Project 300ZX [6] - Moldings

So I think at this point I should give some updates on what is keeping me busy these days on the whole Z thing.

If you look at the list, you may have an idea of what is in progress and also updates as I get quotes and find out what is repairable, which parts I need to get, etc.

Moldings

I found a site that has instructions on how to do a ton of things to the 300ZX, and among those things were the instructions on how to remove/replace the various moldings (on the sides of the windshield, along the roofline, on the window sills, ...). After being satisfied with plastidipping the windshield cowl, I decided to give it a go.

First let's recall the status of the moldings:
That white strip is where the molding's black coat has worn off.
This is uglier still: the metal below the coating has some serious rust.
These moldings have chrome underneath the black coating.
So I decided to plastidip the hell out of those suckers. I would scratch the black coating as much as I could, and sand the rusty bits. The ones that had chrome underneath presented the option to strip the coating and leave the chrome but a) I don't really dig chrome and b) It isn't all chrome down there so you're still left with some black sections along the edges.

On to remove the moldings then. I started with the ones on the bottom of the rear windows since they seemed to be the easiest ones. Basically just pull upwards. This is how it looks with the molding removed:
Yuck! A lot of dirt and grime down there. I cleaned those sections as much as I could, the glass and the metal painted parts (yes, there is white somewhere beneath all that dirt!).


Now some detail on the removed molding pieces:



After those came the ones on the bottom of the door glass. More accumulated dirt. More glass and metal cleaning. Yay!

Look at the graining / burnt plastic coating on this one:


Next I removed the moldings that go on the sides of the windscreen. Harder to remove, these ones. I managed to crack some of the clips that held them in place, but nothing unrepairable. I may even order some of them for $1 a piece. Here's a picture looking down from the top along the right windshield edge, molding removed. I had already cleaned the metal portion but not yet the glass:

Between the removable roof panels and the hatch door, there is a 10cm stretch of bodywork that has a short moulding piece, affixed to two studs on the body. A lot of trouble for such small pieces. I broke some of these clips since they have a clip-on design that is not easy to clip off. Here you can see the studs. You can actually see them because it's already been cleaned.

The removable roof panels, or T-Tops, well the moldings are held with screws to the panels and you have to take them fully apart to get to those damn screws... a full hour of work just to do that!

Here are the metal sections of the T-Tops with everything else removed. I'm not putting them back together until I can get the dents fixed (you can see the dents further down), because the back of the metal is exposed now and I'm not taking these apart again!





Ok so let's start plastidipping:



As always, I applied 4-5 coats with 30 minutes between coats. You can still see an uneven finish where  the surface below was really rough and with sections of the black coat that I couldn't / didn't remove.




The improvement is fenomenal. I really like the look of this thing. And I'm now on my second bottle of plastidip!

Anyway all these pieces are still off the car; I may leave them off until I can get it painted. The alternatives are: (a) put them back on and then tape them when paining, which is suboptimal because the paint cannot reach those places covered by the moldings and it's always better to get as much of the metal surfaces painted for protection and better look; (b) put them back on and them take them off when painting: no way Jose! I may break more clips and it's just too much work. So I'm leaving them off and that's that.

Last thing I want to mention is that I did another repair: the interior roof light bulb. Yes, instead of going to the parts store and get it for like 30 cents, I actually cleaned the contacts and glued the metal ends back together where that bulb had become separated. Neverending DIY fun! I realize that was perhaps going a little bit too far.





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