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side molding magnet attachment?

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jvandyke

jvandyke

Luke Skywalker
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I've been collecting side molding and bonnet trim for my '63. I dread the thought of drilling and all the hardware, just had a thought though. I've used rare earth magnets in the past to attach tidbits. What about using them for trim? I supposed the pieces would need to fit very well in order for that to work so it probably won't but it'd be nice to not have to drill and risk misalignment but rather be able to reposition easily, remove easily. Thoughts?
 
Yeah, I know. I convinced myself it looked better with them, the lateral line sorta slims it down a bit I think and helps the initiated ID her at a glance...but "stripped of glitz" is a good look too, another reason to make them detachable? The strength of these magnets is amazing, with enough of them, 5/6 for the long ones, if the fit is good, they'll stay put
 
It sounds like a great idea to me. I would just be sure that you somehow "soften" the magnet so it does not scratch the paint. No matter how strong the bond is, there will always be occasions where the molding gets moved. That movement may scratch your paint.
 
tweety said:
It sounds like a great idea to me. I would just be sure that you somehow "soften" the magnet so it does not scratch the paint. No matter how strong the bond is, there will always be occasions where the molding gets moved. That movement may scratch your paint.
Click to expand...
Or somebody inadvertently moves them in a parking lot while you're not around! We removed everything on my '63 for paint & then went back & replaced with new...I put masking tape around every one of those little clips before pop riveting them.
 
I once took some old Corvette flags, glued some thick gasket material to the back and had a few magnets embedded just below the surface so they never actually touched the car. Seemed to hold fine but I didn't keep them on the car long enough to know.
 
I ordered up 160 rare earth magnets in two sizes ($20 or so), figured I'd try it and if works, great, if not I can always order the side molding kit from Moss ($45) and start drilling and riveting (I guess that's how it's done). Each little magnet has about 3 lbs holding power, 10/15 for the larger pieces....maybe.
Seems like you could make up a bunch of magnets to slide into the molding's channel. Something like this.
magnetmolding.jpg
 
Got my magnets. Played around with it for a minute. Should work fine. Magnets grab onto the car so well I have to fight to get them back off. I think I'll cut a strip of plastic to insert into the chrome. I'll attach the magnets to this strip, either on it or embedded in it so the magnets sit close to flush with the edge of the chrome itself. Might look for some thin material to cover the backside to prevent scratching but that might reduce the stick factor too much and if the fit ends up as good as it appears it might, I'm not too worried about movement/scratching.
 
Whatd'ya think? With our without?
I think with.
Not sure the magnet thing is going to cut it though.
withouttrim.JPG

withtrim.JPG
 
With - but I wouldn't trust the magnets.
 
I like the trim on Midgets, so I'd say with.
 
I don't know they'd stay on or not. I ended up cutting a 5/16" strip of thin plexi glass, glued a 1/4" diameter magnet in the middle, one about every 1.5", slipped it into the trim and stuck it on the car. It sticks pretty good but good enough? Probably not. I'm still planning on road testing it but I'm concerned that even if it didn't outright fall off, it might wiggle around enough to wear on the paint too much. Not sure it's a good long term solution. I'll probably break down and do it correctly (at some point I'll have to ask what "correctly" is).
BTW, anyone ever seen an all red logo on a grill like that? I'm sure it's simply a "wrong" repro some PO put on it, right?

Doesn't show up much in that picture, look in the gallery here .
(And kindly ignore the canted front bumper)
 
The all red logo is from a newer Midget 65 or 66 to 69. The black background with red MG octogon was used on 62-64, and maybe some 65.
 
When you get ready to do it as from the factory, we can work out which spedifid parts you'll need....everything's in the Moss catalog....we'll just need to know the thickness of the channel in your trim.
 
The MG is supposed to have the trim and hood flash.. Looks a lot better there.
 
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