Realizing how much dirt and crud was still stuck to the back of the trim; everything was scrubbed down with SOS earlier today. This allowed a better view to remove dents and made everything easier to handle. I was going to start with the worst dent first, but decided working in the reverse order might help develop better techniques as I went along.
The upper driver side piece was inspected again and requires only sanding and polishing. It really is in mint condition. As indicated in the next to the last photo above, the upper passenger side has problems which turn out to be so extensive it may cancel the project if I can’t successfully correct them.
It appears at some point in history this trim was indifferently installed off center and then beaten into submission to fit. The upper passenger side corner is so deformed the profile was changed from a flat surface to almost a half round. This both narrowed the trim and turned it in the wrong direction. It also reversed the banking from angled toward the windshield, to angled away from the windshield.
In an effort to unroll the curl, a simple jig was assembled and clamped in the vise.
I didn’t think to take a photo before straightening, but here are a couple of shots after about an hour of bending the trim back open and flattening the crown:
I did manage to flatten the trim to nearly its original ½” width. Unfortunately off the truck and free to take its natural shape, the piece won’t presently fit a gasket. On the right is the compatible driver side part, the damaged passenger side on the left. In the last two photos the bottom of both parts are resting on the same platform.
Not only do the ends not match up, the banking is wrong as well. It’s hard to show in a photograph, but the part on the right angles between 5-15 degrees towards the glass. The part on the left banks away from the glass about 5 degrees. Reversing the tilt hasn’t proven all that easy. These photos were taken after about 2 and half hours of bending and twisting. I not only need to reverse the angle of the face, but after that’s done I have to shrink the attachment blade/hook back into alignment, which I’m not sure is possible.
All focus will be on this part until corrected or ruined, since there isn’t any point in restoring the other pieces if I don’t have a complete set.
More to follow.