Polishing stainless

[TexasEd 200]

So I got brave and removed all my stainless except the curved parts on the headlight buckets.  I expect I need to remove the buckets to get that off.

I called a guy about polishing mine up while my car is painted thinking I might have dings and deep scratches but looking at it off the car it is really straight. All I really need to do is: A) remove the overspray paint and the glass adhesive from the back.  I plan to use lacquer thinner on the paint and I’ve heard diesel works on the adhesive. B) Buff it out on a polishing wheel with the right stainless polish.

For B) I plan to get a HF bench grinder and replace a wheel with an Eastwood 8-10” cotton wheel (trying to figure out which one) and the gray stainless polish.  I saw a video that explains the polishing pretty well.  The only place with some abrasion is the bottom windshield trim. The bends in the rear window would also be a delicate spot to do.

For the headlight buckets I was thinking I might try to polish those curves on the car before paint.  Thoughts?

Also for the Stone deflector trim there is some damage to the argent paint.  I was thinking that stopping it off and reapplying it with the paint from NPD would be doable.

Am I getting too overconfident on this?  Anyone who has done this  have tips?  I need to save some money on this build and this is a place I think I can do it and get a new tool in the process.

[aslanefe 346]

Get the buffer (items 61557, 94393), not the grinder; buffer has longer shafts and better suited for buffing. The headlight trim is tricky to polish as it is thin and odd shape; you have to be real real careful otherwise it will snag on the wheel and get damaged. You can sand the deeper scratches with high grit sand paper (1000 or higher) then polish. I start with a coarse compound (with dedicated buffing pad) then with a finer compound later (with dedicated buffing pad). You have to be careful when you are feeding the trim to pad and not to get it snagged. There is a learning curve but not difficult to do. I also polish the old/tired anodized aluminum trim (hood molding etc) which brings them a little shine but not shinny like the stainless.

[Brian Conway 272]

I have had good experience and results using this stuff on the stainless.  Brian

[RPM 1,247]

As you are probably aware, the headlight and grill surround trim is aluminium. Mine had some sort of clear finish that I removed with oven cleaner. 

[TexasEd 200]

58 minutes ago, RPM said:

As you are probably aware, the headlight and grill surround trim is aluminium. Mine had some sort of clear finish that I removed with oven cleaner. 

So how should I clean and polish the aluminum?  Maybe just buff it by hand? 

Is the stone deflector top piece aluminum too?  Seems like it.

[aslanefe 346]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

As you are probably aware, the headlight and grill surround trim is aluminium. Mine had some sort of clear finish that I removed with oven cleaner. 

The moldings on the fender extensions, hood molding and other trim around the grill (including the part argent painted trim) are aluminum. The rings that hold the headlights on headlight buckets are stainless. Aluminum should have been anodized and not easy to remove, if there was clear finish, I suspect someone sanded, buffed and coated with clear which is a common and cheap way to shine old anodized parts.

32 minutes ago, TexasEd said:

So how should I clean and polish the aluminum?  Maybe just buff it by hand? 

Is the stone deflector top piece aluminum too?  Seems like it.

Original aluminum trim is anodized, it is very hard; try sanding it with a sand paper and you can see how hard it is. You can shine them a little bit but to do it correctly (and have a mirror shine like originally) anodize has to be stripped, aluminum polished and anodized again. 

[TexasEd 200]

Ok so if is not too bad leave it alone?  I’ll see what it looks like next to polished stainless. 

[Ridge Runner 1,153]

Wear leather gloves ,when it hooks up in the buff wheel it will slice you like a razor blade . Sanding scratches can be sanded out with starting with 400 grit wet sand and work your way down to at least 1500.  Heavier scratches may need 180 grit and work your way down on grit . I have removed some pretty heavy dings ,East wood has a small hammer for this that works great ,i wrap masking tape over the end of the hammer and use a block of oak as a back stop . Get the dings as close to straight as possible and you can work it out of the stainless with 180 progressing finer as you go ,always use the paper wet 

[TexasEd 200]

Thanks Ridge. I don’t have any ding now. Only scratches. I’ll do the wet sand and then buff.  

[Ridge Runner 1,153]

Dont buff until you get down to the finest grit or it is a lot more work .

I bought a buffer from Harbor freight years ago and it still works great ,i just mounted it on a pole . The buff wheels and compounds i would get a the Turlock swap meet ,those bars are at least 15 years old and started out about 12 inches long ,white is stainless and green is a polish grit . Final phase is mothers mag polish for a very bright glow . 

Make sure to wrap the nut at the polish wheel with tape or you will soon find out why . 

Wear gloves and keep a tight grip on the metal or you will find it right between your eyes ,hold the metal to the wheel gently and mage sure there is no edge to grab ,it is best to buff length wise so it doesnt  grab and wrap your stainless around the shaft . 

The longest hammer is from EastWoods ,one is actually a tack hammer ,i keep them polished so they dont mark the metal when knocking out dings . These tiny hammers also work great for very fine body work !

Sometime this summer i have all the stainless for two 56 Ford Fairlanes to buff and that is not going to be a lot of fun!

[Mach1 Driver 597]

Ridge is just a wealth of knowledge :D

[aslanefe 346]

Ridge gave you good tips. My most important tips are, do not push the part to wheel too much and wear as much protection as you can. Be careful of how you hold the part and how you feed it to the pad and where you stand; if/when you get the part wrapped around the shaft/pad, those stainless parts can spin around like sharp swords.

[Ridge Runner 1,153]

Another trick to remove a deeper scratch is use a finger nail board ,they have a coarse side and a fine side ,take a felt pen and mark over the scratches ,its kind of like a guide coat . Once you get the scratch out wrap your wet sand paper around somthing good and flat ,i like an old file ,but anything flat and not flexible will work 

[TexasEd 200]

I think my aluminum might be good enough to leave alone. I did see stainless available for some of the aluminum parts. If you didn’t swap it all it would look odd.   Here’s the worst of the stainless on the left and a tiny pit in the hood molding on the right. Maybe just clean the aluminum with a little WD40 and put it back on. 
 

[TexasEd 200]

For the flat aluminum argent paint I plan to go with this. 
https://www.npdlink.com/product/paint-argent-silver-lacquer/139775?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3Dargent%2Bpaint%26top_parent%3D200001%26year%3D1969&year=1969

will it hurt the anodizing to remove the old with turpentine or paint thinner?

[aslanefe 346]

15 minutes ago, TexasEd said:

For the flat aluminum argent paint I plan to go with this. 
https://www.npdlink.com/product/paint-argent-silver-lacquer/139775?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3Dargent%2Bpaint%26top_parent%3D200001%26year%3D1969&year=1969

will it hurt the anodizing to remove the old with turpentine or paint thinner?

As far as I know those solvents won't hurt anodize; but just to be on the safe side, test the solvent on the back side of a part (which is also anodized) first. After you get the hang of the process while doing the stainless, you can polish those aluminum pieces (at the condition like on your picture) with a fine compound and polish for a little more shine. If worst stainless is the one on the picture, they do not look bad. Try the coarse then fine compounds without sanding first and see if you like the results; if not, wet sand the bad areas with fine sand paper and buff those spots again. 

[jjstang 55]

It’s a skill I have to learn too. I got some quotes to polish the trim, $65 a foot!  I paid them to repair some dents. He said to fasten the trim with a board to prevent warping. Hadn’t thought of that. 

[Mach1 Driver 597]

It always bugged me that the trim around the grill is bright anodized and obviously different than the rest of the bright work. I've always wanted to have it nickel chrome electroplated. I think I'll look into that.

[RPM 1,247]

After I bought some ill fitting front aluminium trim pieces, I tried my luck at pounding out the dents in the hood lip and C moldings. Like others who have done this,  I was amazed at the outcome. After checking polishing prices, and not wanting to destroy an original piece, I decided to go another route. 

I'd read online where a guy sanded his trim with Scotch-Brite pads and WD-40. I figured I'd give it a try, with worse case scenario having to get them polished. I liked the look of the finish, and the cost saving. Since my car is my daily driver, and far from original, I'm not too concerned about it not being "correct ".  Just an option I thought I'd throw out there. 

[Ridge Runner 1,153]

Several years ago we had all those aluminum pieces ,and most of the chrome pieces rechromed in black chrome ,it had a smokey look to it but looked good on the yellow boss 302 it was on . I dont see why they cant be regular chromed although they would be shinier than original  

[RPM 1,247]

18 minutes ago, Ridge Runner said:

 I dont see why they cant be regular chromed although they would be shinier than original  

$$$$$

[TexasEd 200]

20 hours ago, jjstang said:

It’s a skill I have to learn too. I got some quotes to polish the trim, $65 a foot!  I paid them to repair some dents. He said to fasten the trim with a board to prevent warping. Hadn’t thought of that. 

The guy within an hour of me said $50 a foot.  He has a backlog.

19 hours ago, Mach1 Driver said:

It always bugged me that the trim around the grill is bright anodized and obviously different than the rest of the bright work. I've always wanted to have it nickel chrome electroplated. I think I'll look into that.

Here is a stainless hood trim at NPD.  I did not look to see if they have the rest of the grill surround but it could be an option.

https://www.npdlink.com/product/molding-hood-front/204275?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3Dhood%2Bmolding%26top_parent%3D200001%26year%3D1969&year=1969

Edit: Found the stainless grille surround 

https://www.npdlink.com/product/molding-hood-front/204275?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3Dhood%2Bmolding%26top_parent%3D200001%26year%3D1969&year=1969

Stone guard/lower radiator surround:

https://www.npdlink.com/product/molding-radiator-grille/204348?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fpage%3D2%26search_terms%3Dhood%2Bmolding%26top_parent%3D200001%26year%3D1969&year=1969

[RPM 1,247]

Just fyi, the only hood lip molding that has the center of the V match the center of the hood is the Daniel Carpenter. The others are off center. If I you, try repairing yours before buying a repop. I repaired mine after buying the $100+ DC, and I'm using my original. 

 

[RPM 1,247]

6 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

Several years ago we had all those aluminum pieces ,and most of the chrome pieces rechromed in black chrome ,it had a smokey look to it but looked good on the yellow boss 302 it was on . I dont see why they cant be regular chromed although they would be shinier than original  

Just read a thread on VMF where a guy had the chrome trim on his 65 powder coated black. 

https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/do-they-make’em.1209849/

[Ridge Runner 1,153]

Now they have a sort of chrome powder coat also ,i heard it can be buffed out