Can't get B-pillar covers back on

[Jerodcs]

I'm sure it's there somewhere, but I can't find anything on this in the archives...

I recently took my B-pillar covers off to have them repainted, and can't for the life of me get them back on. The top rod on the cover (that prevents the nut from falling into the body of the car) just doesn't seem to want to align with the hole it's meant for. Getting the covers off required some creative maneuvering, but the same thing isn't working to put them back on...

To put the covers back on, do I need to remove the exterior trim that arcs from the B-pillar to the A-pillar? If so, how?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Malibu Rapper]

To put the covers back on, do I need to remove the exterior trim that arcs from the B-pillar to the A-pillar? If so, how?

Sorry, I can only answer this one question and that is a No. I was there when Mike Vu installed the B-pillar cover back on my car but we didn't have so much difficulty and that may have been because he's so experienced with it.

Here's the only picture I have from the B-pillar cover install...

 

[MvM]

Am not really sure what you mean with your description.

The OEM B-pillars covers have two long studs that should easily find their way into the holes in the chassis.
The only problem that I had was getting those small nuts back on because of the fact that they are sitting so deep and the angle from inside is so difficult.

I had to take off the trim-panels and angle myself in a very diffult to get to them. Used a long pipe-wrench to get those nuts back in place. But other than that I had no problems.

Here are some pictures. Hope they help.

 

[Jerodcs]

Thanks guys--maybe this will help explain the situation better...

The top stud that you're referring to (the one on the back of the cover itself) is the one that I can't get back into its hole--at least not at the same time that I get the bottom stud and the "tab" to go where they're supposed to.

The tab that I'm referring to doesn't have anything to do with the four snap-in pieces--rather, it's the metal projection at the very top of the B-pillar cover (the piece of the cover that's closest to the front of the car on both the driver's and passenger's side.) This tab is supposed to slip underneath the exterior trim that arcs from the B-pillar towards the A-pillar.

When I've tried to get the B-pillar cover back on, I've inserted that tab first. The problem is that after doing so, the angle of the cover won't allow the top stud to be inserted in the top hole... Or, I can insert the stud in the top hole, but then I can't get the tab to go underneath the trim piece.

Let me know if I'm still being unclear, and I'll take some pictures of the problem and post them... I'm going nuts on this one--I can rebuild an engine without a problem, but something this simple has got me totally stuck.

 

[drew]

unscrew the studs, install the covers.

Use a small vice grips to tighten up the studs from inside the car.

You may have bent the locating tabs, that clip into the door molding, on the top of the cover. If so, gently bend them back.

 

[Jerodcs]

I did that at first as a shortcut, but the padded collars on the studs are definitely supposed to go outside the body of the car and will not fit through the stud holes from the inside of the car--at least not on a '91. This means that the threads on the studs don't fully engage with the B-pillar covers, and I'm not comfortable with that, even with Loctite--I'm getting ready to sell the car and don't want to pass on any nasty surprises to the next owner.

Has anybody else done this before?

 

[Jerodcs]

Note - you can see the padded stud collars that I'm talking about in MvM's first picture (padding missing on the bottom stud), and the holes that I referred to in the second pic.