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kevinpackard

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#321

Home away from home

Quote:

BigKev wrote:
Find a Sign Painter/Pin Stripper guy in your area. They could probably make quick work of it.

Another option is thin black vinyl strips. They sell different colors and widths of pinstriping tape that could fit the bill.

I'll look into a sign painter. I think I might know a guy, but who knows how much they would charge for something like this.

I looked into the vinyl strips in 1/8". 3M is probably the only brand I would trust to stay colorfast, and the amount needed is actually quite high. 20 lines per panel x length of panel (doors are like 4' I think) = 80 feet required per door. 2 rolls for the doors (150 ft each roll), plus at least another 2 for the long side panels on the rear. Maybe 5-6 total rolls, so probably around $150 in vinyl. Maybe it would lay down easy? Not sure how it would look or how it would hold up in the sun. Those stainless panels get super hot very fast. I had one out in the sun at during lunch today for about a minute and it was almost too hot to touch.

Posted on: Yesterday 16:21

packardbill

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#322

Just can't stay away

Mohave, forget the tape. It will expand/shrink depending on the temp swings and leave adhesive exposed. It might look o.k. for a while..a short while then go to crap. I used my Buegler striper to do a Patrician many years ago while the panels were off for painting the car. It took a few minutes to get set up, but after that it was smooth sailing. FIRST, the proper way to paint aluminum is to ETCH it. I did not do this because it would be almost impossible to do just the grooves without damaging the ridge faces. I first mixed up some black primer (it does help the paint stick) Buegeled that in, and Then I used sign painters "ONE SHOT" black. This is where it took a little time to set up. I had to thin the paint just right.
A sign painter/pin stripe artist would also do well, though there aren't many alive anymore, and might be cost prohibitive.
Good luck. PB

Posted on: Yesterday 18:05

kevinpackard

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#323

Home away from home

Quote:

packardbill wrote:
Mohave, forget the tape. It will expand/shrink depending on the temp swings and leave adhesive exposed. It might look o.k. for a while..a short while then go to crap. I used my Buegler striper to do a Patrician many years ago while the panels were off for painting the car. It took a few minutes to get set up, but after that it was smooth sailing. FIRST, the proper way to paint aluminum is to ETCH it. I did not do this because it would be almost impossible to do just the grooves without damaging the ridge faces. I first mixed up some black primer (it does help the paint stick) Buegeled that in, and Then I used sign painters "ONE SHOT" black. This is where it took a little time to set up. I had to thin the paint just right.
A sign painter/pin stripe artist would also do well, though there aren't many alive anymore, and might be cost prohibitive.
Good luck. PB

Thanks!! This is the information I was looking for. Now that I know the Buegler works on these panels I will pick one up. If I can figure it out then I'll paint it myself. Otherwise I'll have to look into a sign painter, but I imagine the cost will be a real problem.

Posted on: Yesterday 18:08

Pgh Ultramatic

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#324

Home away from home

This is the method I use and it works quite well.

Posted on: Yesterday 23:16

56Clippers

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#325

Home away from home

Quote:

Pgh Ultramatic wrote:
This is the method I use and it works quite well.

In the picture of the old version, it looks like the black line is consistently offset.
It makes me wonder if it supposed to be that way.
From a design perspective, controlling the shadow and light (including reflections) can be very important to achieving a specific look.

Posted on: Today 0:26

Pgh Ultramatic

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#326

Home away from home

Quote:

56Clippers wrote:
Quote:

Pgh Ultramatic wrote:
This is the method I use and it works quite well.

In the picture of the old version, it looks like the black line is consistently offset.
It makes me wonder if it supposed to be that way.
From a design perspective, controlling the shadow and light (including reflections) can be very important to achieving a specific look.

Correct, they are usually not centered and are offset towards the top, which I point out in the video. 😊

Posted on: Today 5:41

kevinpackard

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#327

Home away from home

Thanks for the video PGH. Good stuff. I'm going to strip one of the rear panels again and see if I can get it better with a paint pen.

In the meantime I've been continuing other parts of the rear end refresh, starting with the driver's side tail light assembly.

Click to see original Image in a new window

Disassembled it completely and have cleaned nearly every part. The original gaskets are present (maybe not original?) but getting rather hard so I removed them. Rather than spending $150 on the Steele gasket kit, I decided to try doing my own gaskets. Used 1/8" x 1/4" EPDM foam tape for the lens gaskets that cost $6. The 1/4" is too wide so I had to cut it narrower to fit the channels.

Cleaned and polished the chrome as best I could, then cleaned and polished the lenses. Looks much better now.

Need to finish making a new lower gasket and rivet it in place. The 1/8" thick rubber sheet I bought for that was $10. So I should be able to do both tail light assemblies for under $25 total.

Posted on: Today 12:12

Pgh Ultramatic

Re: Mojave Tan - A 1956 400 Saga

#328

Home away from home

All the original foam gaskets are an off-white / ivory color and tend to be uselessly hard/brittle by now. The solid gaskets were black. Not that it matters.

The channel is 1/8 thk. x 3/16 wide so you can either use 1/8 wide, or trim down 1/4 wide.

For the foam between the casting and the body, just use like 1" wide self adhesive and trim to the profile of the casting. Or cut it out following this template:packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=18516

For the lower rubber pieces, use 1/8 thk. black rubber cut 9-3/8 wide at the base as shown in the 2nd image below, then after centering the casting where that dimension is across the inboard side, trace with a compass or whatnot normal to the curve of the casting, and cut accordingly, so that there is a constant distance from whatever part of the casting, to the edge of the rubber.

For 56th only, you need the welting around the outside (do NOT add this to a 55th car, the casting will not bolt back on the car properly at the top). I don't remember the bead width but 3/16 sounds right. You can only buy it from about 5000 different eBay stores as it is a common resto mod material. (Example:ebay.com/itm/310803110294) You should relieve the welting at the top of the casting by cutting a notch in it so that it bends easier around the sharp curve. The originals were actually cast pieces as shown, 4.16015.

Click to see original Image in a new window