Topic: 1970 Mustang – Replacing my Pillar Post Moldings Part I

[timsweet]

Pics are located here:
http://timsweet.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/1970-mustang-replacing-my-pillar-post-moldings-part-i/

If you searched and found or followed my posts on restoring the dash-board of my '70 Mustang, then you might recall my planning/scheduling issues.   

As I was taking the old dash pad off, I realized that I hadn't order the plastic pillar molding.  When I finally called a few Mustang parts supplies places I found them all to be out of stock and they had to put them on back order.  They did finally come in and it's taken me a bit to actually find the time to replace them.  Well, this long 4th of July week, I'm at least going to get started.  (I have also do the valve cover gaskets as well.)   

So here again is what I'm replacing:   


Yeah..had to get creative to keep them on.
 


Pretty?
 

Now the new molding comes in any color you want as long as that's black.   You'll need to paint the proper color.  If you have the specs for you car you'll easily find the interior color and places like National Parts Depot or Mustang's Unlimited have the paint for the job.  I had to do this with a replacement armrest.  Which was horrible - replicas all came square and my Mustang's armrests are rounded and have the overstuffed look like a leather sofa or overstuffed chair.  (I ended up pick up a use one in good shape and painted that..I think it was tan originally.)   

Oh..sorry...I wandered!!!   

The first think you have to do is prepare the plastic for holding paint.  The guys at National Parts Depot recommend SEM 38353 Plastic/Leather Prep. I've used it and it seems to do the trick.  Pretty simple....Spray surface, pay attention to recessed areas, wipe with clean cloth.  Use some gloves if you have office worker hands and put out the cigar while you using this stuff.   


SEM 38353 Plastic/Leather Prep
 

Sticking with the SEM brand I purchased a can of Universal Color Coat.  I used this paint on the aforementioned armrest and it lives up to the "Flexible Coating" label.  My Mustang's interior is VP-15945 Vermillion.   


SEM Universal Color Coat
 

So next up I'll do the prep and the paint.   


Molding
 

Thanks for reading.   

Tim

[Soaring]

Those are the kinds of tinkering jobs I like.  You get satisfaction you can actually see.  I replaced all the interior on my 65, and plastic coated all the hard surfaces.  She turned out pretty nice.  I forgot what I used to prep the surfaces, but it wasn't from NPD.  Probably the same stuff though. 

[timsweet]

For some reason I keep thinking my images should show up. With a copy and paste

[Soaring]

Hit "reply" then go down to the botton and hit "Browse" in the "Attach"  section.  If you have the pics somewhere on your 'puter or in your digital camera they will show up on your post. 

[timsweet]

Main pic are here   http://timsweet.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/1970-mustang-%e2%80%93-replacing-my-pillar-post-moldings-part-iii/

aulk another tasks down on the restoration of the Mustang.

I finished up the pillar post molding last night.  Here is the before:


Pretty?
 

Now these were not as labor intensive as the dash-pad but here were some issues.

We'll walk through them.

The removing the dash-pad was chronicled in my earlier post and that was pretty quick now that I've done it twice.

Once the dash-pad was removed there is an additional piece that needs to be removed, or at least a couple of screw removed on each side. That is the top molding:


Top Molding
 

 In the picture above I'm pointing to one of the screws in the top molding that runs the length of the windshield.  That screw  is actually through the pillar molding which is partially behind it.  The top molding has 5 screws, two on each end and on my coupe the fifth is in the center and holds the plastic snap for the ends of the sun visors.  That screw does not have to be removed there is plenty of play after the removal of the four other screws, to safely (without forcing anything) remove and install the new moldings.

The next step is removing the two additional screws that hold the pillar molding to the pillar.


Screw Marked Remove
 

and this one:


Second screw to remove.
 

It's tough see there but here is a good clear picture...that old mold was so deteriorated it actually fell apart.


Lower molding screw.
 

When I said it fell apart.......


Yup. It was in bad shape.
 

The other side came/fell off the same way, in pieces, nothing left to do but snap the other pieces on and...eeerrrrkkkk(insert braking sound)..."Yeah..anybody know if you can insert sound in there a WordPress blog??" ....cricket..cricket...cricket......huuummm where's my...oh I have no staff...well, only when my son visits (he does some on my graphic design..more on my new logo search later..maybe you all can vote on one??) back to my eeerrkkk...we need to discuss quality of workmanship for reproduction parts.  That won't be a long discussion.."sucks"...there ya go, end of discussion.

But really I know that they try, and I am grateful for something that looks almost as good, especially for a rare car like mine (...meaning not very sought after..at least not yet...therefore the profit in making any unique parts is next to nothing.)

One of the first things about this particular molding is that is about 1/2 the thickness of the original and made of light plastic.  This worked out because the holes are not exactly lined up and there was a larger problem.


Offset isn't correct.{pic}
 

As you can see the molding on the right (the original) where the screw driver blade is located, is recessed about 1/2 an inch, if not a little more.  On the left (new molding) there is almost only about 1/4 of an inch..maybe a bit less.  If the material for the new molding was as rigid as the original there would be no flex in the material and the lack of offset for tab on the new molding would not have allowed the use of the original screw, it would have been too short. Additionally, screw holes A and B  in the picture below were not aligned properly and would not have enough ''give" but allow installation, if it was stiff as the original.


Improperly aligned.{pic}
 

 Was this engineering genius or happy mistake?

Generally, the fit was close, not contours car show inspect-able close, but close enough for the local guys.  But if you can find parts made from "original tooling" (we talked about that when I was install the dash-pad for the first time) buy those, if your Average Budget can handle it.  These molding just aren't available in any other tooling.

With the holes in the wrong place it took some pressure and jostling to get them into place.  One tip I can pass on is do not tighten the screws until you have them all started.   I had to leave the top two screws out far enough to allow movement to get the bottom screw in.


Keep the screw loose to maneuver the piece around.{pic}
 

 In the end the result were pretty good. You be the judge.


Left side{pic}
 


Left side bottom (and my vette in the background){pic}
 


Right side (and my neighbor's truck...like you need to know that!!){pic}
 


Left Side bottom {pic}

Over all it took about 3 hours with interruptions with phone calls and neighbors stopping to chat.  It's like Soaring over on www.MustangV8.com forum said.."Those are the kinds of tinkering jobs I like.  You get satisfaction you can actually see."  (BTW - I like that forum, the Classic Mustang section is great.)

Thanks for reading.

Tim

[Soaring]

Somehow, the pics didn't come through Tim.  At least not on my 'Puter.  Yeah, it's always a good idea to get all the screws started before tightening all of them down, and it's a good idea to start with the middle ones first.   That includes head bolts, intake manifold bolts to exhaust manifold bolts to interior trim.  Been there, done that.