Best way to remove window door trim piece?

[SuperDave]

I'm not sure if "roof-edge trim piece" is the right term. You know, that piece of metal that runs along the roof-door window opening. It's the piece the arrows are pointing to in the image below:

I want to remove this piece from my under-construction ITS car (I wish this was my car pictured, but, no, it's another member's car). I consider this piece dangerous. It's my understanding that the only fatality in the history of IT racing involved an exterior trim piece like this that came off during a roll-over and impaled the driver.

It looks like it's attached with a few welds, probably at each end with a few in between. I figure I'll need to grind it off at these welds, but I'm not absolutely where to start.

Any suggestions? Please don't suggest that I simply not roll over the car!

[hls30.com]

It is a pressure fit. No welds unless the PO got stupid with a torch. Get a pair of gloves, start at either end and pull while carefully rolling upward over the car(if memory serves), after you have the end free, tape a rag on it just incase it gets away from you, it will save your paint.

Occasionally I have tpaed the jaws of a pair of pliers and carefully used them for persuasion.

Will

[SuperDave]

It is a pressure fit. Will

Thanks, they came off easily and I managed to not tear them up too badly.

In fact, they came off so easily I am more convinced they were indeed a safety risk and I'm glad I've taken them off.

Dave

[EScanlon]

I presume that you will not be driving the car in the rain, if so, then you won't need the metal that held that trim on. Remove that metal.

I've removed a few of these Rain Gutter Trim Finisher in order to do bodywork and painting, believe me they can be extremely sharp as is (meaning painted), let alone after any kind or sanding or grinding. They are the sheared edge of a thin piece of metal with a bend in it. Other automobiles have a ROLLED edge which doesn't have the raw sharp edge of a cut edge of sheet metal.

You can try to roll the edge, but I don't think there's enough metal there to do a nice roll that would still channel the water away, so removing that edge should be a priority.

(Whether the single layer of metal was the reason for adding the Gutter Finisher, or the single edge was to allow the Finisher to fit would be an interesting question.)

If you choose to not remove that edge of metal, you should realize that you've now removed the item that was protecting you from that edge. So if you won't remove that metal, SHEATH that blade.

In my opinion, by removing the edge trim you've turned it from a chance of a hazard, to a blade waiting for a "slice". If you roll your car over now, and any part of your body should find itself between the ground and that edge, you'll discover you created a SHEAR.

I know that the thought of being impaled is abhorrent to say the least, but unless the ITS has issued a specific all cars must remove this item type of rule or regulation, or the incident you mention you heard about specifically involved a Z and that specific trim piece, then you'd be better off with the gutter trim piece in place. That metal is way too soft to present a true hazard. More often than not the problem is they bend too darn easy and people are removing them because they're scratched, or they mangle them trying to install or remove.

Not trying to be offensive, just suggesting should finish the job to truly render it safe.

2¢

Enrique

[SuperDave]

...If you roll your car over now, and any part of your body should find itself between the ground and that edge, you'll discover you created a SHEAR.

...Not trying to be offensive, just suggesting should finish the job to truly render it safe.

No offense taken. If I roll and part of my body finds itself between the ground that that edge, the shear from that edge is only part of my worries.

But I will take your suggestion and see if I can either find a way to dull that blade or maybe even re-attach the finisher piece but re-attach it more solidly and safely than the factory did.

[EricB]

a thought: drill and rivet the finisher to the metal flange it is fitted to?

[bob m]

I'm sorry Dave but I wonder why you are concerned about being impailed by the finisher on a race car. There are alot more bad things that can happen to you in a race as you know, why sweat the small stuff? .

Bob

[hls30.com]

Epoxy the piece in place.

Will

[TomoHawk]

That chrome strip is called a 'drip guard' It's like a roof gutter and keeps the rain from going off the side onto the windows or into the door crack.

[EScanlon]

That chrome strip is called a 'drip guard' It's like a roof gutter and keeps the rain from going off the side onto the windows or into the door crack.

Wow! Is that what we've been discussing all this time? :stupid:

Well, heck, let me go back and see if finally knowing what the piece is called and what it does changes what I posted. I suggest others do the same! :stupid: :stupid:

Dang, no wonder, geesh, golly golly by molly, no wonder none of us have understood any of it.... :tapemouth :stupid:

Thanks for the information, your post count has been incremented by one, too bad there aren't percentages attached to the post count. Then we could use that number to truly discern something. :cheeky:

Enrique

[TomoHawk]

Don't you get a headache from hitting yourself like that all the time?