gas tank emblem
small project.
My fuel tank emblem lost all of its color years ago, before i even bought the car. I could buy a new one... for $50, and it's not even the right one. It looks sort of right, but it's for the 1967 model, so doesn't have the finger tab to open the fuel tank door.
Here's the high dollar replacement:
Mine won't look as good.
I bought a kit in the crafts section of the local super store made for kid's fake stained glass projects. My first attempt was an utter failure. The stuff doesn't melt and puddle well. It kind of gels up. So I crushed the pellets for better coverage and less overflow between the sections, and turned up the heat.
turns out the red stuff will eventually turn to a thick liquid, but the black just turns into a tar-like substance. If I was to do it all over again, and I had the patience, it would come out better, but i doubt i could ever get a concourse quality piece this way. Mine is just a driver, and the chrome on the emblem is a little old anyway.
For anyone attempting this, I would recommend trying an old style marble pill crusher if you have one. I didn't. This stuff is tougher than it looks. Other than that, try wrapping the pellets in an old T-shirt rag of the same color as the pellets, and repeatedly beat on them with a sledge hammer against an anvil. Wrap more than one layer around the pellets... they will break through, and you will get some of whatever they're wrapped in mixed with the pellets, so dont wrap them in aluminum foil ;)
Cook the black first. Not only do you not have to worry about mixing the colors, but the heat needed to sufficiently melt the black will ruin the red, so you'll need to scrape it out and start again. I never actually got the black competely smooth, but it's close enough for me.
The directions on the kit said 375* for 20min. I had the black up to 500* for two hours, but I'm not sure it did much more. I added a little more to some thin spots and went again for an hour. Any spillage to the other chambers needed scraped out and then a little more melting time.
The red took about 400-425* for half an hour to an hour for the pieces to melt together.
After much experimenting, it may be more the amount of time letting it sit than the heat. I didn't get the red pieces as small as i wanted this time around, so there was some joining over the 'feathers'. While it was still gel-like, I used a toothpick over the chrome and emptied out a little red, then more melting time. (toothpick wont do much to the black)
Now I need to get some clear coat spray, smooth it out, and I'll be done.
