fine. Unless of course you find some rectangular bolts............. Quote
1947PLEVY Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 Falconvan.. I've used a drill and then taken a file to make it rectangular..Drill out as much metal as possible..then take the file to it..Takes a little time but if you want the factory look..then worth it.. God Bless US All...John Quote
dezeldoc Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 Or if you have nothing but time you could drill 4 1/16 holes and use a cut off wheel to cut between them. Quote
suntennis Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 Why not get clips similar to those used on fender trim which are like "T" bolts? A good auto supply or automotive paiint store should have something that would do the job. This would only need one round hole per attachment. On the other side this would not be nearly as much fun as making a rectangular opening from a round opening. Sounds like a good project. Quote
40plyrod Posted February 5, 2011 Report Posted February 5, 2011 I have had luck in the past with drilling a hole close to the size and then taking a tapered square shaped punch (think easy-out) and driving it in the hole to square out the corners. I made the mistake of ordering bed strips for my chevy pickup without holes and made square holes for the carrige bolts this way Quote
falconvan Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Posted February 5, 2011 Thanks guys, lots of great advice. I'm putting them back on come hell or high water; the car just dont look right without them. Quote
hkestes41 Posted February 6, 2011 Report Posted February 6, 2011 Just get some industrial grade Velcro! Problem solved. Quote
alan32433 Posted February 6, 2011 Report Posted February 6, 2011 You asked about someone to repair your trim. I've heard its really expensive. You might want to try it yourself. I have a DeSoto parts car complete with trim. Not wanting to ruin my "better" trim, I took a piece off the parts car to practice. I took a piece that had numerous dents and dings. I used several different types of small body hammers and carefully tapped out the dents. Then I used a very fine file to gently shave across the dented area. As soon as you do that, you will see the high and low spots. Back to the hammer, the low spots were tapped from the back side, high spots from the front. Then lightly shave with the file again. Once the spots were perfectly leveled, I used 320 grit with a small DA sander over the filed areas, and progressively moved up to 1500 grit to completely remove the file marks. I sanded the entire piece with 1500 grit, then used a buffing wheel to get a chrome like shine. Make sure you use a really fine file. The object is to tap out the low and high spots and remove only a microsopic amount of metal. The piece of trim I restored was about 30 inches long and had 4 spots to be repaired. It took me about 3 hours to do it, but it was a learning experience. The next peices will be much faster. Quote
BobT-47P15 Posted February 6, 2011 Report Posted February 6, 2011 There have been some previous threads on this topic. What Alan did is the generally recommended method. You could probably find an ad in Hemmings Motor News for someone to do it for you. Quote
falconvan Posted February 6, 2011 Author Report Posted February 6, 2011 That's all great info, guys. Thank you! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.