Hi guys, my chief is going in to the body shop this weekend to have the rust spots patched up. In preparation - I am removing the chrome trim and headliner. A couple questions about this. It has a long chrome strip running horizontally down both the driver and passenger sides. On the passenger front fender I have removed the nuts holding the chrome strip on where I can reach up underneath the wheel well, but there are some bolts still holding it on toward the rear of the fender (near the passenger front door). How are you supposed to get to these? Do you have to actually remove the fender? I can't find a way so far. Also, the guy who will be doing the body work (Richard from Rodders Choice in Santee, CA) said I need to remove (or have it removed) the headliner, so when he is cutting through the roof to fix some of the rust spots near the drip rails he doesn't run the risk of setting it on fire. Can i remove this and put it back on in one piece? Or when I take it out, will it have to have a new headliner installed regardless? I hate removing it because its in perfect condition, but definitely needs that rust cut out. Thanks in advance.
chrome trim, did you try through the engine compartment. if i recall thats how it was on my 55 olds, had to get them through the engine compartment , they were a little hard to reach. dont know about the headliner, ive never had one
They might be those slip through clips, where you push the clip into the hole on the body/fender and then slide the trim onto the trim. I have those on the beltline trim on my '51.
Are you painting the car? If so...... I'd remove the front trim (bumper etc) as you'll have to, to paint it anyways. From there you can have the front fender off in 5 minutes.
On my 56 olds there is a huge gap behind the rear of the front wheel well inside the engine compartment. It doesn't look easy to get to with the hood on. If you look inside the gap you will see the nut for the trim.
I took the headliner out of my 57 Pontiac in one piece. Start by removing all the trim that screws into place along your roof line and dome lights. The bows are just kind of sprung into holes along the sides of the roof so you'll have to push/pull/tug a little to get these out. I think I went front to back and it all came out in one piece. It has been a few years since I did it and I remember being nervous about it, but it actually came out really easy. Where is your roof rusted out? Mine was rusted so badly at the back ends of the drip rails you could almost peel them off! Also above the front and rear windows was really bad. I ended up getting a roof from a donor car and did the switch-er-oo with the crusty one. Saved me a bunch of time and money trying to fix it. Heard this is how beach cars rust, top to bottom, mine was from Houston. Guess its good it's a good thing I'm in Minneapolis where they go from bottom to top. I still have the old top if you are looking for any patch material, good luck!
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