Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

The scripts should be plated either gold or chrome and I've found it's far less costly to just get NOS ones as there still seems to be a good supply, especially of the chrome version. Gold paint looks just like that: gold paint.

Gold paint . . .



. . . vs gold plating (NOS)

Kevin,

“ 2.) Any particular trick to getting the rear drums off? Parking brake is off. I did not back off the shoes at all, as I didn't think it was necessary. But maybe I need to do that.”

Back the shoes off, you can’t tell how big the lip is on the drum from the outside.

With the brake performance you experienced, you may want to verify the wheel cylinder diameters.

Since you have silicone brake fluid, you don’t need to check the moisture content of the fluid.

Quote:

At this point I just need them to look better than they currently do. All of them are completely faded. They must be gold, and the NOS ones I can find right now are not cheap. I'd rather spend the money on other items like new tires.

Gold spray paint definitely will not look as good as plating, but anything is better than what I currently have.

The original gold finish on the emblems to my eye looks like faded gold and more like a yellow brass. When my emblems were replated I had them done in a relatively high carat finish and was told by several the finish was too dark -- even though I thought they looked great. They turned out in a color a lot like the paint look in the photos above. When checking with vendors who had NOS pieces I was told that the Packard gold plating was a fairly low carat thin finish to keep the hardness so tended to look a bit yellow. If that is the case I wonder if an amber shade of transparent lacquer would work and look more like plating rather than the solid pigment heavy gold paint. Of course for any transparent coating to look decent would need a base surface under it that was a consistent color and not half gold and half a dull silver potmetal. Getting a corroded emblem to that condition might prove difficult.

I used a transparent glass stain on my sun faded to almost white anodized gold dash which restored the color but maintained the subtle turned pattern you can still see thru the color. I think it turned out rather well. The transparent glass stain seems to be harder to find now but Amazon has some amber shades of lacquer which is used in refinishing guitars. I don't have experience with those and they would need to be able to withstand outdoor use which I do not know if they could. If the lacquer spray would not work there are some other products that might.

It’s actually not gold anodizing as it turns out but whatever the process is called it is a very quick and easy process that is also inexpensive. I had one done a while back for around $75 and it took all of ten minutes. The shop doing the work said that the gold anodizing process would destroy something as thin as the screen.

Howard, that stain on the dash looks great! Mine is faded, though not as bad as yours. I would love to do the same as what you did. But preferably without having to take the dash out.

Don - beautiful color on that dash. What process did they use?

I ended up using some Rust-Oleum bright gold spray paint and hit the emblems with it. Lays down nicely.




There was one small spot of original gold that was covered so it didn't fade as bad as the other parts. Compared to the sprat paint. Paint is more yellow and vibrant.



But it does look much better than faded pot metal.






But some of the emblems have bad pitting that really shows up when painted. I'm leaning towards stripping the paint on the bad ones, filling the pits with spot putty, sanding smooth, then painting again.



Going to hit them with some 2K clear to shine them up. Also need to get a Fourney paint pen to redo the black lines before I put the emblems back on. Amazon to the rescue.

Looks pretty sharp to me!

Buy a red one as well if you want to redo the hubcaps. Or mask off the hex and just spray paint it, but you'll still need the black for the hubcap. Might want to just get 2 black markers if doing the whole car...

My dash was out and completely apart to do the screen. Removing the crimped on chrome rings around the gauges is hard and wish I could remember exactly how and what I figured out was the best way to do it without damage. Took things off so I could see unfaded color under bezels etc so as to match the original shade and then sprayed the entire screen at one go. That way I didn't have to worry about masking or painting thru the holes in the screen and losing the subtle dark background seen thru the holes that the thin fabric pad under the screen provides.

That brand spray paint you used on the emblems does look good. Filling the pits is a good idea and then using the clear over the gold is an interesting idea and would like to see the results as compared to just the paint.

Thanks PGH and Howard. I do like the gold color and coverage. This is the paint I used. I've filled the holes on the worst piece, sanded it down, and applied two coats of primer. I'll sand that down tomorrow then shoot it again with gold and see how it looks.

Coming tomorrow from Amazon are
-2K clear coat
-Forney black paint marker
-Off-brand black paint marker

I'll compare the two markers to see which one does the best. My hope is that I can have the emblems back on by the end of the week. They won't come back off until I decide to repaint the car.

Also arriving tomorrow are front and rear shocks from RockAuto. I'm using the KYB shocks that Dwight recommends. Those will be installed this week.

Driver's rear drum....I backed the shoes completely off. No more adjustment. The drum wiggles a small amount, but it will not come off even with hammering on the inner lip of the drum. I need ideas on what is keeping it from coming off. I feel like an idiot as it should just slide off, but I can't think of what could be keeping it from doing so.

You are correct in that as long as the safety clips were removed and shoes relaxed the drums should just slide off. As I recall the hub and studs are fairly snug with the holes in the drum so any chance a rust buildup in those areas could be causing an issue. Another thought is the emergency brake. If the cable is sticking in the sheath and even though there is slack in the bare cable before the sheath, possibly the cable did not slide well enough so even with the adjuster as small as it can get the emergency brake could still be partially applied.