cfair

I have a fairly decent hoard of 66 big car trim under my house most all of which needs at least polishing to make improvements over what’s on my cars. I’m no pro, but I’ve polished 40 or so pieces over the past 5 years after watching a few YouTube videos and copying what they’ve done.

I’m not sure my results are as good as they can be, so here’s what I’ve been doing, if you all have suggestions and improvements, I’d like to hear your thoughts.

For trim that’s just dull, i.e. no big dents or dings, I’m sanding the factory finish with 600 sandpaper mostly by hand to get it back to a consistent surface. Then I run the piece on a sisal wheel (actually 2 glued together for more polishing surface area) with black or brown buffing compound which is reputed to be between 600 and 800 grit equivalent. Then I’m polishing the resultant piece on a spiral cotton wheel with either gray or green compound from Jackson Lea.

This process is at least o.k., but I’m wondering if I’m skipping too many steps and rushing it a bit. Opinions?

I’ve only just gotten body & paint hammers and dollies, so I’m very much in learning mode on how to use them. Good tools (as always) seem to make a difference.

For dinged & dented trim, I flatten it out again to the best of my limited abilities, then use a file to show high/low spots and then start blending-sanding with 180 grit, followed by 320, 400, 600, 800 and then off to the sisal buffing wheel, finishing with the green/grey on the spiral cotton buff. This process is o.k. too, but I don’t think I’ll get any awards for my metal working skills. Getting this stuff flat again is either harder than I understand or I’m just not patient enough or both.

One final question - do any of you have thoughts about how long each 1 or 2 or 3 foot piece of trim should take to refinish? It’s certainly shorter for dull vs. dinged, but I’m never quite sure how many minutes I should spend sanding at each stage from 180 to 800 or beyond.

Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions on how to do a better job. I’m not looking for show/pro quality, just clean & nice looking trim.

Thanks in advance.
Chris

Rallye469

I’m not your guy, but some before and after picts would be awesome.
Id love to learn how to do it myself.

cfair

Update:
I’ve got a ton of normally dinged & dented trim. 57 years on, you’ll be hard pressed to find stainless that hasn’t had at least a few good hits from road debris, parking lot dings, scratches or maybe an errant body panel grinder. It’s on us to restore or not.

First up, parts sourcing tips.
I live in NorCal & have been collecting/hoarding Olds trim parts since the 80’s when my ‘66 big cars were being crushed up daily in the SoCal yards of the day. I keep trim parts on the idea that body panels can be fixed, whereas broken trim can’t really be repaired to look right. So I’ve collected a few boxes full of both diecast chrome and stainless steel trim over the years (well, o.k., decades…).

For diecast chrome, I hit eBay and Olds Obsolete (if you’re feeling flush…). For the 65-70 big cars no one except Fusick is going to reproduce much for these cars. Here & there a few things are common to Cutlass/442’s & the big cars, but mostly not, owing to size & weight differences.

My big “aha!” from last year was that Midwest rusted-out cars can yield restorable stainless steel trim. The frame & body panels may rust out, but the stainless is very rust-resistent. Even 57 years later. Well-plated GM!

Diecast Chrome
The big deal with diecast (chrome) trim is that it pits over time & grinding those out and refinishing is very costly. Plus more & more regions want nothing to do with the chemicals and processes which are used in refinishing these parts.

With ‘66 big cars the tail panels pit in the course of normal use. You’ll be hard pressed to find an unpitted tail panel from a Dynamic, Delta, Starfire, or 98 particularly on that bit that wraps under the bumper. The good part (sorta) is those pits are really hard to see beneath the bumper.

Lookout for broken pins: beyond the cost, some of the time the attachment posts (pins) have snapped off during removal, installation, or transport. From what I can see, once the posts break off, diecast trim, no matter how good the surface is, is a very tricky thing to get right & durable. I haven’t paid for much replating over the years, due to cost & availability, but I think my rule is becoming “if there are broken posts, look for another part or live with what I have”.

Stainless Trim
I’ve been playing around with this stuff (i.e. sandpaper & buffer) since 2016. I retired & had time to dig in on 30+ pieces of stainless on m ‘66 98 convertible and try to make it look nice. It was a good first effort, but the more you do it, the better you get.

At that time, I removed the trim, sanded it down to 600 grit to remove most scratches, polished it up & called it good enough. Frankly, it’s been good: shiny, 90% straight, a few dings for age-honesty & better than most old cars I’ve seen. It took me 2 solid weeks in the garage & advil from all the sanding & polishing. Plus a few “oh sh*t” moments when irreplaceable trim flew off the buffer at high velocity toward a car or wall.

So it’s 2023. I’m still no pro, but I’m trying to get better at metal restoration. See YouTube for videos on how to restore stainless trim. My guess is I’m into each part for about 45-60 minute per piece. Restoring these parts is time consuming.

First up, get the metal close to flat & straight with hammers & dollies. Get a set of trim hammers, picks & dollies from Amazon & a trim anvil from Eastwood. All in they’re <$100.00, so get the right tools. I tried to get away with the wrong tools for years & it was a waste. With whatever trim you’re working on, you’ll eventually hit a ding you’ll need a specialty tool for - in a corner, or somewhere tight and your screwdriver or socket will just create a high spot. Which you’ll need to file down to make it flat.

When I get done with one stage on a part like sanding, or 80 grit, I leave myself a Sharpie note on blue tape or the part reading “80 done, next 180”. That way when my shoulder has recovered &I want to get back to the piece, I know where I left off.

The trim restoration game is 1) hammer the trim as flat as you can; 2) use a file to show high & low spots (iterate again with hammer & dolly as needed; then 3) sand the piece with 80 grit to erase the file marks, then 180 grit to erase 80 grit marks, then 320 grit to erase 180 grit marks, etc…

Once you’ve hammered out all the dings you’ll want to file the high spots flat. File across the horizonal axis of the part with your file so that the file marks run more or less vertical. That way, if any scratches don’t run horizontal, you’ll know you have more sanding to do to remove the file marks.

Your aim is to get all your sandpaper scratches to run the same way, probably horizontal across the piece. As you get finer grades of sandpaper, use much, much longer strokes to blend the repairs and finish to something consistent.

For best results, pay attention to the orientation of the part too - the most visible top/upper parts should be very well finished. But, well, so should the parts that reflect the pavement… I’m using consistency of process to get to consistency of results.

The “etc” process means go progressively smoother with higher grits for better shine. I use 80, 180, 320, 400, 600, 800 then go to the buffer with Jackson-Lea black or brown compound which is ~600-800 grit. I do black/brown on a sisal wheel, which is rougher & more abrasive than a cotton wheel. The more abrasive compound/wheel removes coarse scratches which leaves the part ready for polishing. More or less I use the sisal wheel for “cutting” and cotton wheels for “polishing”.

I move to a cotton wheel after I’ve done a black or brown cut on the sisal wheel for 10-15 minutes per piece. Once I go to the cotton spiral bound wheel I go either gray (more grit) or green (higher gloss) to shine the piece up. After that you can (recommended) use a loose wheel with white (jewelers rouge) compound to get a really high gloss.

Hope this helps. Sorry I can’t give more authoritative advice, just one hobbyist’s experience.

Cheers
Chris

4+4+2=10

Chris, good info you've posted. I've done my share of stainless restoration and agree with your steps. Reading it makes my nose itch from the buffing wheel throw off of cotton fiber and compound.

The most important step is getting the trim free from dings and dents so as to limit the amount of file work. The trim is only .020 inch thick. You can file half of that away pretty fast.

A trick I've used many times if you have open access to the back side of the dented area is to make a form fitting anvil that captures the desired contour. Most of the time the areas adjacent of the dents will suffice for contour.

Tape off the area with clear boxing tape directly against the back surface and then give it a couple coats of paste wax for a release agent. Then mix a daub of liquid steel epoxy and spread it across the desired area. Before the epoxy sets mash a piece of metal bar stock into it and allow the epoxy to set up.

When it kicks you can lift your contour shaped anvil away from the back of the trim and when it is completely hardened over night, clamp it in vice and you can shape your trim easily by tapping on it against the anvil.

Go slow...when you get flustered, just walk away and come back the next day. Use good fitting leather glove while buffing too. Good luck,

tc

cfair

I’ve been wondering how to much such an anvil for a while. Many thanks for your process. There are many shapes and sizes to be reproduced.

I’ve never used liquid steel epoxy before. Hopefully the questions I have below will help not just me but others too, if you have the time.

When you say “tape off the area” - do you mean tape off a length of the backside of the trim to acquire the shape of that backside in liquid steel?

Using paste wax as a “release agent” means that it will allow the epoxy/barstock anvil to separate from the backside of the trim “mold” while holding the required shape. Is that about right?

How long does liquid steel need to set up in order to be firm enough to be removed from the backside of the trim?
How do you keep the epoxy from getting stuck under the trim retention U and L shaped bends?
Do you limit the epoxy spread to just the “middle” or “inner” flat parts?

Looking forward to any further tips you’d like to provide. I’d never make a living as a metal shaper, but nice trim can really help an old car look nice.

Cheers
Chris

4+4+2=10

The tape just prevents a direct bond to the back of the trim in the event the paste wax fails as a release agent. You could probably just smear vasoline directly on the stainless and be ok. You can prevent epoxy from locking under the clip retension edge by filling those with wax.

Liquid steel is just a brand name. J B weld is the same thing. Usually hardens adequately overnight. If you want to hurry it up, a couple hours in a 250 degree oven will speed it up, just let it cool to room temp before use.

I have a shaping hammer with a hard nylon head. This keeps me from scaring the trim when tapping on it to remove the dent. This doesn't eliminate the use of small pics and punches but it helps prevent creating more damage during the process.