Trim Restoration

[Steve009]

Hi Guys, I’m having my car painted over the winter so I think it’s time to have some of the Sport Fury trim restored on my 64. My question, what are the options for restoring that anodized looking finish on the side trim, grill, headlight bezels, etc. It’s not chrome obviously but to bring it back to stock looking what is the coating? Has a few dents and scratches that need to be fixed but I’m not sure how to redo it after that. I heard there are processes called bright dipping possibly? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dartforforty]

Contact 5.7 hemi here on the board he may be able to help

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Aluminum has the anabrite coating on it. Zak took my grille and headlight bezels and removed the coating leaving the aluminum.He then polished the aluminum to look like jewelry. Now I just use aluminum polish when needed!

 

[Steve009]

Aluminum has the anabrite coating on it. Zak took my grille and headlight bezels and removed the coating leaving the aluminum.He then polished the aluminum to look like jewelry. Now I just use aluminum polish when needed!

View attachment 1039014

Is there anyone who can redo that Anabrite coating?

 

[s5757s]

The original aluminum parts were factory anodized (surface hardened) to protect them. I just went through this process on my 64 Polara. The guy who straightened and removed all the defects required me to have the anodizing chemically removed. I used a company in Portland, OR (Electro Chem) to do this. He then did all the dent removal, straightening, ect. He recommended if the car was to be driven alot to get them re-annodized but if just a weekend warrior just keep it polished. Aluminum is a dirty metal and requires frequent cleaning & polishing to keep it looking like new. This is all a PITA but the results were good. Someone out there may have another solution (DIY) to remove the annodizing. Good luck

 

[Steve009]

The original aluminum parts were factory anodized (surface hardened) to protect them. I just went through this process on my 64 Polara. The guy who straightened and removed all the defects required me to have the anodizing chemically removed. I used a company in Portland, OR (Electro Chem) to do this. He then did all the dent removal, straightening, ect. He recommended if the car was to be driven alot to get them re-annodized but if just a weekend warrior just keep it polished. Aluminum is a dirty metal and requires frequent cleaning & polishing to keep it looking like new. This is all a PITA but the results were good. Someone out there may have another solution (DIY) to remove the annodizing. Good luck

mine aren’t horrible but could use a few dents, scratches fixed here and there. I’d like to bring it back to the factory dullish silver color. The sport fury trim has the engine turning down the center and I have been told that it’s not “real” turning and will come off with the anodizing so that’s another issue. I always thought it was a real turned pattern but was chatting with Joe Suchi and he said it will all come off when stripped.

 

[dvw]

I do my own trim. Stainless and aluminum. Once the coating is off the aluminum both metals repair similar. Obviously stainless is a harder material. Removing minor dents is easy. Use a piece of material with contoured to the shape of the inside of the piece you are repairing. Old hockey sticks work great. Place that material vertically in a vice. Lay the damaged part down on your form. The tool in the vice will raise the dent when you tap on it with. Hammer. A fine file will show high/low spots. Then start as coarse as necessary to remove scratches. Vary the angle of each grit. This will allow you to see when the coarser scratches have been removed. If the part is aluminum you can buff after1500. If you anodize if there are ANY pits they will show up white. Not good. I’ve left a few parts unanodized on my Challenger. They look every bit as good now as the coated parts. But then it’s only been 17 years since they were done. The 64 parts are the stainless.
Doug

 

[s5757s]

I didnt have to worry about the engine turn on the polara as all the side trim is stainless and my car is a resto mod. I used gold prism tape in engine turn pattern and it came out great looking against the FC7 purple paint.

 

[VFilms]

Hi Guys, I’m having my car painted over the winter so I think it’s time to have some of the Sport Fury trim restored on my 64. My question, what are the options for restoring that anodized looking finish on the side trim, grill, headlight bezels, etc. It’s not chrome obviously but to bring it back to stock looking what is the coating? Has a few dents and scratches that need to be fixed but I’m not sure how to redo it after that. I heard there are processes called bright dipping possibly? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

I had the same questions a year ago and all the replies to your post are correct. Not that hard to fix and polish your trim. Anodizing comes off with a bath of caustic soda or Draino. But patience is key. Re-anodizing will dull the trim somewhat and because of the hardness of the anodizing the trim is prone to little chips and over the years will return to what you have now. There is a company in Fonda, NY that does this but it's expensive. So I have decided to leave mine polished and apply Mothers every so often.
s5757s is correct, it is a PITA but they look great. Here are some pics of repair work and final product

 

[Dodge 330]

I strip the anodizing with the Heavy Duty Easy Off oven cleaner, hammer out the dents, wet sand and then polish. I did my grille and headlight rings. I've done a couple of '65 Dodge grilles and a '65 Plymouth as well. Time comsuming for sure!

 

[Sixpactogo]

mine aren’t horrible but could use a few dents, scratches fixed here and there. I’d like to bring it back to the factory dullish silver color. The sport fury trim has the engine turning down the center and I have been told that it’s not “real” turning and will come off with the anodizing so that’s another issue. I always thought it was a real turned pattern but was chatting with Joe Suchi and he said it will all come off when stripped.

I used a guy by the name of Bill Petrow years ago to restore my 65 Sport Fury trim. Not sure if he is still in business or not. His business is called Special T's trim restoration. He is located near Chicago IL. Here is his phone number.......847 255 5494 after 6 PM CST.
He specializes in 62-65 Mopars and does the re-anodizing. He did a good job on my trim but as for the engine turned inserts, they are glued in and are removed during the stripping process. When he did mine, he used engine turned adhesive tape in place of the original metal strips that (by the way are real engine turned strips) As far as I know, no one is reproducing the real engine turned stuff. It is a lost art.

 

[Steve009]

View attachment 1039124 View attachment 1039129 I do my own trim. Stainless and aluminum. Once the coating is off the aluminum both metals repair similar. Obviously stainless is a harder material. Removing minor dents is easy. Use a piece of material with contoured to the shape of the inside of the piece you are repairing. Old hockey sticks work great. Place that material vertically in a vice. Lay the damaged part down on your form. The tool in the vice will raise the dent when you tap on it with. Hammer. A fine file will show high/low spots. Then start as coarse as necessary to remove scratches. Vary the angle of each grit. This will allow you to see when the coarser scratches have been removed. If the part is aluminum you can buff after1500. If you anodize if there are ANY pits they will show up white. Not good. I’ve left a few parts unanodized on my Challenger. They look every bit as good now as the coated parts. But then it’s only been 17 years since they were done. The 64 parts are the stainless.
Doug

wow yours look incredible. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Steve009]

I had the same questions a year ago and all the replies to your post are correct. Not that hard to fix and polish your trim. Anodizing comes off with a bath of caustic soda or Draino. But patience is key. Re-anodizing will dull the trim somewhat and because of the hardness of the anodizing the trim is prone to little chips and over the years will return to what you have now. There is a company in Fonda, NY that does this but it's expensive. So I have decided to leave mine polished and apply Mothers every so often.
s5757s is correct, it is a PITA but they look great. Here are some pics of repair work and final product

View attachment 1039160 View attachment 1039161 View attachment 1039162 View attachment 1039163

looks excellent to me

 

[Steve009]

I used a guy by the name of Bill Petrow years ago to restore my 65 Sport Fury trim. Not sure if he is still in business or not. His business is called Special T's trim restoration. He is located near Chicago IL. Here is his phone number.......847 255 5494 after 6 PM CST.
He specializes in 62-65 Mopars and does the re-anodizing. He did a good job on my trim but as for the engine turned inserts, they are glued in and are removed during the stripping process. When he did mine, he used engine turned adhesive tape in place of the original metal strips that (by the way are real engine turned strips) As far as I know, no one is reproducing the real engine turned stuff. It is a lost art.

do you know where the engine turned strips can be purchased?

 

[Sixpactogo]

You have to buy the tape and cut it to fit. I think the engine turn swirls are 5/16." Bill at Special T's put mine in. How wide are your inserts? I think the tape comes in 1" and 1.5" x 25'. Paperstreetplastics on EBay sells it. I saw they have 6" wide tape by what ever length you want. It is not as nice as the original engine turn but better than nothing I guess.

 

[Steve009]

You have to buy the tape and cut it to fit. I think the engine turn swirls are 5/16." Bill at Special T's put mine in. How wide are your inserts? I think the tape comes in 1" and 1.5" x 25'. Paperstreetplastics on EBay sells it. I saw they have 6" wide tape by what ever length you want. It is not as nice as the original engine turn but better than nothing I guess.

the 64 sport fury trim actually tapers towards the rear and from the factory the turning did as well. I’m not too concerned matching this tapered look so the inserts seem like a good option, thanks.

 

[Dan64]

do you know where the engine turned strips can be purchased?

Bill Petrow has it, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 bucks pre cut.

 

[Steve009]

Bill Petrow has it, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 bucks pre cut.

just spoke with him through Facebook. His hemi grills are amazing

 

[JPrusinows]

Bill Petrow is the best! Nothing but good results and a standup guy. My two cents.

Jeff