70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts?

Posted By: 340SIX

70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/22/09 12:02 AM

It looks to be some type of natural finish but does not look good when old.
Whats the best way to get them looking new again? Is there some way to get them looking as new?
On the chrome bezal I lost/missplaced all the studs that were in them so now need new ones.
Is there a source for them or is it just make your own from threaded rods?
What Nuts are the right ones to hold them on?
I did find the good used lens I have had for ever in a box wraped in news paper and guess what...Ford Escorts are on sale at the local dealer ship

Maybe I have been working on the car to long

Posted By: 340SIX

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/23/09 09:08 PM

No one knows how to get them looking new again? Or what nuts go on them?

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/24/09 01:53 AM

The housing is Zinc Dichromate like a Holley Carb, Scott Harms Smith offers it.... The studs are clear zinc I'd need to go look through my junk to find a sample so I could give an acurate lenght...Tom probably has them... The nuts are Phosphate 10-24 thread 3/8 hex small captive washer again call Tom..

Posted By: burdar

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/24/09 02:01 AM

The Zinc Dichromate dulls over time and turns a gray color correct?

Posted By: jrwoodjoe

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/24/09 01:02 PM

I had a thread about this a while back. The suggestion was to lightly bead blast the housings to renew the look. I have not done that so I can't comment on the outcome but maybe someone who did it can.

Joe

Posted By: cataclysm80

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/28/09 10:15 PM

Quote:

The Zinc Dichromate dulls over time and turns a gray color correct?

Dulls or wears off, I'm not sure which.

Tav

Posted By: cataclysm80

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/28/09 10:18 PM

Quote:

I had a thread about this a while back. The suggestion was to lightly bead blast the housings to renew the look. I have not done that so I can't comment on the outcome but maybe someone who did it can.

Joe

I haven't tried that either. I think the bead blasting would do a pretty good job at cleaning them up, but seriously doubt it would restore the original plated finish.

I'm not sure how it would turn out, but I think eastwood sells a carburetor paint. I'm thinking Challenger front turn signals should use the same coating. Not sure about the marker light backing plates.

If you're WAY into details, many original housings have black overspray in spots from when they were mounted to a fixture and painted .

Tav

Posted By: Barnabas_Kriss

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 06:20 AM

I have NEVER seen zinc dichromate on 70 challenger tail light housings. (On a 70 cuda, yes) They were just as cast pot metal. I have a complete NOS set of tail light assemblies, as well as plenty of clean used ones, NONE of them are zinc dichromate.

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 06:28 AM

Post pictures & tell us what you think they are... I've seem the yellow color in protected areas on quite a few.. But I've also seen plenty that just look gray... I've also seen plenty of 40 year old Holley carbs that just look gray...

Posted By: cataclysm80

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 08:39 AM

I've seen that NOS Challenger front turn signal housings were either plated or not, while factory installed units seem to all have been plated, but sometimes it's very hard to tell.

It's possible that some NOS taillight housing didn't get the plating.

I think a good way to check, used or NOS, would be paint stripper and a plastic bristle brush to remove the black overspray if present, or remove the reflective silver inside around where the bulb goes. Any plating will have been applied before paint, and that silver paint protects it pretty well. My low odor aircraft remover did not harm the plating on my front turn signals, though the plating was only visible under the reflective silver and under some VERY old road tar.

Sometimes if the plating is faint it can be difficult to photo.

Tav

Posted By: sunroof446

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 10:02 AM

The sidemarker backings are electro-galvanized. The backs are silver the fronts are gold/yellow. They can not be re galvanized once they have been die stamped. The only thing you can do is find a nice used set or nos. I just went thru this problem with my 70 charger. The tail light nuts on the challenger are yellow zinc.

Posted By: JulesdaWiperman

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 10:36 AM

To date I have never seen one 70-71 challenger tail light housing with zinc dichromate on them
and I have seen loads of them.
Very lightly bead blast them with fine grade bead. They will come out like new. If you go gently
enough you will be able to keep the wave patterns in the metal when they were cast.
The inside coves are painted silver and not very bright at that.
Jules

Posted By: 340SIX

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 06:19 PM

Quote:

To date I have never seen one 70-71 challenger tail light housing with zinc dichromate on them
and I have seen loads of them.
Very lightly bead blast them with fine grade bead. They will come out like new. If you go gently
enough you will be able to keep the wave patterns in the metal when they were cast.
The inside coves are painted silver and not very bright at that.
Jules

Thanks the Wave Pattern is what makes me think it was some type of plating.
I had tried on one spot on one part to buff it with gray emery years ago on one and it looked to take the wave look
away Kinda like Galvanised pattern would look but goldish in color.
I am now going threw parts that I never finished and finding things I skiped since I could not do them right.

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 10:08 PM

Quote:

Quote:

To date I have never seen one 70-71 challenger tail light housing with zinc dichromate on them
and I have seen loads of them.
Very lightly bead blast them with fine grade bead. They will come out like new. If you go gently
enough you will be able to keep the wave patterns in the metal when they were cast.
The inside coves are painted silver and not very bright at that.
Jules

Thanks the Wave Pattern is what makes me think it was some type of plating.
I had tried on one smaller parts to buff it with gray emery years ago on one and it looked to take the wave look
away Kinda like Galvanised pattern would loo but goldish in color.
I am now going threw parts that I never finished and finding things I skiped since I could not do them right.

Sounds like someone just described zinc dichromate....

Posted By: ScottSmith_Harms

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/29/09 10:23 PM

I can recolor tail lamp housings correctly if anyone here needs the service, PM me for pricing. As Jules and others noted, some model cars were never coated or plated, they were "As Cast".

Here is a set I just did for a 71 Cuda

Attached picture 5384231-71CudaTailLampHousingsRestoredA.jpg

Attached picture 5384231-71CudaTailLampHousingsRestoredA.jpg

Posted By: ScottSmith_Harms

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/30/09 10:24 PM

Same set, different angle

Attached picture 5386628-71CudaTailLapsRestoredB.jpg

Posted By: ScottSmith_Harms

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 07/30/09 10:25 PM

Close up of one. All of these were taken in natural ambient shaded sunlight, no flash.

Attached picture 5386630-71CudaTailLampHousingRestoredC.jpg

Attached picture 5386630-71CudaTailLampHousingRestoredC.jpg

Posted By: 3404

Re: 70 Challenger Tail Lamp house finish? Studs? Nuts? - 08/01/09 12:25 AM

The housings were ran through a chromic acid which gave them the yellow/brownish color. Most of them won't take a new yellow very well after all these years and may require a flash zinc plating to give the the chromate something to bite into. When the zinc diecast housing were fresh they did the chromate dip to keep the casting from corroding.
Also the chromate over a "new" casting gave the leaf or wave pattern. Once you blast the housing you get more of a smooth look.

Posted By: ScottSmith_Harms