Champ Grille and Turn Signal Housings

[jeremyprice11]

Just pulled the grill and the turn signal housings off my Champ. I am reaching out to anyone with some sanding and finishing recommendations to help me in the process of removing the pits and old chrome. Yes I know I can send it out and have it rechromed for and arm and a leg. That is out as I would like to do this myself for the experience, and the pride of knowing I did it. ( sounds stupid to some maybe but, I want all the work done by me good, bad or ugly) Anyway, I know there is so much knowledge here and possibly someone has done the same. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeremy

[63t-cab]

Jeremy,I would start by having the parts blasted.then some type of etching primer for max adheision,and then a building primer/plastic filler then primer.

Joseph R. Zeiger

[woodysrods]

I would agree with Joseph, except beedblast them instead of sndblasting (less harsh) and them sand them well before using filler. I would use a fiberglass based filler such as Evercoat's everglass (short strand) That is how I did mine. Are you leaving the hole for the scripts?
Good Roads
Brian

Brian Woods
woodysrods@shaw.ca
1946 M Series (Shop Truck)

[sals54]

I have no experience at all with stripping chrome, but isn't the potmetal much softer than the chrome??? Being so, would the blasting not disolve the potmetal while stripping the chrome?? Or does the blasting simply break the bond of the chrome to the potmetal?? Just wondering out loud, thats all.

sals54

[StudeRich]

On those intricate little detailed Parking Lamp Assemblies, I would just buy new painted ones primed or off-White top coated for the Standard "T" Cab, because the work is tedious, difficult and not worth the effort for the final result, using pitted chrome ones.

The Grille is large enough and pricey enough to plate or replace that you may be able to do a great job on it, good luck! [^]

StudeRich

[jeremyprice11]

Thanks guys for all the great advice. I will call around a few shops and ask a few local people here and I will let you know, with pics, once they are finished.

[jeremyprice11]

Thanks guys for all the great advice. I will call around a few shops and ask a few local people here and I will let you know, with pics, once they are finished.

[barnlark]

Do you want these to be chromed eventually, or painted white? I know of a few nice used chrome sets reasonably priced that may be more worth your while. Unless you own your own chrome shop you can't do it all yourself and a chrome shop will tell you that you haven't done it right, anyway.

It takes a lot of experience just to get to the copper, nickle, etc., just to fill in pits. You can pretty much sand off the chrome by hand at first. Not that tough, but it can look ugly if you're not careful and you can ruin it all. A detailing triangular shaped sander can get in those tough spots, but it eventually has to be buffed and polished for chrome. If it's a '60 Champ it it even more intricate for the turn signal housings. There was a nice set of white ones in South Bend for $40 each.

Personally, I'd look for good ones in a price range you are comfortable with and send out want ads for them. There may be someone with five of them out there, or sell yours for cores to someone with finished ones to help with the price.