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I took the grill emblem off my car and the holding pins sheared off at the surround despite heavy use of penetrating oil. Has anyone successfully repaired these pins? JB Weld? I was hoping to have my wife repaint the emblem and use it until the car was further along and warranted the Emblem Magic price for a new one.

If you are speaking of the thin stainless steel band surrounding the plastic I believe the pins were originally welded or brazed on. I don't know how successful JB Weld would hold the original pins. There is not much surface on the pin shaft for the stuff to grab onto but maybe worth a shot. You might also investigate silver soldering.

Muggy Weld has a "low temp" silver solder designed for attaching stainless to other metals.http://muggyweld.com/ssf6-silver-solder I have not used that particular item but if it works as well at the lower temps as their super alloy 1 rod/flux combination for pot metal and thin aluminum you should be able to do a very decent repair. Repolish the stainless after the repair and it should be good to go.

If you go that route try to find something to practice on to get a feel for the amount of heat needed. I expect it would be nowhere near melting point but still, the last thing you would want is to melt a hole in the thin material.

If we are talking about the one smooth pin, one threaded pin emblem design then:

Modern automobiles frequently will use a 'double stick' tape to attach emblems and trim pieces. I would investigate the use a high strength, two part epoxy to reinstall the broken pins or perhaps thin tubing as replacement for the damaged parts, and double stick tape to ensure the load on the epoxy doesn't get out of hand.

I think the key to success with epoxy is the 'purchase' area that the epoxy has with the old and new parts, so anything you can do along this line will help. The suggestion of tubing is to have epoxy both inside and outside the 'pin', so a load path within the epoxy is possible. Flaring the tubing would also help for pins that are at right angles to the emblem.

I would also investigate the possibility of a thin flat plate with the mounting features welded to the plate, and then that plate epoxied to the emblem . . . lots of contact area for the epoxy.

I've also had some success with magnets holding things together, but I suspect that train left the station if the grill is cast 'white' metal.

I would avoid applying heat until I ran out of alternate schemes


dp

Epoxy or silver solder. Those pins breaking upon removal is pretty common.

Happens all the time in body shops. They use a special double sided tape. Maybe a friendly body shop would give you a bit if you ask. It comes in a big roll you would never use up.

Thanks guys! I've never soldered anything but electrical connections and copper pipe. I would assume silver soldering would be similar to the copper pipe. I only have a propane torch also. Epoxy or double sided/trim adhesive tape are interesting ideas too. Maybe I will try them first thinking it will be easier, then if they fail try the silver solder. I wonder if a jeweler might be an option too? Where isn't much on the stainless steel surround to attach it to the bumper if I used the double sided tape,but I could attach the surround to the plastic emblem with the tape, then use the tape on the emblem to secure it to the grill.

On a side note, the painting of the emblem is failing miserably. The back side looks great but when I flip it over, it is very dull and washed out. The plastic is not allowing the colors of the paint to reflect through. Maybe I'll try polishing it to see if that helps. Kind of like a fogged up headlight that you can clear up using a series of finer grade sandpaper until the surface is smooth again.

Charlie, let us know if you find the magic method to make the old plastic clear again. Howard and I had a discussion about the emblems too and hadn't come up with the answer, I don't have a grille emblem (long gone) but I am thinking about what to do with the trunk handle emblem which is the same deal.

Around the time we were discussing emblem finishes and in particular the way the 55 parking light lens finish was done customclipper55 provided this link to a you tube video on how a fellow restored his brand X emblem. His result looks fairly decent.

No idea if our plastic is the same stuff and I don't have an emblem to try the process on so no first hand experience but maybe there is something in his method or the paint he used that would work on ours.

You tube

As far as polishing the plastic I wonder if one of the modern headlight kits would work on that old stuff or if it could be applied in the recesses on the backside to get any effect. Maybe a small buffing pad or wheel to apply the compound with a Dremel will get in the small areas.

You can't really use "emblem tape" on the grill crest or the retainer, since neither have a flat back for the tape to adhere to. only a thin lip on both that actually make contact with the grill.

But it does work great on the side/truck scripts to secure them a bit more firmly.

I watched the youtube video and he isn't doing anything special that I can see. His plastic looks a lot thinner than our emblems. I was looking at an old wind chime that has been outside for a number of years. It has plastic "crystals" hanging from it that have a yellow tint to them now. It appears to go throughout the plastic. Maybe that is what is happening to ours and it is exaggerated with the old type of plastic. Still nothing to lose by polishing. I'll see if there is an improvement.