Alpines in Australia

I've had a '69 A110 for a few years now and have enjoyed restoring it ....interrior, new paint and an R5 Alpine built engine. I recently picked up an "80 Alpine A310 V6 to keep it company. The 310 is pretty good (low mileage at about 43,000 km) and just requires some interior refurbishment and paint touch up.
On the subject of paint touch up, can anybody tell me how easy or difficult it is to remove the metal windscreen trim (without removing the windscreen) as it needs re-finishing?

[johnb]

Your cars look great, the same pairing that I have except that my A110 is a 1970 car.

I presume that you're referring to the A310 regarding the windscreen trim because your A110 doesn't have the aluminium trim fitted. The A310 trim can be released without removing the glass because it's clipped in place in the recess. There are several profiled clips spaced around the outside of the glass and screwed to the body. The profile of the trim on its underside is shaped to push past the clips and then be retained in place by the clips 'springing' back. So the trim basically snaps into place.

I removed the trim on mine prior to the car being painted. I didn't know how it was held in place when I started so was very careful not to lever against the glass with anything metallic. I can't remember what I used but it was probably things like plastic adhesive spreaders. The part of the trim that fits the clips is at the outer edge but its difficult to lever there between the body and the trim without possibly damaging the body paint. Also, levering towards the trim pushes more into the clip. I think I may have approached it from the glass side by sliding plastic between the glass and the trim and pushing the trim away from the clips. The trim is fairly flexible so it's easier to detect where the clips are and to then know where to release the trim. I started at the top and once one clip was released it was easy to release the rest because you could see what you were doing.

The attached photos might help in showing where some of the clips are and the underside profile of the trim.

You may find that some of the clips are corroded, especially the ones holding the bottom trim section in place due to the bottom part of the window opening recess being a bit of a water trap. As I said, the clips are attached with self tapping screws to the body but from memory some of the screw heads might be covered by the glass so would be difficult to remove. I had to use some sealant under one part of the lower trim when replacing it, to keep the trim in place due to a corroded clip. Simon Auto in Germany sell the clips as shown in the link below.

https://www.simon-auto-shop.de/201038. Their photo gives you a better view of the clip shape.

Out of interest, do you know what make are the wheels on the A310 and size as they look larger than the standard 13" wheels? Also what size and make are the front and rear tyres?