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[Matt Hamblin]

I am currently replacing the interior in a 66 Chevelle for a customer. I am curious if anyone has run into the chrome/stainless door panel trim piece that separates the panels? I made new panels and am trying to secure it to the vinyl but not having much success. I used the landau cement and let it tack up for some time before pressing it on and left clamps on either end for a while and it still is peeling off. It does not have pins on the back.
Any suggestions on how I can install this properly? Double sided 3M?

[John Long]

I am pretty sure there should be pins on the back of your piece. I have made clips when necessary by cutting a piece of light stainless as follows.

Figure 1: take a small piece of stainless about 1” wide and cut two slots about 3/16” apart deep enough to stop half way from the width of the trim. For example if you need a clip that is 1/2” wide, stop your cuts 1/4 inch from edge..

Figure 2 Now bend your 3/16 tang up at a 90 degree angle.

Figure 3 Trim the piece lengthwise so the final width is what you need. You now have a 1/2” wide clip with a 3/4” tang. Make 6-8 of them and you can install your strip through holes in your door panel.

John

BTW, It is not necessary for you guys to remind me, I am a terrible artist. :-))

[Matt Hamblin]

John,

Yeah I was surprised when i took the old door panel apart that there were no tangs or pins of any kind. I had to steam it loose from the vinyl. I am working on panel #2 now so I will have the next piece off soon. It has a backing inside the trim so I hoped it would stick. Could be I didn't time the tack process well enough either.

I'll try to upload a pic of the back asap and hopefully the others have tangs, cause that would make life much easier.

Thanks for the info!

Matt

[Matt Hamblin]

John,
Here is what i am dealing with.

[John Long]

Hmmmmm, That is a different situation.

Two thoughts....First, maybe you could add studs with a stud gun like body men use to pull dents. I have one. It's a shame you're not my neighbor.

Secondly, and probably a better solution, is to take a MIG welder and attach welding wire to the back strip. You could pull it tight with 8-10 pieces of wire through holes in the panel.

My origional idea could work but you would have to to take a die grinder with a cut off wheel down the middle of the strip. Once you had the strip split lengthwise, you could remove it and the make the clips a shown above. It would be very labor intensive and I don't think it would be the best way though.

Let us see what you end up doing...Good luck with ot.

John

[Matt Hamblin]

That gives me some ideas to try i will definitely let you know what i end up using.

Thanks for the help

Matt

[Matt Hamblin]

John,

Here is what i finally settled on. I just used the classic 3m tape. I tried drilling holes and running wire through to hold them on but it was very tough and risky and the wire really didn't want to feed well into the trim.

I don't have a way to run my welder at home so i did a test piece and it seemed ok so i just did the first one. Seems to be holding very well. Hope it lasts long term but gotta do something to make it work.
Thanks for the ideas!

[John Long]

Glad it worked out for you.

[John]

Glad to hear that all worked out for you. That door panel looks fantastic!

[Matt Hamblin]

Thanks John! Appreciate all the videos and training! I doubt i would have been able to make them look like that without your videos. Thank you!