Attaching the chrome strip to the front of the Bonnet

[bigmal 225]

Hi all, I recently bought a replacement chrome strip for the front of my bonnet and being after-market rubbish it needed to be pulled in a fair bit at the center. As soon as I pulled it in with the lugs supplied, they pulled straight out of the soft metal. 

I thought I'd share the brackets I made which made life a lot easier and holds it in place nice and tight. I had to use a little bit of silastic to hold them while positioning. If they were 1/16" wider that wouldn't be necessary.

[RPM 1,190]

OE clips, or your custom made, clips are the way to go. The clip set I bought from NPD were crap, as they spun in the molding. Double checked the part number to make sure they weren't for the C shaped headlight molding, nope. Ended up using my filthy OE clips I saved. 

[SWPruett 83]

So, just to be clear, the original "backer" support is riveted to the car and these simply replace the wire clips?

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

There is a certain direction those clips have to be installed ,if turned  the spring the wrong side up the clip will come out when tightening 

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Remember ,the nut tightens to the right so if the clip is in wrong the clip will pop out when tightened 

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

If the clip is in correct it locks into the molding  ,the spring is a preload to keep the clip in place while tightening ,i sometimes bend the spring to keep it a bit tighter if the clip feels to loose in the molding ,now when tightening the clip is turning into the channel at top and bottom and shouldnt be able to come out 

[bigmal 225]

On 6/5/2023 at 7:12 AM, Ridge Runner said:

If the clip is in correct it locks into the molding  ,the spring is a preload to keep the clip in place while tightening ,i sometimes bend the spring to keep it a bit tighter if the clip feels to loose in the molding ,now when tightening the clip is turning into the channel at top and bottom and shouldnt be able to come out 

Thanks mate. This makes sense. I had an issue with the crappy reproduction needing to be pulled in around 1/2" in the middle so it had quite a bit of load and bent the back of the strips. With the pieces I made it pulled the strip in and holds it flat. Probably should have massaged the strip so it's the correct shape, but I was afraid of kinking it.

[Vicfreg 771]

The 1970's have the metal backing strip riveted in 3 places to the outside front of the hood.  The trim uses 6 of the oval shaped spring clips, and they go through both the backing plate and the hood. There are special acorn nuts with a small rubber washer used to mount this.  The 1970 body book has a good illustration of this.

The '69 and '70 mouldings are not compatible, the profile of them is different.

I will post something that shows this shortly.

[Vicfreg 771]

The orange body book shows item number "B" as D0ZB168746 which is a "Type 8" moulding retainer.  That is shown on page 248 of the AMK fastener book.

Item "C" is show in the body book as part number 384102 S100, which is a hex acorn nut, shown on page 214 of the AMK fastener book.

[Vicfreg 771]

Ridge has a great point about the direction that the spring clip is facing.  The body book shows the spring facing up so it gets more compressed when you tighten it.  Bending it out a little is a good idea.  

The repro '70 hood mouldings are not all consistent. I just examined 2 cars that are Concours level with NOS trim, and there is a difference for sure from what we all can get as a Re-Pop.