hi everyone I've been making progress on the painting process and ready to replace the oldsmobile letters across the back of the trunk any advice on reinstalling would be helpful .ive use a small drill bit to try and clean the paint out of the holes but still need a lot of force to get them in .thanks in advance

 

The sleeves are prolly still attached to the posts on the back of the letters fom when they were removed? They need to go into the holes before the letters are pressed in. They should be a snug fit BTW. I think you can get new sleeves from AMK.

 

Thanks after looking at them closer I see what you mean some of the sleeves are coming off nicely

 

You're welcome. I just remembered these are called "barrell clips" if you need to replace the. They come in various sizes.

 

If you drill that will expose bare metal thus rust eventually. Try to keep the paint intact. If you need to drill use a touch-up brush to reapply paint. Then slide in the letters with the clips while the paints still wet. Generally I will apply paint to the hole either way. When the barrel clip slides in it will inevitably take cured paint with it that's my reasoning with wet paint. The wet paint will generally wick into the scraped off areas thus preventing rust. Some guys apply Vaseline or grease but I dont like that method. Some dont do anything. Your choice.

 

Yes after doing some searching I found them at our local napa store .balkamp 665-1915 is the part number . It'll be nice to do some relatively clean work on the olds tonight by reinstalling trunk lid

 

Thanks doc that's a good suggestion I'll do that luckily I only cleaned out two holes but ,using bit by hand

 

I am just now removing my letters. I broke 2 so far so I quit. How do you get them off?

 

And, can I buy individual letters somewhere?

 

The letters are held in place with friction in a barrel clip. See post 4 above. If you're having difficulty removing them, they are likely rusted into the barrel clip. Use some lube like WD40, let it sit for a bit before attempting to remove the letters. Steady even side to side and up/down leverage with a very small flatblade or putty knife should get them to the point where you can pull them straight out. I removed a set from the back of a 71 Supreme a couple years back. The barrel clips were rusted to the letter pegs. They are a snug fit to start with from the factory. 2 pegs per letter.

Parts place sells new sets for 42.00, which is pretty reasonable. Fusick sells the same ones for 55.00

 

That's great, thank you very much!

 

Mine came out no problem , nothing broke but the barrel sleeves are still on the letters . Thanks Allen for pointing out that the barrels should be pushed in first . This is where they probably will break

 

as allen said slow steady pressure to pry them out mine came out with the barrel clips still on the letter ,then i had to carefully pry them off .didnt break any ,but that pot metal can be britle when corroded .the price for a new set it pretty reasonable .it took a good amount of pressure to reinstall them.