Finish and installing front headlamp trim

[MissionCritical 10]

Finally after many years or work, the 69 is about ready to head to the paint prison.  Since I prefer to install my own trim and other parts after the car comes back from paint, I was test installing new trim on the front fender extensions and the rest of the front of the car and ran into two issues:

1. It took a lot of work to install the trim moldings onto the fender (headlamp) extensions with them off the car sitting on a bench. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to do with them on the car.  So would it be best to have the paint shop give me the painted extensions by themselves, and then I install the trim or how would this be best to handle?  

2. When installing the new Corvex-brand wide moldings that go next to the inner headlamp, I noticed that the rear inner portion is argent instead of polished.  My original ones are surprisingly in good shape, but I was not sure that I could polish them up, but they appear to be completely polished.  And my original flat piece that goes over the stone guard is also entirely polished, so I did not think the argent in just one portion looked right.  But I cannot find any good photos of other cars showing this real well.  What is the correct finish of the wide molding next to the headlamp?

Thanks for any replies, and Happy 4th everyone.

[Ridge Runner 1,113]

The grill trim is argent ,people would clean the paint off if it scratched or started to flake 

[MissionCritical 10]

Thanks, so the molding that covers the stone guard, is also argent as well?  Mine old one is polished, so I assume the paint was removed long time ago or something, this is what threw me off.  The argent on the wide headlight molding did not go well with a polished stone guard, but online pics of these parts are not clear.

[Ridge Runner 1,113]

Yes ,the stone deflector molding is argent also ,although all the trim does have a polished back edge ,only the wide center is painted 

[MissionCritical 10]

Thanks a lot for this info. 

[RPM 1,190]

This guy forgot about installing the fender extension moldings before attaching them to the fenders. It can be done when the extension is bolted to the fender, but I'd rather stack BBs that do that again. 

 

[Rsanter 152]

I mounted the fenders.

then I mounted the headlamp extensions . My dad help them and I bolted them on after they were assembled 

 

the repo trim is crap, you need to have them off the car to even have a chance of getting them to line up

[TexasEd 191]

well, you resurrected a post I'm interested in.

I'm going to do all the trim assembly on my car to save labor.  I have my original aluminum fender extension trim but it is dented in a few places so I bought new.  The only parts I'm nervous about are the curved parts around the headlights.  I'll definitely get those on before I attach to the fenders.

 

[Brian Conway 264]

You may take a look at the headlight assembly as well.  Some or all of the parts could go on before installing the fender. Brian

[TexasEd 191]

2 hours ago, Brian Conway said:

You may take a look at the headlight assembly as well.  Some or all of the parts could go on before installing the fender. Brian

Yes,  I plan to install the fender extensions with the headlights already installed.

[aslanefe 333]

12 hours ago, TexasEd said:

well, you resurrected a post I'm interested in.

I'm going to do all the trim assembly on my car to save labor.  I have my original aluminum fender extension trim but it is dented in a few places so I bought new.  The only parts I'm nervous about are the curved parts around the headlights.  I'll definitely get those on before I attach to the fenders.

 

Ed, if the fender extensions are not painted yet, test fit and align the repro trims now so you do not mess up the paint later on while aligning/fitting the trim.