Removing Front Door Cappings on NAS ST

Need to remove the front door cappings on my '97 ST. The paint is peeling from two previously shitty paint jobs done under warranty years ago.

Figured I'd remove them, have them painted separately, and then reinstall them. I'll probably have to paint over the new rivets with some touchup paint.

Any pointers on removing them?

Or is it as straightforward as drilling the rivets out and pulling them off?

Any seals underneath them?

Thanks
 

CDN38

Well-known member
Ultimately, to isolate the steel from aluminum, you could use a product called Duralac. it's the best product available for the type of application you are looking for. Commonly referred to as "anti corrosion paste". Comes in a can, or tube, not easy to get, but worth getting.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
Duralac is hard to come by because it is made from Barium Chromate a highly toxic heavy metal thats a hazardous and regulated substance . That said, it keeps aluminum/stainless steel contact area's on yachts from corrosion in a salt water environment.

My .02.
Depending on what year your truck is, early trucks had galvanized door cappings, on these we use a acid wash to etch the the zinc back to fresh metal. Later cappings are not galvanized, on these we lightly sand scuff the underside, unless rusty in which case blasting is the way to go. Once ready we use a 2 part epoxy primer, both on the door top area covered by the capping (again depending on when your truck was built, there may be some primer here but most trucks had nothing but bare aluminum) and epoxy encapsulate the capping all over. I then color coat the capping all over- more protection.

In the late 90's I removed the tub cappings on my 94 NAS truck and used a 3mm contractor clean up trash bag and cut it up to make a gasket to separate the alum tub top from the steel capping, trimmed the edges with an exacto knife so it couldnt be seen. 20yrs later that truck still has no corrosion.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
Cool. Thanks.

Any reason to paint in place instead of removing?

You are in Los Angeles, if all you are after is a cosmetic fix and no corrosion concerns, sure the cappings can be repainted in place.
Most of the rest of us are all in preservation mode with cosmetics being secondary concerns as you can tell from the posts above.
 

CDN38

Well-known member
Duralac is hard to come by because it is made from Barium Chromate a highly toxic heavy metal thats a hazardous and regulated substance . That said, it keeps aluminum/stainless steel contact area's on yachts from corrosion in a salt water environment.

My .02.

Agreed. It's nasty stuff, but very effective. If using it, proper safety protocol should be followed as with any hazardous material.
 
Correct, I'm in Los Angeles.

Cappings have been repainted twice under warranty, years ago obviously. I guess the shop never really did a good job and the window gaskets always ruin the paint on the tops hence the need to repaint.

I'm not sure if I need to go for full removal or just have the tops refinished as I don't have any corrosion on the doors, that I can see at least.
 
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