Question Regarding My 87 X

Joe F

Joe F

Hi Miles, Lo Maintenance
Regarding the black side moldings that seem to be only on 87 X-1/9's in USA.

my.php
[/URL]

I am concidering painting my car and removing the moldings as they are broken and faded.

I know that there are clips under the molding attached to the door and front fender. Can anyone who has done this offer a few tips, like...how are the moldings removed?

Thanks
 
They come off easily

Hey Joe,

The moldings are a breeze to remove. On the doors there is a small hex head screw in the inside lip of the door that threads into the molding. Just remove the screw and then the molding will slide forward with a little effort. Once you slide it forward it will pop right off since it will disengage with the steel studs on the door.

The front fender molding comes off the same way and the retaining screw is located in the fenderwell. You might have to scrape off some of the undercoating and road grime to find it though.

Once you pull the moldings you can decide if you want to have the body shop delete them or not. There are a whole series of popriveted studs that will have to be removed and the holes filled.

Bob.
 
Also Joe I have an extra door,

Passenger's side from an '87 with electric innards if you need or want it.
(no glass) A freebie. Let me know.
 
Other ideas...

...besides just removing. It takes a lot of body labor time and skill to remove those studs and make the door look like they were never there.

1. Lose the moldings, but rather than losing them by surgical removal, replace with doors from an 85-86 car and transfer your car's innards.

2. Lose the moldings by having a body shop install earlier year doorskins onto your door frames. Henk and Lausen still list door skins as available, but not cheap :eyepop: by any means.

3. Keep the moldings, just get new ones. MaddMatt probably has replacement used moldings, other suppliers may have new.

4. If black is too blah, a good body shop should be able to use a flex additive to allow painting in other colors. If repainting the car, you could match the overall body color for the monochrome look, or you could use the moldings as a contrasting or accent color. Take some snapshots of your car and Photoshop 'em to see the different looks.
 
Just a humble opinion, but I think they look good. They match the vent well. And I am a sucker for keeping it original anyway.

I have not done this on an X, but on other cars with black molding like that I used a polishing cream to get the black back to shape and take off some of the white-ish from age. They could be reconditioned, or lightly sanded and repainted and look almost like new.
 
Joe:

Your car is broken.

I will pick it up this weekend and you won;t have to worry about it any more....

I vote locate 85-86 doors and swap.

--Kevin
 
Thanks all..

After seeing the studs, I am re-thinking the removal strategy and may go with replacements. The door molding on the passenger side is split along the long seem and I see no easy way to fix it. In fact removing it will probably completely ruin it.

Replacing moldings are cheaper than doors or panels and it really does not look bad when restored to like new condition.

Sorry Kevin, but it looks like I'll endure the pain and keep her. :)

Thanks all for your much appreciated advice.
 
Joe, a good body shop can

grind those off in a way that you'd never know.
MUCH cheaper option IMHO.
 
Peanut butter

Among the many popular treatments for these plastic parts are:

Creamy Peanut Butter

Back to Black my Mothers, which I have had good luck with.

I am sure there are a variety of others as well.
 
Hey Joe... I'm one of the few that kinda like them also...

As Dan Said... you can paint them body color or... you can also DYE them with TRIM BLACK from Duplicolor... even after repairing them.

(I use Duplicolor's Fabric and Vinyl spray on more flexible parts...)

I find that Trim Black works better than any temporary product and makes the parts look factory fresh.

Trim Black does have its limitations... after TEN years, I find I now haveta redo all my elephant ears and spoilers again. Gonna cost me another TEN bucks too...

HA!
 
Hi:

I removed mine and welded all of the holes up. I felt like that was going to take less time than swapping doors - even though I had a nice set of replacement doors.

While you're in there welding you can close up the holes for the 'elephant ears' and rear bumper ends that you have removed.

Personally I think that moulding looks 'clunky' - that's why I removed mine.

Chris

'87 X1/9
'82 Spider
15 other Fiats gone but not forgotten
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top