De-Chroming….. (no.. not stripping chrome…removing it and repairing the mounting holes)
After deciding to do a “resto-mod” daily driver with my 65 Galaxie I began to look seriously at the body styling that Ford did on this mid 60's square body beast. The lines on the car are crisp and attractive, but in my opinion some of the trim pieces that FoMoCo put on the car just scream GRANDPA’S CAR when creating a street machine.
Not being a purist in the restoration sense (unless the car is extremely rare) I decided to build MY idea of what ford SHOULD have done with the body styling details (as they fit within my budget). Sometimes the less is more approach is in order. In order to alleviate this dilemma I decided to do a little “de-chroming” or removing of the “offending” pieces. The first Grandpa piece to go is the HUGE Galaxie star that resides on the rear quarter panels. The former owner had already removed the offending pitted chrome emblems alleviating me of the task. They were originally held on with 3 nuts from inside the trunk. Next to go will be the c-pillar “LTD crown and circle” and finally something has to be done about the trunk trim.
Like most car companies in the 60's and 70's Ford actually used to use nuts and studs to attach trim pieces. This is in sharp contrast to today’s cars where a little carefully applied heat will soften the tape that holds the plastic trim piece of garbage on. Under these particular emblems are 3 mounting holes. I will do my best to chronicle the process I used for cleaning up and “repairing” the factory mounting points.
By the way… BIG BOY RULES APPLY! “ If you do any work on your car at home based on anything you read here or anywhere else, don’t blame me, FM, or anyone else for you getting boo-boos or ouchies, and don’t blame me if you warp your panels or burn something up… or anything else nasty “ You make your own decisions on what you are capable of doing.
OK…That said lets redneck this thing together. You will need the following:
- An electric drill with a wire brush or sanding attachment or similar tool to remove paint from the repair area.
- A small electric welder of your choice (mine is a gas less mig). By the way ** ADDED BONUS** this is a great time to convince momma you just GOTTA HAVE that new welding rig!
- some small pieces of heavy gauge sheet metal (I used the side cover off of a computer case)
- A small to medium size magnet (an old speaker works well, a small pick up tool not so well)
- pliers
- gloves,
- WELDING GOGGLES, MASK, or SHIELD
- tin snips
- electric grinder with grinding wheel (small dremmel tool with a carbide bit will be OK but may test your patience)
Now that you have the aforementioned items together take your tin snips and cut out small patches slightly larger than the holes you are repairing. Mine were on a peaked body line. I used a 90 degree flanged edge for the patch and using the pliers I bent them to fit the INSIDE of the peaked area behind the mounting hole I was repairing. If the patch is galvanized, painted, or powder-coated you will need to strip the patch to bare metal before continuing.
(cutting the repair patch)
(removing the powder coat from the patch with a bench grinder/wire wheel)
(finished patches)
Now using the drill and wire brush, sandpaper, whatever method you prefer, take the paint in the immediate area of the “repair” down to bare metal.
(drill with "cup" wire brush)
(paint removed...note the patch in place behind the mounting hole)
Now for the fun stuff! Remember, Fire is cool!.........Setting you car on fire is NOT COOL! Remove all flammable materials in the area you will be working on (this includes trash, carpet, material such as seat covers, GAS CANS, etc from the area. If you are working on the interior and don’t want spark burns on your upholstery then invest in a welding blanket and cover EVERYTHING. If you are working on floor pans, check for wiring, fuel lines, brake lines etc. **** NOTE***** regular cotton, polyester, or wool blankets DO NOT make good welding blankets…. Don’t ask.
Using the magnet place a patch piece behind the hole to be repaired
(Use a larger magnet than this if available)
Set the welder on its low heat setting and if a mig welder use a fairly fast wire feed speed.
(gas less 110 v mig welder)
Just a warning! I SUCK at welding so all you pro-fashionable welders; please hold your comments when you see my work LOL.
Find a good body ground on the car near the area you are welding. It will need to be a paint-free bare metal ground. Clamp the welder’s ground wire to the car at this point.
*Use GOGGLES or WELDING HELMET/shield when welding (I got a cool electronic auto darkening helmet from Harbor Freight for under $50).
* DO NOT look into the light, there is no peace in the light and you are not Carol Ann… there are only burned retinas in the light.
* Wear gloves when handling/stripping the sharp little metal pieces and use pliers when applicable. Use gloves especially when welding….. Welding your wedding band to your flesh is NOT COOL! (again…….don’t ask)
The following will apply to a gas less mig welder. If using a different welder make sure the settings you are using are appropriate for thin gauge sheet metal.
Holding the tip of the welder very close to the repair area, and aiming the wire at the junction of the edge of the hole and the patch, squeeze the trigger and allow the wire to feed briefly, contacting the junction of the patch and the car. (did you forget your eye protection???????) We are talking less than a second here. All we want to do is put a spot weld at the junction of the hole in the body and the patch behind it. If you feed too long or your heat setting is too high, you will burn a hole in the sheet metal. Once it has a spot weld holding it in place the magnet can be removed. * A word of caution* some of the sheet metal in cars is THIN… sheet metal exposed to a lot of surface rust is THINNER… GO SLOW or you will burn a hole through the sheet metal…. Floor pans are great for this one.
Put a series of spot welds around the hole waiting several seconds for the metal to cool slightly in between each weld. Continue until the patch is completely welded into place and the hole is filled. It is important to let the metal cool between spot welds. This keeps the panel from gaining too much heat in the area and warping. If you are worried about war page but impatient, set up all of the holes in the area you have to repair and do a spot on one, then go to the next, and so on until all are repaired/ filled. The end result should look something like this.
[(filled mounting holes)
When all of the former mounting holes are filled/ repaired use a grinder to smooth the repaired spots to the body shape. Go SLOW so as not to build up too much heat or grind through the metal. If the metal starts turning blue you are going WAY too fast.
( Grind SLOWLY to match the body lines)
Your finished weld should look something like this.
(finished and contoured)
If you are going to wait to finish the body work as I did (I had to get ready for work) then hit the repair with a little rattle can primer to protect it.
Now all you have to do is put a little finishing putty on to blend the area, sand, seal and paint.
Today
Re: De- Chroming your ride
