While i had the doors on the bench i though i might as well look for garnish moulding as my body had none with it Did a bit of digging around and it turned out that there was a restorer guy doing a 27T coupe only 3 miles from my house, result He kindly came over with his garnish's but as my body is grp it was a no go, it meant a lot of tweaking and as my car is hopefully gonna look like a 60's car i decided to make some custom mouldings, I'm sure my new friends 27T will be handy for reference though First job was to key up the area that i had straightened at the top of the door and skim with some filler, It didn't need much and the Rage filler i use is so easy to rub down, its excellent stuff. Then i cut some 6mm x 25mm stainless flat bar to the lengths needed, The bottom bar now sits at a slight angle compared to the stock flat, I think it looks better. Had to notch each end so it sat flush with the window opening so it will look tidy when i add a rubber finisher (I hate it when you can see the inside of the door through the window slot, looks untidy) All the edges were radiused to look rolled. The 4 parts were then attached to the door with countersunk screws ready for tack welding, had to be careful with the tacks as the GRP can catch light pretty easily All the parts were rough polished before so to make the final polish easier. the stainless i had wasn't the best so a fair bit of sanding was needed Small tacks were done to keep it all together then it was clamped down to my welding bench for finish welding. While on the bench clamped flat i decided to add rounded corners at the top of the moulding, I think it looks better. Heres the finished job after the welds were polished out, they still need a bit more polishing work but i'm pretty pleased how they came out
Thanks they took a day to make but cost very little, just the cost of the material which in dollars was $30 just have to make the rear ones now.
Im looking at buying some of them 58 Chev tailight surrounds.I already have my Caddy Tailights and was going to just mount them into a french recess into the guard ,made out of Down pipe PVC pipe, that would require way to much work,and shaping and fillerwork. I like the 58 Chevy tailight mounting bezel. Are you sure they were Taillights and not the front Grille shell Park light surrounds as they look similar. I just searched some on ebay,a guy already replied and said I can buy NEW ones from AUTO CITY CLASSICS in the states,for about $20.00. Langy, Im yet to email them just want to be sure of what I'm ordering. thanks Tony.
As far as i know Tony they are rear bezels, If you can get them can you let me know as my originals havn't rechromed that well i'm afraid, I was going to make them in stainless but its afair bit of work
Tony just had a look at their on line catalogue and they are exchange and $110 each plus $30 core charge
Wow I hadn't looked at that.like your little icon.yeah I would be shocked at that,but yeah I do want some will have to check ebay again. Langy I used to repair old Pot metal parts for the cars I restored when I had my Business.A technique the chromer Wayne told me was ,, (1) Firstly have the chrome stripped off them,opening up all the pits.Then with a small drill lightly drill out all the pits.This cleans out all the pores of the Old Pot Metal(Die Cast) (2)Then get them coppered. (3)Then use a slodering iron,solder up all the pits,with 50/50.If theres heaps warm up the hole thing and sweat solder. (4)File and sand,finish off with say 320 grit, (5)Re-Copper,and polish copper with no cotton gloves on,as polishers usually were these as the parts get to hot to handle.Gloves off. (6)Dont polish to hard as this will get the part to hot and remelt the solder.Leaving blemishes in the chrome again. Its all in the preparation like a good paint job. (7)Chrome to perfection......... Costly to do all these steps but the results are excellent.Lucky I know you can do your own polishing.Enjoy. I will find some 58 Chevy tailights though.
I had to do some diy painting yesterday so while i had the gun out i decided to see what my brake backplates would look like with the flake on them, i'm pretty pleased with them The chrome was coated with 2 coats of 2 pack epoxy primer and allowed to flash off for 1 hour, then basecoated 2 coats, then 2 full flake coats and finally 3 full coats of 2 pack clear.
backing plates look GREAT Steve!! What prep work if any was needed on the chrome? Lovin' the garnish treatment too!
I mas so happy with my build then I happened to open this thread. I feel like a 4 year old tryin to build a 12 year olds glue model. Are you kidding me Langy would you please screw something up bad and show us. Even your little buffing mistake turned out perfect...... Just yankin your chain you do wonderful work an inspire me!
The backing plates look great! Well, honestly all of your builds have such detail and craftsmanship, I think we have come to expect nothing less! (No pressure there eh!) I enjoy your build posts, as I learn quite a lot. Thank you for taking the time for them and sharing your knowledge.
When I took a a first, quick glance at the backing plate I thought they were rusty, and I couldn't figure out how the lip was so bright and chrome. Upon closer inspection... Wow!
Trust me i screw up as well, but then i do it again Nobody said hotrodding was easy Thanks for the kind responce and the positives mate.
Sorry i just can't do rusty I have tried but nope its just not me Appreciate your post mate, thanks for the positive vibes.
LOVE that Metal Flake,yeah just made my Mrs have a look at the metal flake.She said yeah that looks cool.Ive told you I like that just paint your car in that stuff. WE have been looking at colours for ages.The last Hot Rod show we had here there was a 34 Tudor painted in Silver Metal Flake and it really took my eye. Yep it always has looked cool to me Love the Metal flake,Well done again Steve.
Managed to solve a small problem today, The little pins that hold the brake shoes in place by being put through the bckplates and held in place by a top hat and spring were bugging me as they always go rusty and spoil the look of the backplates, was thinking about what to do with them last night and it suddenly came to me Firstly i ground the flat head off so they were just a 3mm shaft, Next i took some 6mm stainless rivets and made a simple jig to hold them so i could drill a 3mm hole in them, The jig was a bit of 20mm aluminium bar that i drilled and counter bored for the rivet and then drilled a 3mm hole right through, a hole in the side to hold the rivet in place was drilled & tapped 4mm for a grub screw. (Sorry the pics ain't great, took them with my phone.) The 3mm shafts were pressed into the hole drilled in the rivet and welded, then the heads were polished. The rest of the day was spent sanding the paint off the fibreglass body as it had never been primed
Holding up good thanks, its a miniflake, not sure of size, I get it from a friend that has/uses it at his work, they do speedboats etc.
The more i looked at the backplates i wasn't completely happy with them, so i made up some stainless rings for the drilled holes, Yes it was a lot of turning on the lathe.
The Jalopy Journal
