The molding on the front of my Maverick has a couple of small dents in it. Not totally flattened out or creased, but dented all the same. Has anyone had any luck repairing those? I was wondering if it could be taken off and somehow get something round in-behind and tapping it with a hammer. Anyone have good luck with that? If so, any tricks on the best method? In the future I'll be changing mine (and all the trim for that matter) to black for the Stallion clone project, so that "might" give me a little more leeway to fix the dents since the final will be painted.... Thanks! Art
When you are ready to go black you can get some small picks, sticks or screwdrivers and smooth it from the back as best as possible. Sand a little to get rid of any raised areas. Then wirebrush the entire peice of trim to give your black paint something to stick to and paint it black. I blacked out my chrome tail lights the same way on my 74. I removed the bezel ... wire brushed the entire chrome bezel on my bench grinder to get rid of as much of the anodization as possible and then used black bumper paint to blacken them. When still tacky I put one more coat on from about 18 inches away to give them texture ... I have no idea how Ford got the black paint to the stick to the stainless steel trim that is used on the Front Windshield ... all the rest of the trim is aluminum so it can be roughed up and painted... Now ... if you want to do it right ... Green Sales has 3 NOS Stallion hood trim pieces in stock ... already black, dent free and ready to go .... Part # D6DZ16856A ... just verify when you call it isn't a Granada part but I am almost positive it is for a Maverick Stallion.
I actually took my off a couple of days ago to repair the small dents. It's a pretty small area to work with in trying to push back the dents. I did the best I could, sanded it, painted it black but you can still notice the imperfections of your repair work. Would like to buy a new on if I knew from where.
Now that I think about it, maybe painting it black will "show" the flaws even more. Black has a way of bringing to light every little imperfection. When I see an antique car painted gloss black (and if it looks clean and straight), I really appreciate the efforts that went into it. I'm going to check out Green Sales for a new one. Thanks for the tip! Art
Yep, I went to the site, printed out the page. I also need a passinger side headlight bezel, anyone have one for sale? It too will need to be painted black in the future. Art
Sounds crazy, but I wonder if you can work out the dents as good as possible and then smooth out the imperfections with body filler since it's going to be painted anyways? I guess it may be more work then it's worth.
This may sound weird,but a friend of mine is really into working with metal.He can make and or fix anything if its made out of metal.He is always telling me that heat is your friend (thats the weird part).He uses heat to do everything.Aluminum is tough but he always talks about annealing it to make it soft so you can form and work it.He also makes his own tools to work the metal.I would try to fix it just for the learning experience.If your'e not happy with it you can replace it,but at least you will have tried and maybe learn some secrets about how aluminum shapes.Just a thought.
I straightened a couple out, heated with a bernzo, and softly tapped the dents flush against a clean metal surface, just needs to be sanded and polished now
I mess around with straightening trim,, may actually do it for some bucks when I retire. It is not hard and heat does make it easier and quicker. Anyone can do it if they are patient. Dan
Yea, what he said!! Also, if you are going to paint it black, don't use an NOS piece or a really nice one. Bang one out that has some minor flaws the best you can and fill the rest. Save the good ones to sell or use on another car.
