BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
I value the experience that alot of us older guys bring to this Forum. It's experience you just can't buy. Hope you have a great weekend Donovan. CHEERS!!
The newest design of the door handles is a winner for sure. I may steal it, as I will de-bagde, and de-chrome the Salon, and paint all the trim Black. When you get a chance, could you elaborate on the process a little? Grinder / Flapper / 80 / 120 / 240 / 400 ?? Appreciate it.
happy belated birthday Donovan!
if that's true, I should've been planted with the spring crops!
Certainly James. Sorry about the late reply, it was a busy (but good) birthday long weekend for me.
My procedure is nothing special, but I
have honed it a bit after doing 4 handles now. I start by block sanding (by hand, no grinders) the outer perimeter, and I start at the bottom of the handle first. All sanding is done with 120 on a firm flat block to make sure everything ends up straight and not wavy.
The chrome plating process is done in three layers, first copper, then nickel, then chrome. I sand continuously through all three layers until the very last of the copper is gone. Then I move on to the top of the handle and repeat the process, then the sides. The sides have to be done by hand because the surface is convex. Using a block here will cause flat spots.
Once you start sanding the surfaces with the block, you’ll be surprised at just how uneven they really are.
Once I have the perimeter done, I scuff the recessed area on the front with red ScotchBrite. If there’s any lumpy imperfections underneath the chrome in this area, I scrape them flat with a sharp razor blade. Once the recess is prepped, I spend quite a bit of time filing and fitting the stainless insert to the recess. If the fit isn’t perfect here, it’ll get noticed right away.
Once the insert fits perfectly, I thoroughly clean the backside of it and apply the double sided tape. The stuff I used is clear and very thin, after the first attempt I realized that I needed to double up on the tape because one layer wasn’t quite enough to do the job. Carefully attach the insert to the handle in the recess, and make sure it’s stuck down firmly.
Now you can proceed to the second last step. I block sand the front face of the handles down flat and flush with the insert until you have an even sand scratch pattern across the whole face. This is probably the easiest and most rewarding step in the whole process.
Here’s one of the handles in the soft jaws of the vise as I’m just finishing up sanding the surface:
Once all that is done and you’re happy with the result, now you can switch to your finer grits of sandpaper. Obviously you can finish them in whatever grit you prefer, but for the brushed effect that I’m going for I’ve found that 220 leaves the nicest scratch. Good news is, once the initial block sanding and stripping process is done, the subsequent grits don’t take hardly any time at all.
Here’s both the handles now done, ready for the matte clear:
Whether you choose to follow this procedure or not, make sure you apply some sort of protection once you’re done. Paint, anodizing, chrome, whatever, because raw pot metal oxidizes and stains very easily if left unprotected.
Hope this helps and is what you were looking for!
D.
Got a couple of little things crossed off the list yesterday and today.
The non functioning map light in the dome light assembly turned out to be a bad switch. Replaced the whole light with the best of the ones I grabbed from the wreckers, and wired it in.
All lights and switches in it work perfectly now.
While I was doing that, Mike cleaned up the old AstroRoof seal, and performed some repairs on it with some brush-on electrical tape. This is a bit of an experiment, but I’m hoping it’ll work. It’s black, it cures but stays flexible, and has some “body” to it to hopefully fill in the scuffed areas.
We shall see.
I also spent quite a bit of time on getting the new center caps up to my level of expectation. Removed the red paint from the rocket logos, then removed all the original silver lacquer paint from the textured surfaces and lug nut cutouts. Once that was done, I went over each cap and removed all the excess casting flash from the edges.
Final step was to scuff up the smooth chrome surfaces inside the lug nut cutouts, then thoroughly clean and mask for paint. A uniform coat of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter, then a couple thin coats of the VHT high performance graphite grey.
Once they’re dry enough, I’ll repaint the rocket logos in gloss black to match the way I had it before:
The focus for the next little while will be on the wide door belt mouldings. I’m not happy with the passenger side one I already did, so I’ll be starting over again on another one and redoing it.
Then repeat the procedure on a decent driver’s side one. Once those are ready to go, I’ll strip and re-prep the quarter mouldings, I want to matte clear the handles, the door belt mouldings, and the quarter mouldings at the same time to ensure I get them looking all the same with the same sheen to them. The other reason I want to redo the quarter mouldings is because I want the grey strip in them to be gloss this time instead of matte.
Lots of work to do, the fun never ends!
Until next time, keep the shiny side up friends!
D.
The non functioning map light in the dome light assembly turned out to be a bad switch. Replaced the whole light with the best of the ones I grabbed from the wreckers, and wired it in.
All lights and switches in it work perfectly now.
While I was doing that, Mike cleaned up the old AstroRoof seal, and performed some repairs on it with some brush-on electrical tape. This is a bit of an experiment, but I’m hoping it’ll work. It’s black, it cures but stays flexible, and has some “body” to it to hopefully fill in the scuffed areas.
We shall see.
I also spent quite a bit of time on getting the new center caps up to my level of expectation. Removed the red paint from the rocket logos, then removed all the original silver lacquer paint from the textured surfaces and lug nut cutouts. Once that was done, I went over each cap and removed all the excess casting flash from the edges.
Final step was to scuff up the smooth chrome surfaces inside the lug nut cutouts, then thoroughly clean and mask for paint. A uniform coat of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter, then a couple thin coats of the VHT high performance graphite grey.
Once they’re dry enough, I’ll repaint the rocket logos in gloss black to match the way I had it before:
The focus for the next little while will be on the wide door belt mouldings. I’m not happy with the passenger side one I already did, so I’ll be starting over again on another one and redoing it.
Then repeat the procedure on a decent driver’s side one. Once those are ready to go, I’ll strip and re-prep the quarter mouldings, I want to matte clear the handles, the door belt mouldings, and the quarter mouldings at the same time to ensure I get them looking all the same with the same sheen to them. The other reason I want to redo the quarter mouldings is because I want the grey strip in them to be gloss this time instead of matte.
Lots of work to do, the fun never ends!
Until next time, keep the shiny side up friends!
D.
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Thanks for the lesson on the door handles. That's exactly what I was looking for. I will probably skip the insert, but since I'm blacking-out all the trim, I would need to sand/prep the handles anyway. I have some extra handles to play around with, if needed.
No problem James.
If you’re just going to paint them and the trim, I would strongly recommend the use of a good adhesion promoter as well like Bulldog. Just test for compatibility beforehand.
D.
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