bumper deco strips

[paul vantol]

Are the original bumper deco strips made out of aluminum or pot metal? Curious to know as it determines what I need to use to repair deep nicks in the original ones I have off a Pre A cab.

[Jim Breazeale]

Aluminum

[Victor Ingram]

Paul they are aluminum, you can restore them very carefully with very, very fine sand paper and then finish with very fine steel wool. Then polish them with aluminum polish. If you have them off the bumpers it is much easier, if not tape the edges so you don't ruin your paint.

[paul vantol]

Yes, I have done that already. Trying to fill a deep gouge however which requires filler and I was not sure whether I needed aluminum or pot metal stuff. THanks!

[James Davies]

Deep knicks might be able to be repaired using a punch from the backside and then sanding and polishing on the front.

Definitely repair your originals. The pre-A decos are shorter than the A ones, and you have to do a lot of work on the ends and length of the repros to get them looking like the pre-A ones.

[paul vantol]

Thanks, James. Yes, having done four cars over the past 20 years I have used that trick and others to use the original parts. I am much more sensitive with this car as it is a pre A and so rare, so I am doing everything I can to use original stuff off the car. I also realize that the length of the repros is wrong so that is another factor.
By the way, I sent you an email two weeks ago asking you about beauty ring fasteners that I had a machine shop reproduce as I could not get any that even approached what was on my car. The rings I had were on the wheels and, of course, all broke when I tried to remove them because the studs were soft metal and the steel nuts had "welded" to them. Let me know if you can find that email and I will otherwise re send it to you if it is lost in the cloud.

Regards,

pvt

[James Davies]

Thanks Paul. Please let us know how you go about filling your deep gouges, and how it works out for you. I have a hole drilled through my original front deco, so it's going to take a good bit of filling I think for that.

And yes, I'll get back to you about those T bolts now! Been trying to catch up today on lots of delayed correspondence.

James