capping rail trim

[simon a-b 19]

Hi all. Like many other esprits, mine had atrocious capping rail trim, really detracting from the look of the car. Over a couple of weekends I recently replaced mine, so I thought I'd put some pics up for anyone trying it.

The capping rail came off my car quite easily; you need to remove the inner trim at the top of the door and the inner a arm trim first, then work your way along drilling out the mounting rivets.

I didn't need to remove the rear windows, just the rear window trim (just siliconed on), and cut where the door pillar trim meets the capping rail. I used a quarter inch chisel for this, it could cut through the silicone without stressing any of the brittle bits of plastic too much.

With a bit of gentle persuasion the capping rail trim came away quite easily. The old trim was rivetted and glued on, so after a clean up I was left with this:

The new capping rail trim (from SJ sportscars) looks like this:

I bought the windscreen surround trim at the same time (and fitted it as part of the job). I'd recommend doing that as I destroyed the old trim removing the old capping rail trim where it runs down the windscreen edge.

Where the trim crosses the roof you need to cut away part of the profile, carefully, with a sharp knife.

Initially I cut just enough for the roof section away, but you also need to allow room for the boot hinge.

Offering the new trim up with rivets in place you can trace the profile the trim needs to follow.

The trim needs to go around a bit of a corner as it transitions from the flat roof to the windscreen. I cut a couple of triangles of material away to allow it to bend more easily.

Once I was happy I siliconed and rivetted it on, sealing up the new rivets with more silicone. Then it's just a case of re fitting the capping rail into the trim and rivetting that back on, and viola, new capping rail trim.

As a job that needed ticking off the list I'm stoked with the result. Now that the new windscreen trim is on too it's smartened the look of the car up massively.

Edited September 23, 2011 by simon a-b

[slewthy 249]

Thats a great write up of something I will need to do soon.

How long does the refit part of the job take?

[Paul Coleman 471]

Do the replacement trims from SJ do one side or is there enough for both?

Cheers, Paul.

[Sparky 2,832]

Superb!

I want one to do now.

[andydclements 750]

They are long enough for one side only (I must fit the second one)

[simon a-b 19]

That's right, you'll need to buy two strips of trim to do a car, one for each side. Once prepped the re-fit took me about 4 hours, that included replacing cutting away the trim section for the roof and installing the new windscreen surround trim and , and was a relaxed pace, I'm sure I could have done it quicker if I had to. If it was all ready to go you could do each side in half an hour.

[Paul Coleman 471]

I have to refit these when I finally put mine back together but I don't actually like them and don't think they look right - particularly when the bodywork is white, as mine is. I'm leaning towards not fitting them at all but then of course that's not original...

Paul.

[richardvg 3]

I have attached an image of the finisher less that horrible beading that looks really hideous.

I have also been fortunate that i could do the finish of this section in matt black and still make it look good(my opinion)

Edited September 26, 2011 by richardvg

[simon a-b 19]

On 9/22/2011 at 12:34, simon a-b said:

Hi all. Like many other esprits, mine had atrocious capping rail trim, really detracting from the look of the car. Over a couple of weekends I recently replaced mine, so I thought I'd put some pics up for anyone trying it.

 

The capping rail came off my car quite easily; you need to remove the inner trim at the top of the door and the inner a arm trim first, then work your way along drilling out the mounting rivets.

I didn't need to remove the rear windows, just the rear window trim (just siliconed on), and cut where the door pillar trim meets the capping rail. I used a quarter inch chisel for this, it could cut through the silicone without stressing any of the brittle bits of plastic too much.

 

With a bit of gentle persuasion the capping rail trim came away quite easily. The old trim was rivetted and glued on, so after a clean up I was left with this:

The new capping rail trim (from SJ sportscars) looks like this:

I bought the windscreen surround trim at the same time (and fitted it as part of the job). I'd recommend doing that as I destroyed the old trim removing the old capping rail trim where it runs down the windscreen edge.

 

Where the trim crosses the roof you need to cut away part of the profile, carefully, with a sharp knife.

Initially I cut just enough for the roof section away, but you also need to allow room for the boot hinge.

Offering the new trim up with rivets in place you can trace the profile the trim needs to follow.

The trim needs to go around a bit of a corner as it transitions from the flat roof to the windscreen. I cut a couple of triangles of material away to allow it to bend more easily.

Once I was happy I siliconed and rivetted it on, sealing up the new rivets with more silicone. Then it's just a case of re fitting the capping rail into the trim and rivetting that back on, and viola, new capping rail trim.

As a job that needed ticking off the list I'm stoked with the result. Now that the new windscreen trim is on too it's smartened the look of the car up massively.

I've been through and re-added the pics as the links had died...

[hepkat63 11]

brilliant - thank you !

[Mesprit87 22]

Thanks for the pictures, now I know that replacing the foam in the pillar won't be an easy job. It seems the pillar cover is captive under the side window...

Edited February 17, 2016 by Mesprit87
correction

[greentengu 12]

Thank you for re-posting the pics; my capping rail trim sits in long, long tubes awaiting its eventual installation...mine is shredded, flaked off, and disintegrated over its entire visible length. This really helps...of course, I probably have to also do Mesprit87's pillar foam project, too, so there's yet another thing on the "to do" list!

--Scott

[silverfrost 1,387]

It looks great when you replace the trim as the old ones look terrible when they go all white and cruddy.  however within a few years it will start to go cruddy again, 

replaced mine about 8 years ago still looks good but you can see white bits starting off again.  Think this started about a year after fitting. 

Great pictures and very good guide for people looking to do this cheers for posting 

[Freemason 97]

My car appears to have rivets for the capping rail trim but no trim. Perhaps a PO removed it. I'm thinking about refitting, Simon do you have the pics still? It appears nearly all of the links to the photos have died, would be really useful for a reference.

[simon a-b 19]

Hi, use this link to go to my photobucket album:

http://s471.photobucket.com/user/beamishprod/library/lotus

the pics are on page 5 and 6

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Freemason 97]

Fantastic, thanks for that! I think I'll fit the trim on mine, looks better and seems all S2s had them.

[silverfrost 1,387]

It makes a great difference in my eyes Antonio, breaking up the roof line and pulling the bling into the windscreen surround trim. Well worth the effort is your cars previous owner had removed it.  Also as i have said before fantastic guide/walk through by Simon.

[Freemason 97]

On 26/09/2011 at 22:12, Paul Coleman said:

I have to refit these when I finally put mine back together but I don't actually like them and don't think they look right - particularly when the bodywork is white, as mine is. I'm leaning towards not fitting them at all but then of course that's not original...

 

Paul.

And what is the purpose of them anyway? I'm tossing up whether to put them on or not...

[Paul Coleman 471]

7 hours ago, Freemason said:

And what is the purpose of them anyway? I'm tossing up whether to put them on or not...

I think it covers up the bare edge of the fibreglass and probably made it easier for the factory to get a better looking finish on that panel with the minimum amount of work. I fitted mine in the end.

[DaveyT 244]

Agree with Paul there... the inside edge of the A pillar looks aprticulary unfinished without the trim. 

Took about an hour and a half each side. just be extra careful if you can with the rivet placement...too close to the bead and the head of the rivet gun fouls it and will damage it if you dont realise in time.

[slewthy 249]

For me, the hardest part was not the trim but refitting the capping rail itself.

The problem is that doing dry runs with those rivets is pretty much impossible until you pop them home.

You see, the edge of the trim kind of encases the edge of the rail, not just abut it. The rail therefore has to be an absolute perfect fit - could be a problem after a slightly thick respray or if you are using replacement rails.

[Andyww 1,278]

The biggest problem with the trim is the SJ trim, which I believe is the only one available, is the wrong size.

Ita lso the wrong finish, the original had a chrome finish but the SJ is satin.

[slewthy 249]

I'm sure that is indeed the issue.

Both my rails were original and the repaint not thick but refitting was still problematic

[Freemason 97]

What is wrong with the size?

[drdoom 398]

Was getting after cant rails guided by Dave Lisle's insights until big European holiday and rogue home renovation contractor hijacked my time. On the matter of fit I find a peculiar difference between left and right sides of the car, with the right being a lousy match for the body contours whereas the left is very good. How to account for such a difference, given that moulds were in use for all components? Thankfully the only evidence of accident damage has turned out to be in the left side door and the nearby sill, and that was very limited. I have found it takes quite the strong-arm to force the right side rail into a not too fine level of fit to the body. On review of my archived photos the disharmony is perhaps hinted at in a curvature along the screen edge. I'll attach a photo.