Just fooling around...

[purple1]

... with headlight bezels.

Dave

[purple1]

Oh, I did work on more than one.

Dave

[Bullitt-]

WOW...nice work.

[4Cruizn]

Looking good!!   

[mrob]

purple,
I straightened an old set of headlight bezels for my 71 R/T like you did, but I wasn't able to get the front edge of the bezels to shine too well after they were straightened. What did you use to polish the front edge of your bezels? Your bezels have a shine almost like the anodized brite dip coating.

[purple1]

purple,
I straightened an old set of headlight bezels for my 71 R/T like you did, but I wasn't able to get the front edge of the bezels to shine too well after they were straightened. What did you use to polish the front edge of your bezels? Your bezels have a shine almost like the anodized brite dip coating.

The anodize has to be stripped off before you can polish them. I got some coil cleaner from my friend that does HVAC work. I used the coil cleaner to remove the anodize coating, sanding the anodize between using the coil cleaner. That stuff will etch the aluminum, so you have to wash it off fast, then repeat. Once all (and I mean all) the anodize is off, then you can polish with a buffing wheel on a drill. This one bezel took about 10 hours work alone. Good luck with yours.

Dave

[IMNCARN82]

WOW...nice work.

     very impressive work! 

[purple1]

     very impressive work! 

Thanks guys, the other two are now ready for paint. The second set should turn out even better than the first.

Dave

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Looks great there Dave.  What did you use to remove the dings from  the rolled edges.?  I have a couple of places in the windshield trim that need more work than what I have done so far.  Did you use some sort of roller device to smooth the surface area.   Stainless will be harder to do but give up your secret man...................

[purple1]

Looks great there Dave.  What did you use to remove the dings from  the rolled edges.?  I have a couple of places in the windshield trim that need more work than what I have done so far.  Did you use some sort of roller device to smooth the surface area.   Stainless will be harder to do but give up your secret man...................

Hmmm... The secret...

No secret, just hard work. I made some tools from bent nails to get under the edges. I also made a tool that fits the contour and used it to hammer out the big dents. I made it from a 3"-4" 3/8 bolt, I ground the head down to fit the bezels from behind. Once the dents were close, I sanded them down smooth then polished them out.

Stanless will be a little harder to work, but should be about the same process. I will let you know when I get to doing the stainless stuff.

Dave

[ViperMan]

I was taught a different trick with polishing - I started with a standard Dual-Action sander outfitted with 400 grit sandpaper, then went up to 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and finally 1400 grit paper.  Then lastly used a bench grinder/buffer (the buffer part) for the final shine.  It took forever, but it looked like a mirror when I was done.

[purple1]

I was taught a different trick with polishing - I started with a standard Dual-Action sander outfitted with 400 grit sandpaper, then went up to 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and finally 1400 grit paper.  Then lastly used a bench grinder/buffer (the buffer part) for the final shine.  It took forever, but it looked like a mirror when I was done.

  Thats almost what I did. I just skiped the 800-1400 grit, went from 600 to 1500 grit then polished on the wheel with buffing compound. Some very fine steel wool helped to remove the anodize coating also.

All done now, just need to wax after the paint cures. And I am not even using these on the purple car. One set will go back on the orange car of mine. One set are now extras. the botom bezels in the second pic are restored from Tuff Wheel Restorations that will go on the purple car, and man did they cost me...

Next... Grills... 

Dave