Bolting-on the Bling

Busy day, but I was able to spend a couple of hours mounting stainless trim. Mostly, it went well, but I did run into an odd situation on the windshield trim.

When I stripped the car several years ago, I didn't notice that three holes are inaccessible to install nuts on the mounting clips. I don't recall any unused holes, but then it's been a long time. One location on each side near the A-pillar can't be reached with the dash top installed. To make it even more strange, on the driver's side the hole is mostly covered by one of the stainless pieces, so a screw wouldn't fit properly even if it could be reached from inside. The service manual shows the mounting points near the vent location, but it does not indicate that there are others at the A-pillar locations. Makes me wonder if they were just left open. I didn't find any notes that might shed light on the situation. For what it's worth, the A-pillar side trim doesn't fit well and it determines where the top and bottom pieces are located. That contributes to the partially covered holes, but there is no way they can be adjusted. It appears to be a tolerance issue during the original assembly.

I think the A-pillar holes are located where water might not enter the interior, but I can't clearly visualize the path it would take. That might also be the case for the center clip as it appears that it would drain somewhere inside the fresh air plenum. When the rain stops, I'll crawl inside the donor car to see if I can verify what I suspect.

Here's a picture of the different way I chose to mount the trim.

Instead of the original flat plate with a welded-on stud, I'm using a universal spring clip with a stud. The clip on the left shows how the spring must be re-bent to fit the narrow stainless piece. In place of the black sealant used in the stock method, I'm installing washers made from .125 thick neoprene stock. I punched the center hole smaller than the 10-24 threads so it sort of screws on the stud to seal better. It's far less messy than the stock goop, and it should seal adequately in most locations. Since I have no intention of driving for hours in rainy weather, the only leakage I have to worry about is when the car is washed, so it should be fine.