Hi, I have an 85 and getting it ready for paint. I'm trying to remove the Driver and Passenger Exterior Door Moldings. There a two 10mm nuts at each end of the door which have easy access, the remaining 5 studs are burred behind the side impact door bracing. Any thoughts or experience removing these nuts (even if it requires full disassembly).
Thank you.

 

Welcome to the forums. I have not removed the trim from an 85 vette. But I would say you need to remove the door panels to access the nuts. You should be able to slide a wrench behind the impact metal and remove the nuts. With the window raised you should have plenty of room. Should be easier than it sounds.

 

Hi Thomas,
Thanks for the note, it's much appreciated. Yes, it would seem to be an easy task but there are no access points to the 5 over molded studs in the middle section of the door trim from the inside of the door. Also, there is no space between the inner surface of the door and the metal reinforcement bracket (see pictures).
I spoke with a gentleman from JUST CORVETTES and he says there is access to the nuts. Now this may be true with latter years (86 +) but not an 85. I spoke with another gentleman from Dynamic Corvette in Saginaw Michigan and he says I would need to compress a spring clip. Both stated there is double sided tape to secure the molding to the outer door cavity surface. In the worst case scenario you would need to replace the body side molding.
This could explain why there are no YouTube videos on this subject, it doesn't see to be an easy or doable repair.

View down the inside of the door. The middle section is the centerline where the nuts would be located. Would need to drill hole to access a socket. No space to fit a wrench between door and metal rail.

10 mm retaining nut goes on near the end of the door in the middle of the picture.

 

Good pictures. From looking at the pictures I would say GMs idea would be to stud and nut the ends of the molding and press in the center section of the trim. Ebay had retaining clips that looked like they stick on the inside of the outer door skin behind the impact bar, so they are no touch. The design is apparently to bolt the ends of the trim and the center studs (pushed) slide into the plastic retainers, and the sticky tape holds the whole thing together. Without having a gm manual that would be my guess, gm wouldn't build it so it couldn't be replaced easily. You're right there, is not a lot of information on this. I think a heat gun or hot hair dryer and small pry bar would pop it off. A good Corvette body shop might know a tricky way. Most of the Corvette parts stores that sell these parts have tech guys that have the catalogs and books on this stuff, they might answer an email. I think there are some tech guys attached to these forums.

 

For those who have 84 & 85 model years you will need to use a non-marring tool to pry the door body side molding off. Start at one end and gently work (pull and pry the molding by hand) to overcome the adhesive tape and Christmas tree retainer feature. I received this info from Mark at Mirrock Corvette 724-717-2330 who salvages C4 Corvettes. I have no affiliation to this company, only sharing if you need to locate used body side moldings.
Here is an image of an 85 Body Molding Retention clip:


Models 86 and up have a different side impact door rail designs which allows for access to the over mold retention stud which has a spring clip or nut (this info is from other sources, not my experience).

 

Thanks for sharing, that's good to know.

 

Randy: Welcome to the forum. A couple of ways to cut the adhesive on the back of trim pieces is to use monofilament fishing line and slip it under the molding and work it back and forth to cut the adhesive. The other way is to use an old credit card and slip behind the molding and just use it like a pry tool.

 

Just curious as to what you eventually did, did you remove or not? please kindly share

 

Hi Tondo,
Yes, I was able to remove the Door Body Side Molding using a plastic prybar at the location of the spring clip shown above. As you insert/wedge the tool under/above the spring clip retention area pull the molding with your fingers near the clip. Pulling the molding further away from the attachment point will potentially bend the molding once it is fully disassembled. I needed to use a heat gun to straighten my molding, this will just save you a step. And yes, using a monofilament line to shear the double sided tape in-between the spring clip areas helps in the removal process.

Hope this is somewhat clear...