RE:Removing all plastic trim from a GTV-6

[John_Torello@domain.elided]

>>Can anyone tell me how to remove the trim from my 83 GTV-6 without breaking
the mounting tabs?
What tools are needed? It's an 83 model. Silver exterior and blue interior.

>>I would like to paint the car but I don't want to destroy the plastic by
removing it.
Also what would you suggest for painting the trim? Same as body color or
black as it was originally?

>>I would go with black if it's not too hard to get it to look like original.
But I don't know how it looked originally.
Was it gloss or more of a flat black? Maybe something in between?


Russ-
I have resprayed my GTV-6 trim pieces successfully with SEM landau black paint.
It comes in a can is is made for plastics. You should be able to find it at an
auto paint store. It comes in several colors as well. makes the old grey plastic
look brand new. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the same as body color concept,
but that personal preference. I've always felt the GTV-6 is meant to have
contasting bumpers and trim. I guess I'm just old school.
I'm not sure about what pieces you are referring to so I'll go through the ones
I know
Most of the trim shouldn't be too much trouble to remove. The rocker covers
slide off (toward front of car) once the screw is removed (about at the front of
the rear wheel section). It's a single phillips head screw. The hard part is if
the plastic tabs are enveloped in rust. In many cases the plastic tab come right
out. ( I have a fix for this for cars with repaired sheet metal in this area).
The hood piece is held is held on by nuts, but you have to get under the
insulation to get at them. The problem here is that the plastic thing-eyes that
hold it in tend to self destruct upon removal. I ended up cutting the insulation
out where the plastic piece was.
As for the bumper pieces--if you are having the car painted, I would remove the
bumpers completely. Unless their rusted, they are fairly easy to remove (need a
friend or a floor jack for assistance). You can remove the trim pieces from the
bumper from underneath. They are square in shape and need to be turned 90
degrees (forgot which way) and they pop out. Need a needle nosed pliers for
that. Just be careful because they can break. Put them back the opposite way.
The spoiler is easly to remove at the front--just phillips screws. The
attachments in the wheel well are plastic inserts which I beleive cannot be
removed without breaking the,. I just replaced mine with small screw w/ washer.
The air inlets at the bottom of the windshield are held in by phillips screws
(open hood), but tend to be the biggest pain in the *** to remove because of the
angle. The rear wheel arch plastic is just phillips screws and those pesky
plastic tabs (replace with screw and nut combo). The only thing I have never
removed is the small triangular piece behind the rear 3/4 window. I beleive you
can get at it from the inside (trunk). I think that's it. Hope this helps

-JT

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