I have a ran air Olds 442 with the black plastic inner fenders. Over time they are no longer black in places but have a mottled appearance. What have you found will restore their color without their removal from the car?
Good question, Jim. I remember a lot of chatter on the Olds forums on the red ones as they really chalk up. Not much on the black. I have a set of each out back (68 W30 red, and 68 W31 black) that both need the same cleanup. These aren't difficult to get off to do a really good job. Have numerous friends that do this every winter to clean and detail their suspension, etc. Just have to raise it up and remove the tire. Assume this is a 72 W30? I think that's the only year that used black inner plastic fenders.(Other than the newer ones, but we don't count them). I watched Mark Cornea do a set for a friend years ago. Seems to me he used a few different Eastwood spray paints with very light fogging to get the right look. Should even be easier with black. I wouldn't use any solvent type cleaners on them as it will remove the plasticizers in the surface and maybe make it look worse. Assume you've already tried the Armorall wipe cloths? I clean my car with that (every ten years whether it needs it or not) but they never chalked out. Might try this on the Year One site under GM restoration.
Inner fenders I have used either flat or satin/semi-gloss black paint to restore inner fenders and fan shrouds in the past. Look at other nice inners and see what look you want. Then, experiment on an extra inner or shroud if you have one or can get one. Use the underside if nothing else is available. When you find the look you want, you will want to prep the surface well with products made for plastic that can be found at most parts stores. I have had some very nice pieces come out of this process. Hope this helps.
Dave It is on a Twilight Blue, 70 4 speed, ram air, 4 speed 442 ( W27 and the Wing too) we are just fiinishing a repaint on. It was frame offed and featured in Car Review 10-15 years back and had only been 8K since. When the owner did the frame off he used the black plastic inners even though it is a 70. I have SEM dye and the usual stuff to make them perfect off the car. I was hoping someone had found something that can be rubbed on which would keep me from going through the removal process. Buicklawyer is pretty good with restoring the red inners on the car but we have not run into the black ones until now.
Sure do. Just drove it. I will never sell that car. I just had the rear fixed and got rid of the noise and vibration. Turns out the backlash was more than 100/1000 " when it should have been 6-8/1000 plus the drive shaft was tweaked. I had it rebalanced. On the way home I got a sense about how the the shaft may have been injured. When I hit a depression the shaft rotates against the tunnel and sounds kind of like a machine gun. I suspect the springs are tired so those are next so as to get the body up a bit. Do you by any chance have a TRW or MOOG number for those that you know will work and put the body height close to stock?
No, but with as many of these that are being restored, that shouldn't be too hard to find out. The cars actually sat a lot lower back then than people realized (except in Akron). Not surpprised on that gear. I was building my 65 442 at the time and wouldn't use that posi carrier in it. I gave it to Gary and sold him the R & P for $50. I think he threw it together himself. Think the driveshaft was the original. Springs were definitely the originals. That car came from Georgia and was very nice to start with. I'll never understand why so many people are in such a hurry to strip off the factory A/C stuff and convert their cars to a heater only. A 4 speed, tripower, triple black 66 442 HT with factory A/C has got to be close to the ultimate. Guess it's personal preference. I really like the SS1 wheels on that car, too. Never did like the dog dish look on loaded up cars. No suprise you like it so much.
Plastic inner fenders I have restored both Red and Black inner fenders. They are a tough plastic and stand up to just about any solvent. I have even used Tal Strip Aircraft paint remover to disolve old paint. If you remove them from the car (best way) use an undercaoating solvent on the underside and a regular solvent on the top. Prep with Marhyde or Sem Plastic prep and then finish with Black Satin. If you are trying to do a cosmetic clean up in the car,either mask off the area and use Black Satin or try a color match polish (Black ) available from most auto supply stores. For restoring Red inner fenders, I had a Dupont Formula from their colr chart matched in a proper paint for plastics.
Paul Thanks to both you and Chad for your contributions to the effort. I have the SEM and the prep on hand.
Patton. I have never owned a 70 before and just assumrd, perhaps erroneously, that the black plastic inners were on 72 W30s, red plastic on the 70 w30s and black painted metal on the 70 442s ( non w30s).
well--knowing that you are a good buddy of John ---that suprises me----didn't he give you a lawyer-to-lawyer lecture on the ins and outs of Olds fenderwells before you bought that thing??? :laugh: 70-72 Cutlass/442s 1) All cars had plastic wells--no metal 2) 70, 71 W30s--red wells 3) 70-72 442s and most, if not all, 72 W30s---black wells. Your black plastic has that "swirly" look in it---kind of resembles those pics you see of a galaxy. If you are using SEM you might consider using their Flexible Bonding Clear for the step prior to color coating them....other adhesion promoters will probably also work fine. There was a white/gold stripe 70 W30 at the OCA Nats this year that had some repainted/dyed original red wells in it......they looked damn good.
One other thing I forgot about is the clear oil based product that was called Clear Kote, I think that is how they spell it. It is usually in a clear bottle and looks and feels like baby oil, might be. I used it on some inners and fan shrouds and it seems to clean, condition, and actually soak in and gives a satin sheen and lasts a long time. I bought it at a swap meet but I do not think I have any more. You might try it if you can find it, it is good stuff.
Jim, Try a product from Stoner products called Trim Shine. Works great on plastic. You can buy it at A/Z.
If the color is gone or deteriorated as I think it is as Jim has described them (they take on a swirly varying dark grey or washed out black look) then the only solution is to paint/dye them. I've seen this numerous times on Olds black wells....you can't "reinject color" back into the plastic. Don't go loading a bunch of treatments on there yet---if you have to paint later then you will have to clean the **** out of them to get all that stuff out of the somewhat dried out plastic or risk getting fisheyes in your paint/dye. If you are going to try any of these nonpaint treatments then just do it on a small area to see if they have any effect--that way you minimize the area and time to get all that stuff out of there.
