Beltline trim removal- what about the paint ?

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EJ333

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I appreciate the look of e9s with and without the beltline trim. Without the trim, it gives it a restomod plain and elegant look. Not that I am looking to remove the trim, but what do you do to the 40+ year paint under the trim ? Is it best to do a beltline delete when doing a respray ?
 
Belt Line Trim

EJ333,

I recently refinished 2 sets of belt line trim and if you are willing to do the work yourself it is straight forward and relatively easy to do. There are several stages to the finish including stripping with lye, wet sanding with several grades of wet/dry, polishing on a buffing wheel with 3 grades of rouge and finally sending off to be "Chromic Anodized" by 1 of a small number of firms that still do chromic anodizing. My 2 sets were relatively inexpensive and the turn around time was about 3 weeks. The removal is simple once you get to the fasteners and you can buy a whole new set of those from Wolleth & Nesch in Germany for about $100. Spacers are available also that have the molding stand off by a fraction of an inch so the molding does not cut into the paint.

You need to remove the front and rear door panels to get to the fasteners as well as the grills in the front. Once you start tracking them down it is easy to get to all of them with a socket set. The belt line trim is a solid piece with a groove in the center inside that accepts the special bolts that insert in the holes in the body. I highly recommend getting the new fastener set from W&N. The finish on the molding will only be as good as the prep work so make sure what you deliver to the chromic anodizer is very free of pits and as shiny as you can get it.

PM me with your contact info if you need more info.

Regards, Jon
 
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