OK, I'm not a guru here, but I am currently in the process of restoring my own car and have a little experience. I have also had to learn certain things the hard way, and hopefully I can make someone elses life a little easier.
Window trim removal - The following image shows a cross section of the retainers for front and rear windows for on a 1974 Plymouth Barracuda. I'm sure that other years and models are very similar. Note that on these cars, this is completely different from how the drip moldings are removed. The best way that I found to do this is to first pry up on the molding from the glass side to locate the retainer. Then, using a pick or other hooked tool, pull the retainer towards you while pushing down or in on the molding, then pulling back away. Once you get one retainer, it will give you a little more room to work with for the next one. Be very patient and careful here, the moldings seem to hold up really well through the years and you'll be able to reuse them if you don't bend them all out of shape.
Drip molding removal - See the following image for a cross section of the drip molding, window channel and weatherstripping on a 1974 Barracuda. Again, other years and models are probably similar. There are a few important things to keep in mind when you're trying
to remove the drip moldings. First, the order of steps; carefully remove the window seal (be careful not to rip it, make sure the bottom part is not caught in the interior headliner molding and be careful around the front retainer that sticks out)
Next remove all the screws for the window channel. You'll need a stubby scredriver for the farthest back one, otherwise you'll strip the head. Once you have the screws out, you'll need to carefully separate the channel from the window frame, they are held together with double-sided tape. The easiest way is to start at the front with two trim spatulas and slowly and carefully separate and break the tape, working your way towards the back of the car. Be very careful not to damage the channel, particularly when you get about half way. There is a cut in the channel about where the shoulder belt attaches to the ceiling inside the car and it is weaker than the rest of the channel. If you yank or pry too much, you'll cause it to deform. When you get to that point, it's a good time to start working from the back forward. Keep in mind also that the channel is one piece. It looks like it's connected at the corner, but it's all welded together. Once you get most of the tape, you can start to gently work and rock it as a unit. Pay attention to where the ends are swinging when you're doing this so you don't nick interior panels or paint.
Finally, you'll need to do the exact same thing again with the drip molding. This is a bit trickier than with the channel because you can't just stick the spatula in and start prying. The drip molding is much thinner, and the edge that you need to pry is stuck down with double-sided tape. Once you've removed all the molding screws (make sure you get them all, they like to hide under the previous layer of tape) carefully work under the front corner of the molding without prying too much. You'll need to separate all the tape first, although you can do the molding in sections because it actually is joined where it looks like it is. (except that the small cap at the joint IS connected to the top part of the molding) Once the tape is separated, you'll need to start working the molding, but in a direction that shears the tape. This is because there is a lip that the molding rides on, you can't just pull against the tape.
Once this is all done, depending on how long it will be until the car is painted, you might want to go over all the metal exposed by removing screws and give it a light touch with a touch-up brush. Maybe this is going too far, but seeing all the rust involved in this project has made me jumpy when I see bare unprotected metal.
To contact me, please write to the following address WITHOUT THE DASHES: cuda-440@19-27.org
This is done to protect my e-mail address from harvest by automatic e-mail scammers.
© 2002 Mike - All rights reserved
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