72 TA : New Project

[Dave Rifkin]

Steve thanks for illustrating the difference. I can't say that I recall seeing any Firebirds with the plastic valance; at least I never really noticed.

[njsteve]

And here's the final shots of the valance repairs after sanding with 120 grit. I'll leave the rest of the prep for ENOCH. I can't say enough about that little plastic welder contraption. See what a little google search can do when you stumble upon the right company on the internet? I can't wait to get my white valance pieces back from ENOCH so I can start melting on them as well. The original white valance pictured on my car above suffered near terminal breakage due to the snow shoveling the spoiler did. All of the mounting pads were obliterated, the face bar is broken, and the bottom section is heavily melted from the carb fire gone wild. I just love a challenge!

[njsteve]

Hey, there's actually one of those plastic valances on ebay now. $400 starting bid and repaired in a similar fashion to mine. This one's a marroon colored plastic. (all the various colors were premolded into the plastic)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayIS...bayphotohosting

[njsteve]

I contacted a company called ECS Automotive who are renowned for their 100% accurate Mopar reproduction decals and asked them if they were interested in stepping outside the Mopar arena for my project. They were quite interested as they are looking to expand their catalog of decals with GM stuff. I cant say enough about these guys. There products are 100% exact compared to the crap that is out there. I previously had one of those "resto outlet" decals that was just pathetic: wrong size, wrong font, wrong spelling etc.

The guys at ECS even reproduced the exact material and process that they were originally made in. The factory emissions decals were clear plastic with black and white printing laid on from the back side of the clear plastic, not like the modern spray printed version the "resto outlets" sell.

Their phone # is (636) 207-7767 www.ecsautomotive.com . Dave was the guy I worked with. I also sent them the original dealership bumper decal from my Hemi Charger and look here to check that out: https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...24/#Post238504

By the way, they are now actively looking for other decals to reproduce: if you allow them to use your original decal(s) for a pattern, (which they send back to you, of course) you get the new reproduction one(s) for free.

Here is a comparison of my original and the ECS prototype (which actually had some preproduction flaws which I couldn't see but they said they altered after this version) They said there were something like 15 different fonts used in these decals and the "other" decal makers just use one font for everything...and it shows.

[njsteve]

Here's the lastest in derusting technology that I found here via the Yenko website: http://www.safestrustremover.com/
Though it takes a long time to work due to the current temperature here (around 45 degress) it is rather amazing. I bought a 5 gallon can of the derusting liquid and just followed the directions. I borrowed one of those curved water tanks that you check leaky tires with, wrapped the back of the car in a plastic tarp and fed it into the water tank. I then filled the tank with the liquid and used a small pump I bought at Home Depot, (they are sold for clearing the water from pool covers), hooked it to a garden sprayer with some hose and let it run.


Here is how I set up the contraption:





here is the before picture showing the light scale behind the rear valance:



Here is the progess after 2 hours. You can see the shiny metal starting to reappear.




This is amazing stuff. It is not an acid, just some magical chemical compound accidentally discovered by the guy who owns the company. I stopped by his shop here in Jersey and bought the stuff directly from him. He said they originally were developing a non-toxic rust and scale cleaning process for use in the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels but it wasn't up to the Port Authority's specs so they didn't buy it. He had brought the excess liquid samples home and dumped them in a rusted barrel for disposal the next day. To his surprise, the next day the inside of the rusted barrel was completely shiny metal. And that's where he got the idea to use it on cars. Gotta love accidental discoveries. Isnt that how Silly Putty and plexiglass were both discovered: by accident.

I will let it run over night and update with more photos tomorrow!

[njsteve]

Here is the same spot after 24 hours of spraying. According to the manufacturer, it would go much faster if the ambient temperature was between 70 and 100 degrees. Since the stuff isn't flammable I think you could probably place an aquarium-type heater in the tank to warm the fluid up to 80 degrees or so and speed the chemical reaction up. Unfortunately I'd need to buy a lot more liquid to get it to a high enough level for the heater to work. So I guess I'll just let it spray as it is. It's kind of like those rock tumblers you had as a kid: you put the rocks and the polishing compound in the tumbler and let it spin for a month and then open it up and see the polished stones.

As you can see in the photo, more shiny metal is magically appearing with no paint/primer damage:

[firstgenaddict]

I never thought about it but I used the stuff back in May & June, and it did work very quickly... 6-8 hours was all it would take.