I read on here not too long ago on what to use to clean up pot metal tail light housings (car in question in a 71 roadrunner if it matters) it was a certain media to use for a media blaster. and I imagine that in inside is reflectice and the outside is suppose to be dull. thanks in advance!
-kevin

I'm not sure on media blasting. Scott on the board here (handle=ScottSmith_Harms) can help you in the area. If you send it to him, he will do a First class job on your taillights!
http://www.harmsauto.com

Ray

I did my 71 RR housing by cleaning them with Siimple Green and then respraying the inside with a Reflective silver or chrome paint ( available anywhere). Originally the inside was plated but the reflective paint works well, the are plenty brite. I have a spare set of 71 housings that were zinc dichromate (gold) in color. Eastwood sells a paint for that BUT it's not the same as real plating. You can't see them at all once on the bumper so clean them and respray the inside and be done with it..good choice of car by the way.............

I did my 71 RR housing by cleaning them with Siimple Green and then respraying the inside with a Reflective silver or chrome paint ( available anywhere). Originally the inside was plated but the reflective paint works well, the are plenty brite. I have a spare set of 71 housings that were zinc dichromate (gold) in color. Eastwood sells a paint for that BUT it's not the same as real plating. You can't see them at all once on the bumper so clean them and respray the inside and be done with it..good choice of car by the way.............

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.....probally the best way to go,...www.eastwood.com offers a lot of the reflective sliver sprays,....unless your going OEM Gold challenge,...the taillight housings are out of site once the bumper is installed,......if you send them out, they are going to cost a pretty penny to have redone,...plus it may take "awhile" for turn around, so plan accordingly...

any suggestions for the gold coloring on the side visible in the trunk without sending them out for plating

Hello Bill,
I used Eastwood gold cad system on my taillight buckets, the side seen in the trunk.

Ray

I like to first glassbead the surface, then apply a coat of etch primer for rust protection as the metalic paints don't yield long term protection,....I start with the crap Chrome in a can spray paint, then a crap gold in a can, then apply various shades of light purples, seafoam greens, all translucents or fine metalics from the Dupli-color spray can line to achieve the multiable colors/hues you see in a "true" plated part, all the colors listed must be applied at the same time inorder to blend them in to achieve a "plated" look of altering hues...it takes some time and effort,...often the best results are achieved by accident, or not even trying,.....

Mike



in this pic I did the tubular jack shaft, jack holddown wingnut, and side marker benzel retainer using "paint"....the chrome and gold paint help produce a plated metal look, with the very lightly applied metalic purples and metalic seafoam greens causing a distortional effect,...much like a gold cad plated part exhibits

Hi Mike,
Nice job there!
Is this the gold and chrome you used or could you use it?

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/automotiveMetallic/

Is this the color (MetalCast) you used for the green and purple?

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/metalCast/

Thank you.
Ray

Hey Ray,......Correct,..I use the Dupli-color Chrome and gold, ... to give the part that plated look, chrome as the base over a light gray etch prime, then gold over the chrome, very lightly, all wet coats, then randomly spray the green seafoam and light purple, actually rather hap hazzardly, as that produces the best results,...when you "try" to imitate the effect, that's when you make crap! ,....and when it just starts to look good, don't mess with it anymore,...the Green is a seafoam metalic, (Duplicolor) from thr GM line, and the light translucent purple is actually a Cadilac color from the GM Duplicolor line,...the line of touch up spray paints in the mini spray cans, there so translucent they proberly suck for actual touch up, but perfect for createing optical effects in the paint,....you used the Eastwood cad system,...which I've used in the past,...and as I'm sure you found that it takes a little trial and error to get nice results,...your taillights look good! ,....but the Eastwood kit was just to nuch money after a while, plus the cans liked to clog (not the tips) where they were usless,...so I started playing with other alternatives

Mike

Another option is to use Eastwood carb renew paint. Not a bad look, as long as youre not going for OE judging. I ended up using the CAD paint kit from Eastwood. I don't seem to have a picture of the end result, all I found was a the test I did with the carb renew paint.

hmm.. and all this time I thought the back sides were left in bare pot metal

Here's a picture after cleaning. You can see the CAD plating

Here's a pic of some tests I was doing with the Eastwood CAD system experimenting with the amounts of red and green to put on.

Norm,
Thanks for sharing the pics and the paints you used.

Ray

Actually they were not plated at all, when the casting (zinc die cast) were new they ran them thru a chromic acid which gave them the bronze(ish) color. The chromic acid was (is) used to give zinc based castings a "shelf life". It's almost impossible to clean and run a original back thru a chromic acid and get the same results/color. Age and any type of cleaning or blasting pretty much seals the casting and prevents them from being done again.You can clean them and hit them with some zinc plating so they will take a fresh yellow but it makes them a bit brighter than original.

I finished a set of tail light housings for a 1970 Cuda this afternoon and they turned out great, Not OE level obviously but for a nice driver they get

Just lightly glass beaded them inside and out , refinised the inside with chrome paint and the exterior with Eastwoods carb renew. I left my camera at the shop, so I'll post pics tomorrow

Painting them with an Eastwood kit will give you a decent appearance, but do the math on the cost vs a quality chemical treatment restoration before ordering a kit, it's not that much different.

In case anyone is curious, the process I use is similar to what the factory used and involves chromic acid dipping. I won't say they are 100% correct, but they are as close as I've seen anyone get so far. PM me for prices if interested. BTW, I can also do side marker housings and any other small parts with the same finish.

These I did because they were just plain ruff. I've got several hours in them due to all the RTV and sticky stuff done over the years to try and stop water leaks.

dis-claimer - in no way are these for an OE level car. This car IS going to be driven and driven hard. So appearence and durability is key in this particular application

What I started with

blasted clean with fine glass bead inside and out