'55 Hood trim fastener clips

[Daves55Sedan]

I know you can buy reproduction clips of the original that are used to fasten the trim strip at the front of a '55 car hood. But some of my clips (still in good condition) would not stay in the square holes because a portion of the edges of the holes had eroded away from rust. In other words, the holes had become elongated such that the clips would have nothing to hold them on.

So, I decided to make my own clips. I needed four clips. All the other original clips held in place solidly, so I re-used them. The new clips consist of a square piece of 18 gage spring steel with a hole punched in the center and tapped for a machine screw 3/4" long and a strip of 26 gage galvanized steel (very thin), bent around to fit inside the trim and fashioned to hold the assembled clip so that the back of the spring steel square piece up against the back flanges of the trim strip. Here's a picture of the four clips.

Also there needed to be special washers to fit down in the slots on the backside of the hood where the holes are for the trim clips. I made washers like this to fit in those slots so that the recessed part in the middle is pointed toward the clip.

I did this because the machine screws in the assembled clip with lockwasher still did not stick in thru the hole far enough to protrude from the face of those slots on the backside. You can imagine how difficult it was to get the special washers on and a little lockwasher and the little hex-nut in that little space at the bottom of the backside of the hood. I dropped one of the little lockwashers twice and finally lost it on the floor (I think) and had to find another one. But in the end, the trim piece went back on good as new, the old clips held tight and my new clips also are holding the trim piece tight to the front of the hood. Now maybe this will be the end of rainwater getting down in there and rusting the front of the hood out.

 

[KULTULZ]

...hmmpf...

Nice Work!

This forum needs a TECH SECTION whereas as posts such as this can be kept separate for easy finding/viewing and not lost in the archives.

 

[Ole Don]

Beautiful work.

 

[frank long island]

its amazing what we can come up with in a pinch nice job on the resto

 

[Daves55Sedan]

Just want to add a few more fine details that went into the making of the clips here:
The 18 gage spring steel was cut from a strip that had been scrapped from an old wooden house window (they were used to keep tension at the sides of the window). I had saved the strips for many decades anticipating possibly having some use for them in the future. After cutting out the squares with a common pair of sheet metal snips, I ground the edges on a bench grinder for smoothness and rounded off the corners a little so I would not get cut in handling the pieces. I used a hand punch to punch the hole in the middle for the screw, then I ran a matching die to tap the thread in the hole for the screw. After the thin pieces were cut and formed, I put the spring steel piece together with the thin piece with the screw and tiny lock-washer so that the screw would not "back-out" when I installed the nut on the backside at the time of trim installation. Prior to putting the pieces together, everything was painted with cold galvanizing compound, then a silver enamel overcoat to help prevent the metal from becoming rusted. I painted the specially formed washers in the same way.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

BTW, sorry about some of the photos being fuzzy, but I am using a very cheap ($24.00) camcorder that has the ability to take still photos. (I do not have a cellphone, never had and probably never will) although it seems they can produce much better quality photos. The problem with the cheap camcorder is that the lens has two settings; far away and up to within 6 inches. That's why the close-ups look fuzzy.
The only other option I have is to get out my old 1948 Kodak "Brownie Hawkeye" camera and take photos then scan the photos in a printer. That would also mean I would need to find Kodak 620 color film somewhere. Not sure if anybody sells it anymore. But that camera took some awesome photos long ago!

 

[Dave Covey]

I ended up replacing the entire front edge of my replacement hood about 1 1/2 inches up. Now I need to locate and drill the holes. I'm thinking mine will just be round and a little oversize to allow for adjustment. Nice job on the clips Dave..

Dave

 

[Daves55Sedan]

I ended up replacing the entire front edge of my replacement hood about 1 1/2 inches up.

That is exactly what I should have done and seriously considered doing it, but I have had enough of cutting this car up, making new repair panels and welding for a while (hopefully forever).

I'm thinking mine will just be round and a little oversize to allow for adjustment. Nice job on the clips Dave..

Dave, my original plan to cutout and replace that front bottom section included the following:
1) Make cutout all across front using thin cutting disc in a drill.
2) Make a continuous cardboard template fitted to the hole cutout.
3) Cutout new metal panel from the cardboard template.
4) Fit the panel in place and make bend in middle. Hold in place temporarily with magnets. Place a pencil mark at both ends where the bottom of the trim piece will go (aligning with adjacent trim pieces on fender)
5) Remove new metal panel and strike another mark from bottom mark up to represent the top of the trim piece, then place a third mark halfway between the top and bottom marks. From this "center-mark" scribe a pencil line all the way across from end to end
6) Use a center punch to mark holes along the pencil centerline, then drill or punch out the center marks. Hole size to be just big enough to fit fastener screw through it. If need be, can be drilled out a little more after panel is welded on front of hood.