1981 Accord side protector?

[Arislan]

My wife had cracked the side protector on the driver side rear door months ago and the day before yesterday as she left the car it got stuck on her skirt and came off.

I ordered a replacement side protector piece but it looks like I can't order the actual clips for it and we seem to be missing one. Does anyone have a suggestion how I can fix this?
I ordered the clips along with the protector strip itself but Honda Parts Now canceled the clip order. Seems they had the strip but not the clips.

[2ndGenGuy]

Wow, I'm surprised they had the strip even. Clips are a never ending battle, they're impossible to find, and generic ones never fit. The only thing I would suggest is maybe cutting a little square piece of aluminum or plastic to fit inside the strip, then maybe using a generic clip epoxied to it, or clipped in through a hole in the square piece. Either that, or 2 sided tape is going to be your friend.

[SylusMk2]

post a pik of what the clip looks like i MIGHT have one from when i took my trim off

[Arislan]

post a pik of what the clip looks like i MIGHT have one from when i took my trim off

I would but I've just reset the strip back onto place even though it's cracked. I'm leaving it there until the new part arrives, I don't think it will fly out of place just yet. At least I hope it won't. But if you aren't using yours and want to sell them, PM a price and let's do it!

Why did you remove your trim, by the way? Just wondering. It makes my car look much better, and also it saved my door when my wife pulled out our Camry and it rubbed against the Accord (which is how it originally cracked). Did you replace it with an aftermarket trim?

Thanks!

[Arislan]

Wow, I'm surprised they had the strip even. Clips are a never ending battle, they're impossible to find, and generic ones never fit. The only thing I would suggest is maybe cutting a little square piece of aluminum or plastic to fit inside the strip, then maybe using a generic clip epoxied to it, or clipped in through a hole in the square piece. Either that, or 2 sided tape is going to be your friend.

What I'm probably going to do is cast an urethane plastic replica of each clip when I pull them out for installing the new strip. Just in case. I'm hoping I can easily remove the inner door panel to access the inside nuts and washers, if any. Any tips on removing the inner door panel?

[SylusMk2]

I thought it was all over kill so i removed it and filled the holes in the body...... im going for the cleaner looking body


plus all the holes were starting to bubble up with rust and the one on the passenger side was all mangled from being hit

with trim


without


im repainting the car anyway so i dont mind that its covered in primer

[lostforawhile]

search on here for a thread called the holy grail of honda fasteners and trim

[Arislan]

I thought it was all over kill so i removed it and filled the holes in the body...... im going for the cleaner looking body

Did you keep all your trim somewhere? I'm interested. :-)

[Arislan]

search on here for a thread called the holy grail of honda fasteners and trim

Thanks! Northland Fasterners seems to have at least one of the clips. I'll see what I decide once the strip arrives.

[SylusMk2]

Did you keep all your trim somewhere? I'm interested. :-)

idk if hatch stuff will fit 4 doors....but yes i have it all for sale on craigslist

[lostscotiaguy]

You might also want to check Dorman...they make a wide selection of weird bits and pieces...in fact I just did a post about Door panel clips on the Honda Roots FB page about it if anyone's interested. (Posted under Ethan Strok) So much for anonymity! Oh, and yes my last name IS pronounced how you think, go ahead and laugh, I've heard them ALL. LOL

[79cord]

The only thing I would suggest is maybe cutting a little square piece of aluminum or plastic to fit inside the strip, then maybe using a generic clip, clipped in through a hole in the square piece.

That's what I have done in several places, including the bonnet/hood front chrome as the original retainers there can rust solid & destroy themselves when you try & undo them.

The US '81 lower side trims are much more functional than earlier ones, which didn't protrude out as far so people might think they were protective then dent the door on the body crease above which stuck out just as much! Strangely this change still wasn't made for all markets.
Hence the additional upper trims that were dealer accessories on SylusMk2's car.

I removed my lower trims since the steel reinforcement within them had a few dents and those on the doors were starting to rust towards the rear, bubbly & crunchy inside the rubber.

I tried to make some new ones for my '77 with generic self-adhesive rubber trims mounted upon 6mm Acrylic strips to get them further from the body for proper protection, but expansion/contraction of the Acrylic strip has made mounting challenging upon the doors & still has to be redone.

[lostforawhile]

That's what I have done in several places, including the bonnet/hood front chrome as the original retainers there can rust solid & destroy themselves when you try & undo them.

The US '81 lower side trims are much more functional than earlier ones, which didn't protrude out as far so people might think they were protective then dent the door on the body crease above which stuck out just as much! Strangely this change still wasn't made for all markets.
Hence the additional upper trims that were dealer accessories on SylusMk2's car.

I removed my lower trims since the steel reinforcement within them had a few dents and those on the doors were starting to rust towards the rear, bubbly & crunchy inside the rubber.

I tried to make some new ones for my '77 with generic self-adhesive rubber trims mounted upon 6mm Acrylic strips to get them further from the body for proper protection, but expansion/contraction of the Acrylic strip has made mounting challenging upon the doors & still has to be redone.

I can't remember the name of it but 3M makes the special tape which is actually trim adhesive on a roll, once it's on there it's not coming back off. I 'm planning on putting my side trims back on with it, it's nothing like the trim adhesive tape US car makers used to use, the stuff that would always fall off