trim removal questions

[Lord Warlock]

I'm trying to remove the trim around the body so i can get to work on the necessary bodywork prior to a fresh paint job (first repaint of the car ever) and a few pieces look tricky.  I have all the trim off the roof where the vinyl top was, as well as the bumpers and valence panels.  trim around front and rear glass is already off. 

The pieces along the bottom of the windows, for both front and rear side glass, is this bolted on from inside the door?  It doesn't just pop off does it?  Also the U shaped pieces where the C pillars meet the body, it looks like a stud is holding it in place.  Do i need to take the rear interior panels off to get to the fasteners or are they accessible from the trunk area?  Arrow pieces need to come off too. 

Also, the wheelwell trim;  some of the screws are pretty corroded so i'm having some problems getting the driver to turn some of them, I don't want to grind around the trim as it may marr the chrome itself, anyone got ideas on the best way to get the trim screws out without harming the chrome?  Definitely gonna have to remove the wheels to get to these screws, I was able to get about half of them off one side but there are a few holdouts that are going to take more time and effort to free up. 

Lastly,  The wide side body trim under the doors and between the wheels, is this a bolt on trim piece and if it is where are the nuts to get it removed?  or is it held on by spring clips and studs? This is the only real area of concern for possible rust since they've never been off the car ..ever so I don't know what it looks like behind them.  There is no rust showing around any of the edges though, and both areas around the wheels are solid enough so I don't appear to have any body rustout where they normally suffer from water/rust damage. 

Appreciate the input guys,  I've decided I can't let it sit any longer, its time to expend some serious effort to at least get the body looking good, then I can focus on the brakes (all 4 wheels) and then the motor (motor runs real nice still, just a few leaks to worry about)  I'd like to clean off the firewall and repaint inside the engine bay but its always intimidated me on the amount of work plus worrying about getting it all back in place, but after working on the stealth for several years it now looks alot simpler than it did. 

[bill440rt]

This trim removal stuff CAN be tricky! Here goes:
1) Door Belt moldings (below door & 1/4 side glass): Open the door. There should be a very small nut on the tail end of the door holding the molding on. Remove the nut, the rest is held in place by spring clips. You should be able to place a wide tool under the molding, such as a scraper or body filler spreader, & pry up. Start on one end, & work your way down slowly.
2) 1/4 belt moldings: You need to first remove the glass (YES!!), then the catwisker on the body. There will be small Phillips screws holding this molding in place. Once the screws are removed, just gently twist the molding to remove it off the drip rail. Do NOT try & drill out or remove that button. It is only a blind rivet holding the 2-piece belt molding together. Leave it alone!
3) Wheel opening moldings: Stripped screws? Just take a drill with a 1/8" drill bit & drill them out carefully.
4) Rocker moldings: Gently lift straight up on the molding to release it from the bottom half of the clip. Then, it should pop out on top.

Good luck!

[suburbanfireman]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I just removed all my trim last night on my 68.  Here is my deal - when I attempted to unbolt the rear side windows from the tracks the bolts snapped off  !!!  Now what?  I now have the glass removed, but I spent about 2 hours trying to wrestle the window cranking mechanism up through the slot so I can drill out what's left of the bolts.  I still don't have it out.  I needed to walk away from the project last night, or I would have filled the car with bullet holes!  Does anyone have a trick to getting the rear side window mechanisms out of the car?  Thanks.

[terrible one]

2) 1/4 belt moldings: You need to first remove the glass (YES!!), then the catwisker on the body. There will be small Phillips screws holding this molding in place. Once the screws are removed, just gently twist the molding to remove it off the drip rail. Do NOT try & drill out or remove that button. It is only a blind rivet holding the 2-piece belt molding together. Leave it alone!

When I removed those moldings, I didn't have to remove the glass. I simply rolled it all the way down and went at it with a small screw driver. You have to be carful, but it can be done.

[bill440rt]

terrible one, you must be very lucky!! 
Maybe it was just the way the glass was adjusted on my cars, but every Charger I've ever worked on I've had to remove the 1/4 glass to get the belt molding off. That's great you didn't have to!

suburbanfireman, you may have to completely disassemble the window track in the 1/4 panel to get it out. There are bolts holding the side channels in that also need to be removed. I snapped one of those 1/4-20 glass bolts as well. Just by raising/lowering the track, you should be able to drill it out & tap with without having to remove the track from the car. Unfortunately, these bolts are not available, so to improvise you can use a new 1/4-20 bolt with a plastic washer & a piece of felt for protection.

[suburbanfireman]

Thanks for the info.  I will give it a try tomorrow night.  Does anyone reproduce the nylon rollers?  Mine are pretty brittle, and they don't spin very well.  I planned on soaking them in WD-40 overnight (if I ever get them out) , but I wonder if I should replace them when they are out of the car.  Thanks again.

[bill440rt]

Try R/T Specialties or Penstar Reproductions. They carry numerous clips, nuts, bolts, etc, even window hardware.

[Lord Warlock]

re: 1/4 belt molding, is this the small piece in the rear corner of the rear windows?  or is it the chrome trim below the rear quarter glass to the corner?  Thanks for the input on the front door glass trim piece, found the bolt on the end of the door.  Haven't tried prying it up yet. 

The wide sidebody molding under the door.  There appears to be a nut on the inside of the front fender opening, and a screw holding the end near the rear wheels.  Is it easiest to lift upwards once the two ends are loosened?  Does anyone know how many connectors or fasteners are on the other side? I don't want to damage either of these since they look pretty good still.  I'd hate to screw them up forcing anything. 

I got the wheel trim off, that is a start at least and was happy to find absolutely no rust underneath them, quite a bit of sand and dirt though.  This week I'll be looking into the trim outside of each front door glass. then looking to see how involved the rear piece is.  I'd prefer to do it without removing the glass, but it really depends on what it looks like once i get into it.  Short fat fingers can be an impediment sometimes. 

LW

[69 OUR/TEA]

I know excactly what Bill440rt is saying,but there is another trick,what I did was unbolted and removed the pedastool type stopper on the bottm,on top of rocker panel,and was able to roll the window down farther to get right at the screws.You might still have to  use a right angle phillips to get at them though.

[Lord Warlock]

Got all the trim off except the pieces along the bottom of the rear side windows and corners.  Does someone sell the tabs that hold on the side rocker trim, (snap into body, look like plastic rectangles) I had at least 4 on one side come off with the trim, the other side came off without pulling any off.  I suppose i could probably reuse what i have somehow, but would prefer to get new ones.  I'll try to get a few pics.

Today or tomorrow, i have to remove the mirrors and door handles/locks, is there any special tricks to getting these off?  before i even get the panels off and get a look at them. 

Thanks,

Lord Warlock