about to buy 73-80 body mould

[78-5.3]

nothing to do with price but as far a quality of REPO 73-80 body moulds who's got the best or doesnt it matter??

[BIG10]

I'm surprised no one has replied to this yet. I haven't purchased any, but was looking at LMC. I've seen mixed reviews of some of their products. I'll be watching this to see if anyone chimes in as I'm curious also.

[79gmcc15]

this topic comes up about once a month at least. try this thread. it is the most recent.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=374159

[78-5.3]

Originally Posted by 79gmcc15

this topic comes up about once a month at least. try this thread. it is the most recent.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=374159

that thread is for NOS moulds im lookking for good place to buy REPO i must of missed the monthly postings of forums for repo ??? still seaching

[menace121978]

from what i gather the repo moldings are all made by the same people with just different vendors and companies selling them. from lmc to brothers. if your going repo just find the best price.

i plan on going with a complete set from lmc. if i'm unhappy with the fit and finish Ken is going to be a little bit wealthier!

[78 Chevyrado]

Here, I wrote up how my trim turned out on my 78. It's the 4th post from the bottom of the page.

I think they're all from the same manufacturer. I got mine from goodmark, and classic parts of america and they were the same brand.

Some of it was good, and some of it wasn't. Mostly though you will need OE fasteners to make it easier. If you don't have old trim, I'd goto the junkyard for the fasteners.


http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...67757#msg67757

[78-5.3]

lmc truck trims come with the fastners i thought???

[78-5.3]

Originally Posted by 78 Chevyrado

Here, I wrote up how my trim turned out on my 78. It's the 4th post from the bottom of the page.

I think they're all from the same manufacturer. I got mine from goodmark, and classic parts of america and they were the same brand.

Some of it was good, and some of it wasn't. Mostly though you will need OE fasteners to make it easier. If you don't have old trim, I'd goto the junkyard for the fasteners.


http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/sm...67757#msg67757

are they LMCtruck moulds ??????
coz they loook great!!!!! if they are im sold with them !!!!!!
did your have holes i dont have the fastner holes!!!

[79gmcc15]

Originally Posted by 78-5.3

that thread is for NOS moulds im lookking for good place to buy REPO i must of missed the monthly postings of forums for repo ??? still seaching

Your right it was about NOS but they did talk a lot about repo. A lot of the info above was said in that post.

[78 Chevyrado]

Originally Posted by 78-5.3

lmc truck trims come with the fastners i thought???

I also did get 1 piece from LMC, as everybody else was out of that part. I will say that the best part of the whole kit was the wheel opening mouldings, they were excellent.


They all came with fasteners, but it was like pot luck, BAD pot luck... I don't know what I would have done if I hadnt of had my old trim to jack the fasteners off of. Like the 4 strips that go on the doors, Thats 8 ends to attach and like 6 of the fasteners in the kit were mismatched, and the fasteners were in an individual bag with each piece. Also the sticky ttape on the stick on parts, was all kinds of thicknesses so if you pay attention, you can see it on the truck.

[78 Chevyrado]

Ask Captkaos on here about the trim kits, He's a vendor and can get you a good deal on the same stuff I have.

[78-5.3]

ok i brought my molds today from brothers!!! $244 delivered including the $30 over size charge not to bad at all inlcudes the clips and screws
now i need some pics of the hole spacings my dont have any holes

[78 Chevyrado]

Here's a few pics of mine. The pics are real big so save em to your pc and then zoom in to see the holes.

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t.../Trim%20Holes/

[79gmcc15]

Originally Posted by 78-5.3

ok i brought my molds today from brothers!!! $244 delivered including the $30 over size charge not to bad at all inlcudes the clips and screws
now i need some pics of the hole spacings my dont have any holes

That doesn't seem to bad! and you know its MANDATORY to post before, during, and after pics!

[78-5.3]

Originally Posted by 78 Chevyrado

Here's a few pics of mine. The pics are real big so save em to your pc and then zoom in to see the holes.

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t.../Trim%20Holes/

hey thanks seams like the holes are about 1/2 from the body curve!!!!

Originally Posted by 79gmcc15

That doesn't seem to bad! and you know its MANDATORY to post before, during, and after pics!

no not at all i had prices up to $450 so $244 was great i will take all pics before during and of course after!!! i can not find no info online on how to put install these on a truck that do not have the holes!!! mine did have but the doors where replaced as were the fenders and one bed panel so they decided to remove the rest !!!! shame really !!!! if i can find an old post maybe of someonethat drilled the holes and installing them that would be nicEEEEE

[3r!c84]

get some pics when your done

[78-5.3]

while im waiting for a shippment from brothers which should be here on the 21st
i found this interesting writeup on installing body moulds if anyone has any info like this that they would share that would be cool!!
http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/06...all/index.html

[CHROMAHOLIC]

what month is this article in?

[menace121978]

awesome article man!! i'm going to subscribe to the mag now!

[Dads79GMC]

I agree, great article. I've already saved it for future reference. At some point I'll need to put my molding on after the beast gets painted.

My only issue now is that I have so many new panels, the only original holes for the trim are the ones on the cab for the small pieces; doors, bed sides, and fenders will all have to be drilled.

****Question******
Does anyone have the measurements or seen measurements on this site for two-tone paint. God forbid I get that wrong and I have some of my two-tone bleeding outside the trim.

Mike

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by 78-5.3

while im waiting for a shippment from brothers which should be here on the 21st
i found this interesting writeup on installing body moulds if anyone has any info like this that they would share that would be cool!!
http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/06...all/index.html

That looks like a really good write-up. I noticed a few things that we did a little different when we put the trim back on Dad's 77.

(1) Instead of sliding the wide band on the back of the cab into place (and risking it scratching into the paint), it can be snapped onto the clips. Just hook the bottom edge onto the clips first. Pull up gently (the clips have springy "fingers" to allow this). And push the top edge in until it snaps onto the clip.

(2) We substituted many of the stud/nut type clips on the front fender trim for the stick-on type (salvaged off the old door/bedside trim) in order to avoid having to drill so many holes in the new fenders. I just cleaned the old clips and put new 3M tape on them.

(3) I prefer to use a little 3M strip caulking (instead of silicone) to keep water from entering the cab around the clip studs. And maybe it was just me, but I had a wicked hard time getting my hand down inside the cab corner to put the nuts on the lower cab trim pieces.

(4) For those of you who are really into originality, I believe the heads of the screws that pass through the painted part of the trim were originally painted to match. And it might not be the case for all years, but the fasteners included with the original GM trim we used on Dad's 77 had acorn style nuts for the ends of the door trim that are visible with the doors open.

Mike, I have a piece of paper around here somewhere with a sketch/dimensions I made of the two-tone paint layout. I'll see if I can find it, scan it, & post it up. If I remember correctly, the upper paint line is about 1/2" below the body line.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi Mike,

I found the sketch. Its of the molding hole locations more so than the two-tone layout. All dimensions are in inches and to the center of the holes.



I didn't put all the original trim holes on the sketch. Mostly just the ones at the tip ends of the moldings where I used the original fasteners. As I mentioned above, we substituted stick-on clips in most of the other locations. I did use the original stud/nut clips fore & aft of the front wheelwell opening (not shown on the sketch). To locate those, I used the molding itself.

I did make a note on the back of this sketch saying that the upper two-tone paint line is 1/2" below the upper body line. And the lower two-tone paint line is pretty much through the middle of the lower trim holes.

We were in the same situation as you ... Dad had replaced the fenders, doors, and bedsides on his truck several years ago and never drilled the trim holes and put the trim back on (just had pinstriping covering the two-tone transition). Luckily, a friend of ours had a rusty junked out truck that still had the original body panels & paint. I took all the measurements for this sketch off that truck.

While Dad's truck was still in primer, I marked out all the hole locations using the dimensions from that sketch. Then we held the new trim in place temporarily with masking tape. It was then I noticed that some of the screw hole locations (A, B, C, D, M, and N on the sketch) were off a little. They were okay height wise but the distance in from the edge of the panel needed to be adjusted slightly. I guess the location of the screw holes punched in the trim must vary.

[Dads79GMC]

Ray, that's excellent!!!! You're the man!

I was just getting ready to reply and noticed I hadn't logged in. Well, I logged in and to my suprise and as you promised, you'd already loaded the document.

Again, much appreciated. Great advice on your earlier post.



Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Ray, did you use reproduction trim? I stumbled upon a whole set of NOS trim last winter (taigate and all). It was still in the factory GM wrapper and never opened and still remains that way. Hopefully mine will line up with the dimensions you've given me. Of course, I too will lay it all out the trim when in primer.

Wow, I guess I just answered my original question. Well, all your recommendations will come in handy.

MIke

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi Mike,

You're welcome! I hope you find it helpful with your two-tone layout & trim hole placement.

Edit: Just noticed your 2nd post. We used original GM trim ... got it from the local dealer back before it was discontinued. So I was a little surprised to see that the hole locations didn't quite line up. Not all of them were off and most of them were only 1/8" or so (1/4" max). Probably within GM production tolerances back then. But moving them made the trim line up with the panel edges better than just using the dimensions on the sketch.

Obviously, the holes for the stud/nut and snap-in type clips aren't as critical in their horizontal position since those clips can be slid side-to-side on the back of the molding.

Ray