fender and door molding hole location

[69Tom]

Does anyone have a layout of the upper and lower fender and door trim? I'm putting it on my 74 and don't have original hole location. Would like to drill holes before I paint them.

Thanks!

[blazer2007]

when I did mine for the upper you have to make sure they line up with the holes inside the fender to put the nuts on , be careful, you can lose your nuts and sockets inside. The rest I put where I thought they should go

[69Tom]

No one has any measurements for the fenders? I mainly need how far down from the body line for the upper molding, but all measurements would help. Also, what size bit should I use? I don't have the clips yet.

[3drburb]

This?

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by 3drburb

This?

^ That's a sketch I drew up back when I redid Dad's 77. We substituted stick-on clips for most of the front fender molding to cut down on the number of holes we had to drill in the new fenders so I didn't include those on the sketch.

If I remember correctly, the original type clips for the front fender molding have 1/4" diameter studs so the holes were probably just a little bit larger to allow for minor adjustments ... somewhere around 5/16" I think. The top edge of the molding lines up with the truck's body line so you can use that as a guide for the height of the holes. I think the studs are centered (top to bottom) on the clips so that'd put the holes about half the width of the molding down from the body line.

Note that holes A, B, C, and D are for the self threading sheetmetal screws that go through holes pre-punched in the molding. So these holes are fairly small (measure the screws to check the size). Also, the holes go through the accent stripe portion of the molding so they're slightly offset, not centered top to bottom.

[69Tom]

Thanks. Yes, I've had that sketch which helps with everything but the remainder of the fender. Knowing it follows the body line helps. So the screws are 7/8" down from the body line, which falls in the offset portion of the molding, not the middle. How far down from the top body line are the 1/4" studs?

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

Thanks. Yes, I've had that sketch which helps with everything but the remainder of the fender. Knowing it follows the body line helps. So the screws are 7/8" down from the body line, which falls in the offset portion of the molding, not the middle. How far down from the top body line are the 1/4" studs?

You're welcome. Yes, the screw holes A & C are 7/8" down from the body line and fall within the indented accent stripe portion of the molding, which is offset slightly toward the bottom on the upper molding.

I think the 1/4" studs on the molding clips are centered top to bottom. So that would put the holes for them up just a little bit higher. But before drilling any holes, I'd recommend doing a mock-up by temporarily taping the molding in place (without the clips of course). Mark out it's lower edge with some masking tape. Then double check the clips to make sure the studs are centered. If so, you can put the height of the holes half way between the body line and the tape line that marks the lower edge of the molding.

Also, it's a good idea to use the molding itself to establish the exact location of the screw holes (A through D). When doing the test fitting / mock-up on Dad's 77, I found that it was necessary to slightly re-position a couple of those holes for better door to fender molding alignment. With the holes for the stud clips, you can be off a tiny bit and still have some room for adjustment if you simply make the hole a bit larger than the stud. But with the screw holes, you have to get them spot on.