Metal part finishing........

[m5bb]

Taking my coupe apart for paint and body work.

I removed the latching mechanism for the trunk lid today.
One part in trunk lid and lock in body.
It does have a plate that moves and locks. It is riveted and would rather not remove the rivet but I could and replace with bolt and lock nut.
It works but does not look that great.
What do restoration guys do with something like this?
I don't think it was every zinc coated.

What about media blasting with walnut shells for something like that?
I have a media cabinet and some walnut shells.

Glass beads take all the shin away and make the metal dull.

BTW getting the gas tank door out was a real PIA. Going to be hard to get back and not scratch the paint.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[aearch]

work

definately drill out the rivet
its a simpler than you think
and get a rivet gun
there peanuts i did all my rivets on my seat trim
and door panel trims
really simple amd effective

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Fuel tank door is a maddening little assembly, I installed quite a few by keeping it in the half-open position, even that's not easy. Also, a couple of layers of masking tape around the opening will prevent scratches.

 

[m5bb]

definately drill out the rivet
its a simpler than you think
and get a rivet gun
there peanuts i did all my rivets on my seat trim
and door panel trims
really simple amd effective

Ok I will look at removing rivet. Done this before so not a big deal.
It's actually a shaft holding the sliding flange that locks the trunk lid down.

What about the finish? You didn't comment on that?

 

[m5bb]

After putting part in hand and looking more carefully I decided it was not a good idea to drill out any rivets.
These are not like pop rivets.

So put parts in the tumbler with walnut shells and see how that turns out.

 

[daddywad]

My local plating shop plated all these parts in bright zinc without stripping them down. clean and degrease them well beforehand

they have come out very well

 

[HB Chris]

+1, no disassembly required, we used white/clear zinc.

 

[Luis A.]

Take the spring off. The plating process makes steel more brittle. The harder the steel, the more it embrittles. Things like springs, lock washers and 10.9 grade hardware in general, are at a higher risk.