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I kind of screwed up here and did not take pictures when I should have so I will try to explain this deal. The vent window frame is constructed of 3-metals. The frame is galvanized steel, the front edge is cast-chromed pot metal and the trailing edge is a stainless cap over the galvanized frame. The front pot metal piece and the frame must be split up to have the pot metal chromed so you must cut the heads off the rivets that hold them together. The problem here is the rivets are cast into the pot metal piece so you need to bond the two pieces back together again then polish the stainless. The yellow arrow is the stainless, the aqua is the chrome pot metal, the green is the galvanized metal and the pink arrow points to the rivets. |
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After grinding off the rivets and sending the pot metal pieces off to the chromers, I polished up the stainless trim. You did spend the $59.00 on the Harbor Freight polisher, didn't you? |
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I used some welding clamps and a few pieces of scrap wood to fit the two pieces together to make sure they would snug up. Since the chrome added some thickness to the piece I had to grind the remaining rivets to get them through the holes in the galvanized piece and the clamps just helped them along. |
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The green arrows point to the rivet locations. Whoever assembled this car only bent over 4 of the 6 rivets so I had a few to work with. |
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The next step is to take it apart and put a healthy amount of metal epoxy in the slot to bond the two pieces. I used an adhesive I got from my body shop supply they say will hold anything. Rough up the chrome surface a bit to ensure it gets a good grip then clamp it and peen over the remaining rivets then let dry for a few days. This is also a good time to screw the whole thing back together as it will help stabilize it during the drying process. |
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This one points to the piece of wood wrapped with a shop rag to keep the clamps from scratching the shiny new chrome. Overall, this is a real pain and if anybody knows a better way let me know and I will be happy to post it. |
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