[Sparky73]

A few questions..

I have a few questions that I have been thinking about, so here they go.

1. That back panel strip sells for up to $200.00! Do I have to have it?

2. Where can I get that little strip of chrome/rubber that goes on your door, the piece the window goes threw.

 

[Gary]

Re: A few questions..

I have a few questions that I have been thinking about, so here they go.

1. That back panel strip sells for up to $200.00! Do I have to have it?

I've seen a 3/8 wide body moulding strip used.

2. Where can I get that little strip of chrome/rubber that goes on your door, the piece the window goes through.

Opel GT Source sells the replacement rubber.

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

Tail End

1) I had a good one made up out of three damaged ones then filled it with urethane putty and glued it back onto the tail end and moulded it so that there was a definite groove all around the contact area. It is now one piece with the car body thus no more rust trap.

2)Let me know if you find two!

 

[jordan]

I shaved part of the moulding on the back mainly because I couldnt find a way to get the dings out.

 

[pvcar]

well i removed my rear trim piece filled the holes and then jus smoothed with some body filler, it looks nice i mean the only way u could tell it wasnt suppose to be that way is if u saw one that had the strip i also think it looks better with out the strip.

 

[greensmurf20]

my strip had one bad dinged spot in it, and it didnt line up with the body well in one spot, so pops just moulded the trim piece in with the body as GTJIM did, and i think it looks better than being able to see the seam. as GTJIM also already said, its not going to trap water anymore.

 

[kwilford]

How to Re-attach the Tail Trim Strip

1) I had a good one made up out of three damaged ones then filled it with urethane putty and glued it back onto the tail end and moulded it so that there was a definite groove all around the contact area. It is now one piece with the car body thus no more rust trap

I picked up a pretty good tail panel trim strip last week from OPELSUN's cut-up race car (the Opel salvage trip to Edmonton with Trevor Poffenroth). It was actually not QUITE as good as it looked at first blush, as it had been dinged a couple of times, had a couple of holes drilled through it, and one edge had been ground through. Then it was filled pretty extensively with body filler. The good news is that it was TOTALLY rust-free. I mean, even the lowest ends that ALWAYS get rusted out are rust-free. And it had most of the clips intact (we had to break only one clip bolt).

I have already ground out all the filler, hammered out the dents, and used my smallest gas welder tip and 1/16" wire to fill in the holes and repair the worst of the ground-away edge (see photos below). I still need to to grind the welds smooth and bend it into the final shape, which will be no small feat as it seems the dents and welding have distorted it a bit.

Now I am trying to decide how to re-attach it to my GT. Years ago, I removed the original trim strip when I did the body the first time (it had numerous dings, and the ends were rusted away). At the time, I welded up the holes in the tail and just used a 1/2" plastic molding attached with the backing adhesive.

But I am reluctant to re-drill the holes and use the clips again (of which I would need a couple new ones). Jim, do you have any photos of how you filled the trim strip and with what specific urethane putty ? And what kind of adhesive did you use? Did you finish it off with filler after it was re-attached, or was it in final shape when you glued it on?

TIA

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

Rear Trim

The rear trim was filled and 'stuck on' with the urethane body filler - stuff that has the same coefficient of expansion as steel. Everything was held in place with masking tape till it all set then skimmed and finish filled before sanding to shape. Don't know exactly what brand of filler as the bodyshop did it. HTH

 

[opelgt73]

1. You'd be lucky to find one for $200 in good shape. I sold an NOS one that I had, which had a dent in it on ebay for about $400, and that was 3 years ago. On the car I did a full resto on I used a press on trim strip that I got at Napa Auto Parts. I had to flip through the catalogs but they had one that matched the profile almost exactly. They had them in both chrome (which is what I used) and paintable black finish. And it only cost me about $35 for enough to do two cars with.