68 Dart drip rails

-
D

Dave K

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Just wondering if the drip rails on my dart are easy to remove,
or do I have to cut them off? My Dart is unfortunatelt a 2 door post
(but I love it any ways), and I'd like to clean it up a little...
Those drip rails look huge! Mind you the beige paint probably doesn't help...
 
Dave K said:
Just wondering if the drip rails on my dart are easy to remove,
or do I have to cut them off? My Dart is unfortunatelt a 2 door post
(but I love it any ways), and I'd like to clean it up a little...
Those drip rails look huge! Mind you the beige paint probably doesn't help...
Click to expand...

If your refering to the stainless steel trim pieces running along the edge of the roof, yes, they can be removed. But it's VERY easy to F`k them up.

The corner clips pop off very easy. With the rails start at one end and with a rolling motion, try to lift up VERY gently. You might need the assitance of a small straight edge screw driver. Nothing bigger than the size of those give-away's you'd get from a hardware store or a tool vendor. Small. And ever so gently lift the trim up and slide down a bit and try and lift some more. If you hurry or act like a Mongo you'll twist it. Then it's junk.

My suggestion is to visit a junkyard and practice on a wreck. Try and find a similar year Mopar as what your working on. If not, find some other brand with identical trim. These pieces are held on with the slightest amount of adhesive and a tight fit. Mine popped right off. The car I practiced on was impossible one one side, the other popped off. Go practice! Finding a replacement set could be a hassle since they damage easily. If your not going to use them, advertise that you have a set available, someone else might need them. Cash or barter is always better than throwing something away.

And while at the junkyard please try and practice on something thats already damaged. Leave the nice stuff for the next guy who might need that piece. :wink:
 
Thanks guys.
The rails are the same color beige as the car.
I allways try not to ruin something some one else could use,
trust me I know how hard it is to find stuff sometimes... beside who knows if 2 seconds after getting it off you don't realize you made the wrong choice.
They look pretty sturdy though...
With any luck tonight you'll here me offering a set of rails to anyone who wants them! Unless your talking about trim that snapped over the original rail...

Thanks again guys!
 
What are you removing. I was talking about the stainless
moulding that covers the steel drip rail that is part of the
roof :scratch:
 
onehellofadart said:
What are you removing. I was talking about the stainless
moulding that covers the steel drip rail that is part of the
roof :scratch:
Click to expand...

Me too.... :-k
 
Sounds like you want to remove the whole steel drip rail. If that is the case, then you will need to cut them off. I don't know what kind of welding will be required to finish them off.
 
onehellofadart said:
Hey John did you make that model?
Click to expand...

Nope.... I stole the image from a web site that sells the resin body to make one. I just thought it was waaaaaay kewl :D
 
dubldart340 said:
Sounds like you want to remove the whole steel drip rail. If that is the case, then you will need to cut them off. I don't know what kind of welding will be required to finish them off.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought he was talking about - The rail itself. I'm thinking of doing the same thing to mine. Eliminate the rail to smooth out the lines.
 
Sorry guys, I did mean the rail atthached to the roof.
I took a close look at it when I got home and sure enough it's part of the roof! The way they did the 45 joint where the pilar meets the roof made me think it was removable. Between the rail and the fact that it's a 2 door post that area looks too cluttered...
How did you guys get your pics under 6kb to post em?
I'd love to post my car, and get some feed back for ideas...
 
I just edited my pictures down with Paint Shop Pro. Any photo editing software should be able to do it.

Good luck with the drip rails
 
Thanks DoubleDart!
With any luck it'll look as good as yours one day...
I'm trying to get most of the information on how to remove allot of stuff before I start though...
The car is really solid, but seems like it's had anything tacky that could be installed actually installed. I'm trying to find some decent pics of 2 door posts to get some ideas of what is possible. Hard to believe the look is so different between the post and non post cars...
I'm sure my 13" rims, beige paint, and extra trim aren't helping, but I'm so busy picturing what it could look like it doesn't bother me...
 
The only thing is the car gets strength from the drip rail. Plus the roof tin and some other parts are folded into the drip rail and I think that is how it is all held together. If I was doing this project like I thought about I would cut a small section of about 6-8 Inches off, then spot weld it a bunch and then do another section and another and another........until it was all welded up. Kind of like welding a rear 1/4 on a car!
One more thing is the crome part that holds the wheather molding that the door closes against looks too wide kind of like if you cut the drip rail off, it would stick out from under the roof/above the door!
I would say look at it close, Cause I looked at mine and decided against doing this( I guess I didn't want the headache). Also my dart is a hard top and might be different then yours when talking about the wheather stripping.

Good luck!
 
One more thing, There is a guy on bigblockdart.com that did it to his car( don't remember his name) and it looks good. :twisted:
 
Seems relatively minor compared to the surgery you've got going on there halfaed. It's just a thought... I'm trying to get some ideas to clean it up, but haven't seen too many good pictures of Darts, let alone post cars..
I mean I've seen some nice cars, but never anything that makes you notice there's been some customizing going on. Maybe that's just a sign of good craftsmenship... I'll look up bigblockdart.com. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top