I bought a bunch of side molding and rocker panel molding for my '78 F-250. All this molding comes with a bunch of clips and brackets. Some of this hardware is really weird, and of course the stuff does NOT come with an installation manual. I looked on the LMC and Dennis Carpenter catalogs, and all they show is the location you should install the clips at.

To be honest, I am really tempted to just skip the clips and use metal-to-metal bonding to install all this trim. I never plan to take it off, and i never plan to repaint the truck, so why not permanently install this trim?

So my question is this - has anyone in the forum ever installed molding using metal-to-metal bonding? If so, what product did you use? Did the job turn out OK? Any tips on how to do this?

Thanks in advance for your help. I love this truck, but intalling this molding is NOT something I am capable of, and I don't want to pay a restoration place a fortune to do it for me.....

 

I have used metal to metal bonding before, it works really well as long as both surfaces are clean and you have enough surface area on both pieces. I think there might be two issues to overcome with this though. The surface area of the bonding material, in other words, the area to put the compound on the trim. The only points that the trim would touch the body would be the outside edges of the trim around the entire trim piece, not a lot of area to put the adhesive on. I would see if you could get rid of the all the retaining slips on the inside molding and back fill the inside with something and make it flush with the edges of the trim so you have more of a "bonding" surface. The other thing is when you place the molding on the body you will have to engineer some kind of clamping system to hold it in place while the bond cures, not a big deal but just keep that in mind or it wont cure properly.
Off the top of my head id hit this in a two prong approach.
1) remove all internal hardware of the trim.
2) fill the channel with some kind of filler, maybe expand a foam that you use for house insulation.
3) sand the foam down flush to the outside edges of the trim
4) use your metal to metal bond on the outside edges of the metal trim
5) use something like 3M auto adhesive for trim(can pick it up at any hardware/auto store and comes in a tube) and use it on the middle part of the trim that now has been back filled with the foam. (i would test this first though to see if the glue, eats through the foam), I don't think it would but not sure
This would be a two prong approach to bonding it to the truck and would probably never come off if its set in place and let cure. The 3M stuff bonds after about 30 minutes and is stupid powerful stuff so be sure this is the route you want to take because your only going to get it off by using a pry bar and all the paint will come with it and would have to be sanded down to get rid of residue..

 

Excellent reply....thanks!!!

 

Here is a link to a post with info and some pics of how the trim installs.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...side-trim.html

 

I'd use the 3m vhb tape I think it's called. It will bond aluminum or fiberglass panels to rv frames for the life of the vehicle. Just don't ever stick it to you.

 

I'm dreading putting my trim back on as well. I'll try to put it on with the clips but if all else fails will try the 3M tape. Thanks for the post!

 

It isn't that hard to install the trim with the clips. Look at the illustrations in the LMC or Dennis Carpenter catalogs to see which clips go where. Lay out a centerline in the dent, drill 1/8 holes where needed, then either pop rivet the plastic clips on or use some short stainless screws to attach them to the dent. Each end of the fender, door, and rear bedside molding use a stud clip and nut that slides into the backside of trim. To install the nuts on these studs do the following. Front fender take out the parking light. You can install front nut thru hole in fender from the parking light hole using small socket and extension. Not easy but I just did it. Back of front fender nut can be put on with door open and reaching in with socket and extension. Not easy but can be done. Doors are easy. Three plastic clips and 2 stud clips on each end. Bedside molding has 8 plastic clips I believe and 2 stud clips, one located at rear of molding accessible thru taillight opening and one near front of fender well where you can reach up and put nut on. I put all the plastic clips on truck, slide in the stud clips, snap molding over the plastic clips, then start installing nuts on the stud clips. I'm sure you'll have a few choice words along the way. I did but it looks great. You can order just the clips you need from LMC or Dennis Carpenter.

 

I watched a guy drill a hole and pop-rivet the clips to the his truck. Then installed the molding. It looked pretty easy and looked like it came from factory. He used blue painters tape for marking all the holes to be drilled.