Question...took a good look at the NOS "Buick Motor Division" emblems I've had for a few years and discovered they were really rough. The paint was full of crap, chrome kinda rough (so about right :laugh: ). I remember someone saying once that lots of NOS parts were actually rejects off the assembly line parts pools, anyone have any thoughts on that??? Anyway, ended up striping out the old ugly red and repainting them, much better quality and now matches the NOS GS emblems (which are very nice BTW). Have pics of process if anyone is curious. Easy. later Tim
hey Brett, no worries at all dude! You gave me a smokin deal, not your fault GM quality control was crappy!!! :laugh: Ok, so first pic attached. The angle hides the color a bit, but it was a dark muddy red, the main point of this picture was to show all the crap in the paint! Right from GM!!! Also, I wanted the red to match my NOS GS emblems (which oddly enough I went through and have just returned two of the six I have due to crap in the paint as well, new ones on the way to replace them). Anyway, take a look.... Tim
Step two, lay them out flat (I used my vise, but DO NOT clamp them in there!), use your womans fingernail polish remover and a scrub brush to rough clean them out. Then use a toothbrush for the last little bits and all the nooks and crannies. The old paint came off pretty easy. becasue almost all these emblesm have raised edges, you can actually fill the emblme with fingernail polish remover (or whatever your nose prefers) and let it sit for a while to help loosen it up. Once paint was off, I discovered some of the defects were actually on the emblem itself. I used a single edge razor to cut these defects out (they looked like little blobs from the chroming process?)..if done carefully, it leaves no marks.
Once clean, I punched holes in a box to hold them, masked them off, then laid several coats of red on.....the tricky part which I don't have any good pictures of as I was busy....is to carefully wipe away the paint off the letter tops using a lint free cloth moistened with fingernail poliosh cleaner. Do one wipe and then change the cloth so no buildup or it will be ruined. Each emblem took about 6 light wipes to clean the letters off for each layer of paint. I've also heard you can just let the paint dry and scrape the paint off the letters or highlights later but I stick with what I know works. And yes you get buildup on the edges of the letters and such but it still looks 100% better than the GM original. Flash makes paint look orange (thats a whole 'nother topic!)
And done. Paint has gloss, color is dead match for the GS emblems, it certianly can't stick any worse than the original paint, and the paint is smooth with no defects. Once the paint dries you can polish the outside edges again and the tops of the letters, but I think the pic shows the result...although pic is fuzzy (sorry). One of my friends was here and said "maybe you should paint them to match the paint on the car"...kind of a neat idea but nahhhhh.... Hows that Brett?? Later Tim
Yeah, yeah, yeah...but it was 45 in your degrees today!!! :laugh: You guys crack me up..... :beer later Tim
I used VHT engine paint, a PJI product, universal red p/n SP-121C. It says on the can for maximum chemical resistance and adhesion to bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour, I don't have the nerve to try that, wouldn't want to melt my emblems!!!LOL My experience over the years is that the engine paint is tough stuff, much tougher than needed so uncured it works just fine. Dead match to the factory GS red paint on the NOS emblems flying around right now. later Tim
Just an update guys in case you are interested. I actually baked the emblems at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes...you could sure smell it....the paint got smoother and glossier and no problems. It was bugging me, figured I'd take one for the team (plus I know where there is another set!) if they melted or distorted but no worries. Should be brute tough now, chemical resistant even :laugh: later Tim
Nice work Tim. I had one NOS side fender vent for my '71 & was looking for the other for a while. Still in the GM box & paint was not great. Eventually sold the piece.
