Jump to content
Welcome Guest! Please read more information about our club!

Cody's Goon

Patcon
Patcon
in 510

Featured Replies


comment_538761
2 hours ago, Patcon said:

Well now I'm mad!!!!! :angry:

I was buffing a piece of rear glass trim for Cody's hatch. Buffer took it and bent it. I don't have the skills to straighten it...

Haven't been able to even find one for sale yet...

 

Have you posted over at ratsun.net There seems to be more 510 folks there. 

 

  • Author
comment_538767
3 hours ago, 240dkw said:

I did the same thing with a piece of my front window trim. Could not straighten it.This is what it looked like after I stopped the buffer.

Those are nothing but a big razor blade spinning around!!!

I bought a new dual speed Eastwood buffer 1800/3600 rpm. The low speed allows you to buff plastic lenses. It also allows you to buff stuff like this at a lower speed. I should have turned it down sooner.

2 hours ago, psdenno said:

Yikes!!!  Looks like you set the buffer speed to 52,000 RPM.  :o

I've never used a buffer on trim pieces and am now afraid to do so in the future.

Dennis

You do have to be careful! I read on another forum that a member let a piece of trim get away from him and it basically took his nose off! :blink:

1 hour ago, JSM said:

Have you posted over at ratsun.net There seems to be more 510 folks there. 

I tend to avoid the 510 forums. They tend to be really course! and sometimes stupid cheap! The realm isn't too bad but Ratsun seems to be more so.

Anyway I stewed over this for a while and read a bunch of threads on other forums. One of the problems is that the trim is really thin! Unlike the trim on other classic cars which tends to have some thickness which makes repair easier. So at this point I have a 10 -15 degree bend in the trim about 6" from the end. It's bent in the flat direction not the easily corrected thin direction.

So I figure it's trash any way so how can I mess it up??? :P So we broke out the MAP gas. I had already tried shrinking the bulging area to straighten the piece to no avail. So I clamped the short end in the vise and heated it cherry red and stretched it down to straighten it

20171231_182755.jpg20171231_183648.jpg20171231_183650.jpg20171231_183653.jpg20171231_183655.jpg

Took 4 or 5 tries and I ended up with this

20171231_190739.jpg

Now these pieces are stainless so they can be buffed out. The profile of the piece is sort of like a "J" with the hook of the J going in a groove in the weatherstrip. The leg of the J lays flat over the face of the rubber seal with a metal hem on the outside edge to finish it.

It is easiest to slide it in and the corner pieces act like sockets to connect all the corners

20171231_192753.jpg20171231_192758.jpg

This is what the repaired piece looks like now. Serviceable but not pretty. Ok at 10 feet. I will keep my eyes open for some better trim. If I had the rights tools I probably could make it perfect. You just need a trim anvil, a lot of jewelers hammer and a lot of time

20171231_193304.jpg

Much happier now. LOL Happy New Years!!!!

    • Like 1
    comment_538841

    Nice work on working that trim piece. Only thing I would point out is that stainless sometimes degrades or loses it's stainless-ness when it gets hot. I'm not sure how hot it needs to be for this to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not as corrosion resistant in that area after the torch.

    Not that it really matters though! You didn't have much to lose, and even if it's not as good as it used to be, it's still way better than crinkled!      :)

     

    • Author
    comment_538843
    3 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

    Nice work on working that trim piece. Only thing I would point out is that stainless sometimes degrades or loses it's stainless-ness when it gets hot. I'm not sure how hot it needs to be for this to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not as corrosion resistant in that area after the torch.

    Not that it really matters though! You didn't have much to lose, and even if it's not as good as it used to be, it's still way better than crinkled!      :)

     

    I thought that might be the case too on whether it will rust or not.

    I don't know why that is but I have heard of that. I guess some of that depends on what alloy is used

    I sort of had the same thought. No where but up from here...

    comment_538849
    On 12/31/2017 at 8:34 PM, Patcon said:

    This is what the repaired piece looks like now. Serviceable but not pretty.

    I'd call that 'patina' !

    Great job straightening it out.  I think I would have binned it.

    There's a YouTube video that shows a detailed restoration of a piece of kinked stainless.  The piece was hammered, flat-filed, then taken through a sequence of sanding and buffing.  Impressive results.  You might consider whether flat-filing (without hammering) would be a remedy.

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    Go to topic listing

    Important Information

    By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Guidelines. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.