89oldscutlass Posted April 26, 2003 Report Share Posted April 26, 2003 I bought a 89 International for a parts car it has no engine or tranny so im parting out.Im wanting to put the ground effects on my 89 cutlass and was wondering how to get the side moldings off without messing them up and then how to mount them on mine?My cutlass has no ground effects at all just a piece of trim on the door.Any help would be most apprieciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted April 26, 2003 Report Share Posted April 26, 2003 Hello. Im doing the exact same thing as you. Now here's the quickest run-through I can possibly do......open the door, look under the bottom of the ground effect piece on each door, there's about 10 7mm bolts. Remove em. For the piece running on the bottom part of th body, unclip (bend out then pull towards) the thick part under the rear 1/4 windows to loosen. Then the harder part is getting the clips separated. They run along the bottom door opening. I carefully used a screwdriver. From here you'll see that there's 2 black long brackets per-side of the car. you'll need these. You'll also need the white clips, but you'll need to drill one extra hole per-clip to install a screw where a "pin" sticking out of the body would normally be. Put it like this: The base model moldings uses similar clips, but smaller and only require one pin per-clip, whereas the international clips are 2x as long and need two per-clip. Then to get the little ground effect pieces off the front fenders, there's 1 7mm bolt on the bottom, plus 1 more clip. Hope this helps some, when I do this project (Tuesday?) I'll have pics for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 ahem.... I'm also doing some trim swapping, putting a base model door on an International, and I can say right now that the little nubs on the base model and Int series aren't the same height. So you'll have to grind them all off and just screw the white brackets on. You'll have to check it out once you get into it though..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 no friggin way, really?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted April 27, 2003 Report Share Posted April 27, 2003 Yeah it really sucks, I installed the white clips for my molding, hung it on the door, and it was like at least 1/2 inch too high. I'll have to measure the studs on the Int series door, and line the clips up exactly, the just screw them on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 You know what...screw it. I'm going to plan B: Double sided tape. Heck, what do you think holds those huge moldings on the Grand Am SE's? Besides, our ground effects has the metal brackets. Right now I have the fender piece of the ground effect on, top is held with the double sided tape (3M, that brand is superb) bottom with the factory bolt. Havent had a problem yet. Check it out: Â Â And yes it's a perfect match, I hadn't washed the rest of the car yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89oldscutlass Posted April 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 Hmmm now i dont know whether to use the 3m tape or not.Ive not had alot of luck in the past using it on other cars putting the trim back on after a paint job.Is the trim pieces real heavy if so i think i might use the screws.Thanks for the suggestions guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 If you use a cleaner on both surfaces first, like the cleaner used to get the smallest amount of grease and dirt off body panels before painting, the tape will stick plenty good enough. I'm going to start this tomorrow, Ill let you know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankzen Posted May 11, 2003 Report Share Posted May 11, 2003 If you use a cleaner on both surfaces first, like the cleaner used to get the smallest amount of grease and dirt off body panels before painting, the tape will stick plenty good enough. I'm going to start this tomorrow, Ill let you know  So how did it go??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted May 11, 2003 Report Share Posted May 11, 2003 Yeah that never happened, yet....between bad weather and finals....Im hoping for this week because I'm tired of looking at a hybrid Base/SL/International Cutlass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89oldscutlass Posted May 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 Well guys i got the side ground effects off the other car with no problem but it did take me some time to get off the rear bumper.The problem i run into was that two of the studs that hold the bumper pad on sheard off when i took the two bolts off the driver side rear and god i hate where they put that charcoal filter on that side.All i like is removing the front bumper pad and i can start the switch.I checked out the trim hight on my plain cutlass against my 89 SL and the international and found that the top of them all come up to the same hight on the doors but the little studs or what ever you call them are located in different widths from my plain cutlass as well as the clips are different.I decided to cut the studs off and put screws in the international clips to make it work.Sorry but im afraid that the 3M wont hold up over time and well ive had my car 5 years and this is the second paint job and i want it last longer then five years this time including the ground effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 funny, I just put on the ground effects on the drivers side tonight. After the bottom screws are put into the body, as well as those black brackets, the gfx are well supported without the white clips even attached! and i also noticed how the top of the gfx is tapered in slightly, almost begging me to use the tape! So I did, and the gfx is flush with the body and is quite strong. Are you sure that the rivets on the base vs the i-series car is the same HEIGHT from the bottom of the car? Because it didnt look that way to me, but ill check it tomorrow in the daylight. If they don't meet up, I'll be just like the Grand Am and other GM cars using double sided tape. It works a lot better than you think, after prepping both mating surfaces with paint prep... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.