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Transform Your Squarebody: Project Rocky’s Fresh Look with Mar-K Moldings

Project Rocky Gets a Fresh Look with Mar-K’s Body-Side Molding

If you’ve been following along with Project Rocky, our ’79 C10 build, you know we’ve been working hard to give this truck the style and performance it deserves. This time, we tackled the install of Mar-K’s Body-Side Molding, a detail that takes the truck’s finished look to the next level. While we’ve installed this same molding on a bare-metal truck in the past, this time we’re showing you how to get it done on a painted truck without risking your hard-earned finish.

Mar-K’s moldings are no joke—they’re high-quality, made-in-the-USA parts specifically designed to fit these squarebody C10s like a glove. The fitment is on point, and the chrome finish has just the right shine to give your truck that factory-fresh vibe. What makes this install special is the adhesive-backed clips Mar-K offers for painted trucks. These clips let you secure the moldings without drilling a million holes into your truck. We still had to drill a few, but compared to the non-painted install we did before, this was a breeze.

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Installing the molding is a straightforward process, even for a DIYer. Start by carefully marking your alignment on the truck. Mar-K includes everything you need to line up the moldings, ensuring they sit straight and tight. Once aligned, the adhesive-backed clips come into play. Just peel, stick, and press the moldings into place. The few holes we did drill were simple to handle, and Mar-K’s instructions were clear and easy to follow.

The end result? Project Rocky now has a clean, factory-style body line that enhances the overall look of the truck. The moldings sit tight, won’t budge, and make the truck pop without the hassle of a full custom body shop job. Whether you’re finishing a build like ours or sprucing up your daily driver, Mar-K’s Body-Side Molding is the way to go.

If you’re ready to transform your C10’s look, grab a set of these moldings and get to work. It’s a simple, satisfying upgrade you can knock out in your garage. Follow along with our photos to see just how smooth this install went down. Project Rocky  is looking better than ever, and your truck could be too!

Mar-K Squarebody Moldings deliver premium quality with thicker gauge aluminum for durability and ease of installation. Made in the USA, these anodized and triple-polished moldings are available for short beds, long beds, Blazers, and crew cabs with black or gold accents.

If you can remember, Project Rocky has all-new body panels from Auto Metal Direct and a fresh new paint job from Street Dreams in Ocala Florida. The color is Ferrari red which looks amazing, but in our opinion, some shiny accents would really make this truck pop.
Before starting on the side moldings, we want to install fender well trim on the front and the rear. We ordered this trim from Classic Industries, and it’s designed to screw directly to the factory holes in the fenders using the provided hardware.
As you can see, the trim is already bent perfectly by the manufacturer. We simply have to set it into place and put in a few screws.
Here you can see the mounting location for the screws. Your fenders should already have the holes in them at the proper locations. Our aftermarket fenders were already pre-drilled, which made this process quick and easy.
With just a little effort, we’re already seeing a dramatic difference in the look of this truck—, classy yet impactful.

The rear is the same process as the front. The moldings are already bent to the correct shape and the screw holes are already in our fenders. We did have to take off our wheels to get a screwdriver in there, but that was a simple step.

I’m sure you can agree that the final outcome looks much better than it did before—  especially when placed side-by-side with the shiny American Force wheels.
Now that the easy part is done, we went ahead and loaded the truck up and brought it over to the shop. We needed more space to work and a few more tools than we have at home.

The kit from Mar-K is extremely well engineered. Each and every piece is labeled so you know exactly where they are supposed to lay on the truck, and all the mounting brackets are included. Either the bolt-in or adhesive backed clips can be used.

After speaking with a few friends and tech support at Mar-K, we decided to start with the front fender and work our way back.

We used blue tape to hold the moldings in place while we laid out the entire kit. This ensured everything was in  the correct location and level with the truck.

Now that we have all of the moldings in place, we can mark on the blue tape which spots need to be drilled and which spots need an adhesive backed clip.
Standing back and seeing all the moldings in place is exciting although we are questioning whether or not we want to do both upper and lower moldings. What are your thoughts?
We had to remove the taillight in order to access the back of the molding clip to install the nut once it’s drilled.

With confidence at an all-time high, we broke out the drill and began creating holes for the threaded mounting clips.

There are  a few spots on the truck where  we recommend drilling and bolting instead of using adhesive strips—including the rear above the taillight where the bed curves, as well as the cab B pillar strip. Both of these locations will have a hard time remaining in place using just the adhesive clips.
With all the holes drilled and some touchup paint added to the drilling locations to prevent rust, we can start assembling the moldings for the final time before adding them to the truck permanently.

The beauty of this kit is how well it’s engineered. These two moldings slide together to create one uniform piece. We can’t convey how well this kit was built.
The next step is to slide on the mounting clips, including the threaded and adhesive backed clips.
With the moldings staying in place thanks to the adhesive, we can go ahead and attach the nuts to secure everything for good.

Mar-K Squarebody Moldings deliver premium quality with thicker gauge aluminum for durability and ease of installation. Made in the USA, these anodized and triple-polished moldings are available for short beds, long beds, Blazers, and crew cabs with black or gold accents.
We also ordered the rear tailgate molding, which connects the passenger- and driver-side trim perfectly.

SOURCES

Mar-K
844-MAR-K844
www.mar-k.com

Classic Industries
800-854-1280
www.classicindustries.com

 

Photos by Chris Hamilton

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