Preservation of a 68 Camaro

[Stihl]

Great thread. I will be following.

[Pro Stock John]

Following!

[scuncio]

Nice work!

[cook_dw]

Thanks gentlemen.

Continuing on. As mentioned previously the passenger side bumper guard was damaged and wasn't repairable without welded and damaging the chrome on the shiny side. So I dug around my pile of parts and found a suitable replacement as well as a set of very clean original rubbers and installed them. I am pleased with the finished product.

Steps of cleaning were:

1. Citrus degreaser
2. Evaporust bath (submerge into 5 gal bucket). This took a solid 2 days with the weather in the 30-60F
3. Hard metals polish (green stick) on a buffing wheel on a pedestal mounted grinder.
4. Finish with RPM on the back sides of the guards and hand polish the chrome

Hardware for the guards while using all the original components consist of markings of RBW (bolt supplier). Something to note while I was going through my other guards I had 2 "A" lettered bolts from one of the sets. Food for thought.

Like to mention the upper bracket and bolt were zinc plated and required soaking in evapo on the bracket and a cleaning & polishing of the bolt Lower bolt is phosphate and only soaked in evapo and then coated in a silicone based lubricant. I used PB Blaster Silicone Lubricant.

Photo 41 - 43 - Before photos of the chosen replacement and the original guard from the drivers side.

Photo 44 - 46 - After results

Before I get too far ahead I wanted to go back and clean up the passenger door handle and lock. The handle had a very small amount of micro pitting but I feel like I was able to reduce it some. So a thorough cleaning with, yep you guessed it, citrus degreaser and then hard polish on the buffing wheel. Something I'm not sure many realize or maybe its me and I had forgotten but don't forget to button gasket. Luckily mine was not damaged and still pliable so I reused it.

Photo 47 - Before handle and sorry didn't get a shot of the lock prior.

Photo 48 & 49 - After.

Photo 50 - 51 - Door lock clip in its original finish along markings

Photo 52 - Trio shot including the trunk lock.

[napa68]

If you're not doing this for a business Darrell, you should really think about it! You have an eye for detail that is hard found.

I recently went through your thread (again) for your Dad's car over on CRG.......very enjoyable (again)!

Tim

[cook_dw]

I appreciate the kind words Tim but work & life balance just isn't suitable for me to continue doing this as a side business. Maybe one day in the future.



As I mentioned yesterday I was going to have to source a trunk lid emblem and a header panel emblem which came in the first part of this week. No pitting and a little worn. Should fit perfect with the layout of the car.



Photo 53 - Header panel emblem

Photo 54 - 57 - Trunk emblem. You can see the original painted stripes have the contour cutout for the emblem which is why I removed most but not all of the body work that had been done prior to me getting my hands on it.

[Lemans69]

This a great thread! Thanks for taking the time to describe the products, procedures, and photos!

[PeteLeathersac]

'

Awesome stuff Darrell, keep rockin'!

~ Pete

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[A12pilot]

Excellent work Big D!! Love you documentarary () on the products you use too. Good job!!

Cheers
Dave

[cook_dw]

Thanks guys.

Not much of an update over the weekend due to other projects but I did want to tie up the loose end of the door handle bolts and their markings. Cleaned in Evaporust and then soaked with PB Blaster Silicone Lubricant.


Photos 58 - 60 - Pass side door handle bolts

Next major milestone in this project will be building a small form to soak the rear bumper in Evaporust and see how well it can be revived. Here are some before photos of the bumper brackets, bolts and nuts. Again soaked in evapo and the sprayed with silicone lubricant.

Photos 61 - 64 - Before photos of the brackets etc. Note the overspray on the outer bumper bracket due to the repair on the quarter