The plastic section of the interior where the roof meets the window frame has come loose. It appears that there are recessed sections that the fasteners are in. On one side the recessed section has broken off. The fastener is still in the header, but it is no longer holding the plastic trim on. I now have one side flapping in the wind.
Any idea on how to fix this? Anybody had this problem before? Don't tell me Duct tape...please. I don't want to spend $900.00 on a new one.
Are you talking about the trim piece across the top or the A-Pillar trim? The top piece is held in with 4 screws (maybe 6) if I remember correctly. They share screw locations with the sun visors. Mine had a couple of locations that were stripped. I've been very successful using small pieces of wire ties in stripped sheet metal holes to get the screws to bite.
If you're talking about the A-pillars, I'd suggest taking them off and fabricating a new piece of plastic from the rear and drill a new hole for the screw.
I hope I understood your problem correctly - if not, perhaps a picture would be helpful.
- Darryl
can you take a shot and post it for us? kind of hard to tell what you are talking about
I am talking about the hard section where the top releases are located. This piece goes the full width of the front of the headliner and is maybe 4" wide. Not on the windsheild but on the top were it meets the windshield
OK, gotcha...I've had mine off before and I just went and looked at it. It's the piece where the release handles go and the finger latch/pull is.
It doesn't look like a washer will solve this one...the hole is the same size as the screw head. My guess is you'll have to remove the piece and fabricate a new screw location...I usually use 2 part epoxy to glue a new piece of plastic in from the rear, then drill a new hole after it dries for the screw. Good luck with this one.
- Darryl
I've had a lot of luck "rebuilding" various plastic trim pieces for the 3 porsches in the household. Since the plastic is some sort of ABS / Styrene material, I've carefully retrieved the broken pieces, and used a clear liquid plastic model cement - something like Testors to glue it all back together. You do have to take the trim pieces off and clean up the area, but it works well.
For areas such as the the header trim that take a bit of a beating, reinforce the repaired areas from the back with epoxy and maybe even a little fiberglass tape - go to any decent hobby shop and ask them for light fiberglass tape or matt - they should have it in relatively small quantities.
A lot of the trim on these cars is getting old and starting to crack / break and replacements are either hard to get or NLA. It's worth a try to fix it - seems to work and will hold together. Good luck!
Thanks for the reply's. I do have some Testors and I may try JB weld as well. Now that I think about it,I may try to find a small cap shaped piece to glue over it for added support.
[quote name='Ryan' date='May 26 2006, 09:37 AM']Thanks for the reply's. I do have some Testors and I may try JB weld as well. Now that I think about it,I may try to find a small cap shaped piece to glue over it for added support.
[right][post="21757"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
Are you talking about the part across the top of this picture?