Possible body molding substitute in the works...

[SkoonMA67]

Hey guys,

Just letting you know of a project my friend (a machinest who has a CnC machine in the shop ;) ) and I are going to undertake this coming weekend.

Aluminum door/body moldings! WEEEEEEEE!

Quite simple actually, well... at least I think its simple. He's doing all the work! haha.

We are going to try and router the stock shape out of scrap aluminum for starters just to see if it can be done easily. We're hoping that we can also router a slight channel in the back of the molding to allow double sided 3M tape to live there.

I think that providing a channel for the tape will help reduce the chances that the molding will look like its "sticking off the car".

If all goes well and who knows, it may not... but if it does, I will do my absolute best to get you guys pics.

Cheers, Ill keep you informed.

-Aaron

[pdupler]

Generic replacement side moulding are available. Concentrate on copying rocker mouldings. Get them powdercoated, look like original.

[Deanfun]

Generic replacement side moulding are available. Concentrate on copying rocker mouldings. Get them powdercoated, look like original.Agreed.

[SkoonMA67]

ok, tell me then... where do I get these "generic" moldings and what brand/model are they?

The only ones i know of are the ProStripe M45 molding, but they are all discontinued.

We talked also about rocker moldings but figured they would be a lot harder and more expensive per part to make. I guess they are MORE in demand though, arnt they.

Well, we'll see if anything comes from this. Im not getting my hopes up though ;) lol

[Deanfun]

The thing with the door/body moldings is that there are many that will work. They may not be perfect, but they will work. I even know of a couple cars using WOOD moldings, which actually looks pretty decent.

With the rocker moldings... you're SOL. They're also very easily damaged. My L-type had mint ones until someone caught their foot on the seatbelt getting out and ripped it off.

[pdupler]

Bill recently bought the whole set of side mouldings from Toyota, basically now just stick-ons. I hadn't heard that the Pro-Stripe was discontinued but Toyota got replacements somewhere.

[jtaylor]

I just went to the dealer list on those puppies is 125.00 a side.

[CELICA GTS]

My L-type had mint ones until someone caught their foot on the seatbelt getting out and ripped it off.

man thats bites...I guess as Joe Peschi put it...Fu*ked in the drive thur?

[Road Ripper]

For rocker moldings, just make your own out of interior door frame trim from any home improvement type store. I got a couple of 6 foot long, 2" wide pieces, cut them to length, shaped the ends, drilled the holes, and painted them black. Looks as good as the original, and only cost around $10! Rust and weatherproof too, as they seem to be some sort of compressed foam.

[SkoonMA67]

+1 for that idea! I was actually thinking of baseboards... they come in all shapes and sizes and could easily be cut to match the shape of the originals.

Expoy coat them too, and they wouldnt rot or change shape or anything!

hmmmmm.... ideas ;)

[bshapton]

Door moldings cann be 'restored' with a bit of work. First warm them up and cut out the metal core by slicing the back layer of the molding. Then put them out in the sun on a very hot day. They will return to their original shape because plastic has a 'memory'. Then mix up some fiber-reinforced body filler and fill the back where the metal used to be, leaving a depression for 2-sided tape or imbedding the original plastic clips before the filler hardens.

Let us know how it goes - start with the smaller moldings until you prove your finesse.

Bob