I drive an '83 trans am, and I am planning on prepping it for a new paint job.

Except there is this plastic molding, and I have no idea how to succesfully remove it without destroying it. As well if there is a successful way to take it off, how would I go about putting it back on?




That is my main question, but any advise on how to properly prep my car for paint would be greatly appreciated

 

In the past, when I repainted a few thirdgens (camaro's and firebirds)......I just went ahead and bought new moldings. It's hard to save something like that and alot of work. You would have to take it off....scrape all the old emblem tape off....apply new....sand...and alllllll that good stuff. Much easier just to take it of...and buy new....

 

Ripping it off does sound easier then trying to reuse, I just didnt know if I should or not.

Personally speaking, what do you all think of the molding? Should I even bother getting new molding (and if I do, where can I buy it?) or does the car look better without it?

 

the moldings can save you alot of market's parking dents... besides that.. I think a f-body looks sharper without... you can get them in GM or any good body parts shop... as for prepping your car... if you don't know how to do it I'd suggest to bring it this way and let the pros do it... just desribing it is hard and you might not be happy with the result

 

I am not going totally alone. I got a buddy who restored a '67 Camaro helping me out, I was just going for tips.

 

some early thirdgens the trim is riveted on instead of taped i hope yours is taped for your sake

 

When I ripped mine off it had some kind of adhesive on it... I dunno if it was tape or what but it looked like somebody used rubber cement on crack.

I was just planning on "shaving" mine and leavin' 'em off.

 

Oh, if you are trying to salvage it, I would probably get some dental floss or something and just wrap out around your fingers a few times and then "saw" the moldings off.

 

The tape that is on back of the moldings is "emblem tape"....it's probaby one of the stickiest tapes in the world....haha..as you can probably tell...it's REALLY hard to get those body moldings off!!

 

Talk about encouragement.

I thought it would be a fairly simple job (the molding, not paint job). Oh well.

 

Lose the molding. It will look cleaner without it. Besides, they only work well if someone's door just touches yours. If it swings into your door hard it usually dents the metal under the molding anyway. The adhesive will come off with a d/a sander.

 

I took mine off, they had a rubber molidning attached to metal trim. Those stupid rivets At least gm decided to eventually put adheasive onto the moldings to keep them on.

 

lose it.....it looks so much better.....i never put any on mine when i got it repainted...it just looks so much cleaner

 

Use a heat gun or a hair dryer to get the old adhesive off. it makes it much more pliable

 

Got it all off, and it still in good enough condition to put back on.

I used some dental floss (as suggested) and sawed a little but into the adhesive, under the molding) then used a chisel covered in 3M adhesive remover. It melted through it like the adhesive were warm butter.

Then I pressure washed all the big gobs off. And eventually went down with a rag to remove all the leftover adhesive.

Overall, pretty good looking i must say. This was the route to take if you dont care about paint, but if you just want to remove the molding and have no intentions on repainting DO NOT do it, too many scratches.

Now that the molding is gone though, I have no plans on putting it back on, really just made the car look ugly.

 

oops, just read the above reply. i thought yours was the molding that was riveted to the sheet metal??

 

defintely looks better without the moldings.. much smoother/sleeker look

 

if you do not have acess to a DA, do yourself a favor and buy 3M tar and adhevsive remover. it will get that tape off with no problems.

 

Classic Industries offers the side moldings if you're interested.

 

without the moldings...

hth