Moldings write-up and beware double-side tape

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Just sharing my experience after installing moldings on a 1971. Mine required drilling, short the bed replacement this truck only had the paint divider. The bed’s prior owner welded up its holes, wouldn’t you know the backs on some clips were left behind, we found them after drilling, it’s nice to have validation. It’s now a custom deluxe with side and rear molds. Who “knew” 34 moldings, counting glass, paint divider and rear bezels, these trucks are cool. Some trials, errors and do-overs. Some may find this useful; input encouraged.


Just sharing my experience after installing moldings on a 1971 Custom Deluxe. Mine required drilling, short the bed replacement this truck only had the paint divider. The bed’s prior owner welded up its holes, wouldn’t you know the backs on some clips were left behind, we found them after drilling; it’s nice to have validation. It now has side and rear moldsings. Who “knew” 34 moldings, counting glass, paint divider and rear bezels, these trucks are cool. Some trials, errors and do-overs. Some may find this useful; input encouraged.


1. The assembly manual provides hole diameters, and assumes double side tape is not used. The manual cites a mystery 30” reference line for height, but it’s mostly useless. The line can be figured out, but it’s not necessary for the task.

2. The manual’s front to rear lines are useful, but they’re somewhat impractical for drilling the outer holes, which are most important. Those can be figured out because good moldings, and the body often demonstrate where to drill. Upper fender molds and tail bezels for instance don’t lie. As a guide only, here are some pics showing where to drill some of the outer holes. Some of the images provide a measure to the molding’s TOP as opposed its center for drilling.

3. You’ll see how moldings are supposed to fit. Make sure they lay square, flat, look nice and tape them up. Having said that, some ends won’t lay flat until you put a nut on them, such as the door’s upper front pending a nut and screw. Ensure moldings clear the fender when the door is opened. Once happy, mark the body with an erasable pen. If everything is perfect then the height for screw holes center the paint line and moldings. It’s probably a good idea to level the truck to dry-run and install upper side moldings.

4. You can buy replacement clips, though I’m not positive about rear moldings. Replacement barrel nuts for the tailgate handle molding anyone? The studded spring clips install easily; line-up the clip’s wings with the retention spring pulled back, twist and pop them in, and then secure its spring.

5. The clips for double-side tape (3M) need their ends sanded a pinch, and perhaps the top edge a pinch on the side that’s to be inserted into the molding first. Support the molding’s exterior and pop the clips in.

6. Throw away all the double-side tape that comes with clips because it’s old, and those on replacement clips aren’t right anyway. Apply new “3M” tape with a promoter on the plastic clips. Not sure if that’s safe on a clear coat however; I just cleaned the panels.

7. The lower side molding’s top is 4/10” below the body line. It’s just that simple, but the door has to be removed to install its lower molding, bummer. Its front clip is behind the door hinge, and its stud has to be cut to clear that hinge.

8. The upper side moldings start with a square and level door molding clearing the door lock, with consideration for door to fender clearance. The door’s orientation shows where to drill the outer holes. Not to put others lightly, the door's front and fender's rear holes are crucial, especially the upper door mold's front hole. Make sure the upper fender fits right, personally we thought it better to install the upper fender mold first following the dry run, the fender, molding and paint line were nuts. And besides, you can’t install the molding on a bolted fender.

9. The rest of the upper moldings line up with the upper door mold to fit and pass the eye test from the sides and front to back. After some trial and error these holes finished per the assembly manual, exception being my upper bed moldings are a pinch higher at the rear, because the profile on the (these) NOS moldings’ appeared distorted if installed per the manual. Heck, the ends wouldn’t have even been square with the body. Don’t be surprised if one side is longer than the other, both my door molds are longer on the RH side, NOS stuff. The upper bed sides weren't the same either, that's probably common considering they're so long, you figure they're all perfectly straight from start?☺

10. For what led me to write this most, my NOS upper door trim package had a studded clip, a screw and four 3M adhesive clips for in-between. That was a do-over, the door sees too much action. The clips for each side molding should be limited to no more than 1/3rd “3M” clips; if any at all. Short pieces, upper fender moldings use none, and for that matter, neither do rear moldings and paint dividers. It’s worth mentioning that double adhesive clips come off the body with a blow dryer, a smooth flexible plastic putty knife and perhaps a squirt of WD-40. What remains comes off so easy with WD, which is another reason to avoid adhesive tape clips.