I’m still dorking around with trim, I got the new/old troublesome passenger side belt moulding as good as it’s gonna get before having to shoot some product. I’ll explain in more detail later, but for now here’s what I’m kinda thinking...
It’s just straight base tinter, not even a color. I’m contemplating the possibility of trying to do a blend so that the natural finish is still at the ends of the trim, but it’s going to be extremely tricky to pull off, if it’s even possible.
So while I’m waiting to get all my ducks in a row to make that happen, I’ve been dabbling with a couple other things.
Stripped, smoothed and tweaked the fitment on the header panel spear...
...then spent a bit of time fixing some rock dings on one of the headlight trim rings. Once those were fixed, I gave the whole thing the brushed treatment with 120. Fairly tough to do being stainless, and not 100% sure the juice is worth the squeeze, but I’ve done one now so I guess I’m committed.
I’ll be replacing the 4 screws for each trim ring with stainless ones this time, because
A) The original steel ones welded themselves in place with rust, and
B) Because the rust film from them spread down the rings and made a helluva mess all the way onto the header panel.
Between the rust film and the overspray from the last careless repaint, it took quite a bit of effort to get this thing cleaned up.
Luckily the other 3 don’t look to be quite as bad.
Bored after only the first ring, I decided to move on and see how creating the brushed finish would look on one of the headlight bezels. This took a combination of red ScotchBrite, 220 grit, and a whole pile of elbow grease to achieve the look.
Half done (have to look closely):
...and completely done mocked up with the finished trim ring.
These bezels are original to the car and nearly 40 years old so they’re not perfect and pretty pitted up, but I think they turned out alright nonetheless. Certainly good enough for my plans for the car.
Guys, I’m still in dire need of a good, usable passenger side ‘80 Calais grille for this thing. I have the original, but the chrome along the bottom edge of it is peeling and that’ll make it nearly impossible to do the brushed finish on. If ANYONE has a lead on one, PLEASE get in touch with me. I’m getting desperate to find one.
That’s it for now, thanks as always for looking in on things!
D.
