Last week I posted about the possibility of threading the hood side
trim parts so that easily removeable nuts could replace the permanent push on
retainers that the medallions came with. It seemed like a good idea to be
able to remove these CHEVROLET emblems non-destructively for repainting or
even just for hassle free waxing of the hood. I'm just too lazy to find the
prospect of waxing the medallions with a Q-Tip very appealing.
Several people emailed or posted about using speed nuts and just
turning them on with a wrench. That idea does sounds appealing, and if I
hadn't already done the job by the time I saw the suggestion, I might have
gone that route. As it was, I got out the old tap & die set and using lots of
thread cutting oil, cut threads for #12 size nuts. This was done slowly and
carefully as I expected that the metal (Swiss cheese, Silly Putty?) that
these things are made of might just be brittle enough to break off in my
hands.
This plan worked out pretty well and after a trip into the solvent
tank to remove the cutting oil, the pieces were trial fitted to the hood. The
right side fitted like a hand to a glove and all was sweetness and harmony.
As for the left, well things didn't go as smoothly. Chevy made the holes in
the hood too close together! Both pieces fit the right side, neither will fit
the left.
The little grey cells at first proposed hogging out the holes into a
slot shape with a drill, but on second thought it seemed better to risk a $10
repop medallion than monkey with a perfectly good hood and a power tool. My
present plan, unless some of you have a better solution, is to file the now
nicely threaded posts on the trim piece down enough to allow them to slide
into place. With any luck, it should not require removing a lot of metal to
do this. We shall see.
Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com
1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
Fullerton, California USA
AEROMARK - Need Rubber Stamps or Signs? See:
http://hometown.aol.com/hudson29/myhomepage/index.html
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