FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi Everyone .... FC is just back from the painters and I am trying to fit the horizontal stainless trim to the rear mudguards, goes from the rear door to the taillight  .. the problem is that the original holes are way to small to take the Rare Spares clips .. is the only option to drill thru the new paintwork to make the holes bigger or is there another alternative method to fasten them.. the old clips broke (rusted) when removing them so I cannot use them .. tried the Search option but nothing relevant came up .. .. Regards Stephen

The original clips screwed to the panel, then you snapped the trim on. These clips are no longer available, and are not being repoed at the moment. Only options are to try to find some NOS, or do as you said, and make the holes bigger.
Regards
Alex

Thanks for your reply Alex .. looks like a sharp drill and prayer tomorrow !!!

Alex is spot on. If you drill then make sure you put some paint back on them. I also put some sealer on the inside.

If you don't want to drill them then try Sikaflex. This will hold them on OK.

Thanks CraigA .. is there any secret to drilling .. will putting masking tape over the existing hole help or some lubricant on the drill bit, etc..  I am definitely not keen on drilling new paintwork, i can imagine drills getting caught up, twisting and chips of paint flying off .. just cant understand why Rare Spares trim kit does not address this problem and supply the clips with small threads on the tabs that hold the rear strip on, thought someone would have let them know by now about the problem ??? anyway I put the drilling off today, and will leave it until later this week .. Regards Stephen 

Hey Stephen
Just be sure that you can get access on the inside for the nut.
From memory, the hole closest to the back door you can't access due to the wheel well.
Check twice, drill once.
Use new drill bits and start small and work your way up.
Regards
Alex

Thanks Alex .. yes your right about the last hole, I did not give it a thought, but in the RS trim set their are some white plastic push in trim holders ( suppose thats what their called), so I will use one on each side where I cannot get a nut on  .. thanks for the advice .. Regards Stephen 

Don't push too hard on the drill either Stephen or you can depress the area around the hole, I did that once on an EH and when I looked down the side of the car it was very noticable, as Alex said nice new bits and take it easy.
               Pedro

Thanks Pedro ..new drill bit it will be and feather light drilling it will be .. Regards Stephen

This is not meant to be a criticism as such, rather advice for all builders. Trims should be temporarily installed and checked for line before the car is painted. Just as you install doors and guards and check for gapping etc.

This will prevent nasty drilling episodes on fresh paint.

Ken

Totally agree with you Ken .. my FC had all the trim on it before I pulled it apart, so did not even think about drilling new paintwork to fit the trim, .. just assumed that Rare Spares trim kit would fit as the original did and no drilling was needed, ..other restorers probably assumed the same thing, .. I can say that if I had known, about the trim sets being different I would have drilled before the car went to the painters as I did when I put a new bonnet bird on ..  actually went to the panel shop 65 klms away to drill 4 holes .. I did an extensive search on the Forum on many things on restoring the car, and did not find one thing about the different hole sizes for the rear guard trim .. so hopefully future "newbies" ( I hate that word) will read this thread and take note and drill before sending their car to the painters .. Thanks to all that have helped .. Regards Stephen

I picked up my clip set a couple weeks ago from Rares Adelaide and realised the same thing.I will be making stainless clips myself just so I don't have to drill.Yeah I know,a lot of work but I'll keep you posted on the results.Jamie.

Thanks Jamie ..  drilled mine today and apart from the drill grabbing when it went thru and stalling ( cos I was going everso gentle) everything went OK .. did not drill the hole nearest the rear door as I could not get a hand inside the small gap between the wheel well and mudguard, to do any nuts up so I left that one as is and filled with windscreen filler,.. it did not need that one anyway because the ss strip had a slight bow in it and when screwed into the rear door, and with the other clips in place it held very firmly against the car .. so the strips are on without any great dramas.. will be interested to see how you go with yours .. Regards Stephen

If this idea has already been posted I apologise but the other night (more accurately,about 3am trying to sleep) I had an idea which I trialled today and it works perfectly.Most of you would be familiar with the little "Tool Clips"in the picture below.These are nickel plated and therefore should be mildly rust resistant for a while and are also made from a type of spring steel which keeps them firm.As you can see,with very limited mods they suit the purpose perfectly and allow you to screw them straight to the body in the original screw holes.I have shown how they fit on both the rear strip and also the rounded front strip (although they are not required for this)In the last photo it appears that the bottom edge of them protrudes a little but once then are screwed flat this is no longer a problem.They are also a nice secure snap fit.I hope this will be of some help to someone (sorry I didn't think of this a bit sooner for you Stephen!).Cheers,Jamie.
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts068a.jpg)
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts063a.jpg)
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts064a.jpg)
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts065a.jpg)
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts066a.jpg)
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/ttv6fc/allsorts067a.jpg)

Good Idea Jamie, hope this helps others .. Regards Stephen

Hi All

Another good tip is to place a piece of soft rubber over the drill bit ( stops the chuck damaging the paintwork if the drill grabs) saved my ar#se before.

Andy

Thats the best. Ingenious.

Regards

Wayne

Jamie
It never ceases to amaze me of the ingenuity and innovative ideas that you and many others on this forum have to solving problems.  Does anyone have any ideas as to how these clips could be simply made more rust resistant so as to be a permanent solution without further maintenance issues.
Cheers Wayne

I would expect these to last at least as long if not longer than the originals as I have had these clips holding tools on the side of my shed for ten years plus with no sign of corrosion although the area where they are cut and is exposed might be a problem.I'm thinking of painting them in Cold Galv to fix this problem.Either way I still think this is better than the alternatives.Cheers,Jamie.

Why not drill from the inside where you can ??? ???

You could manufacture the clips from stainless steel marine grade if you could afford it. :-\ :-\

I have stainless here also but thought this would be much easier than making them which it is.I'll make some tomorrow then put up the picks.Cheers,Jamie.