Recoating the Taillight Buckets

[J_Speegle]

Thought I would offer this short post. I refinished the surface of the taillight buckets (silver shinny surfaces) the other day and was very happy with the results. Though it is a 69 Shelby taillight panel the practices would be the same/

1- Taillight panel was repaired as needed and primed after masking off the taillight "bucket" area

2- Back side of the taillight panel was recoat with a "pinkish" paint we had matched to the original gel coat

3- Surface of the buckets was sanded lightly to remove any minor imperfections, chipped or peeling original coating and to prepare it to accept the new coating

4- Masked and sprayed a new surface using a rattle can - applying three light coats from multiple angles so that all surfaces were well covered with a smooth finish.

Finished produce was pretty reflective and very close if not exactly like the original surface of the bucket. Hope this helps a couple of those that are facing this task

Product used was "Chrome Galvanize" made by Aervoe

 

[admin]

Great post. Thanks Jeff!

 

[J_Speegle]

As a follow up I though this might be helpful though it does contain some 69 details that should be ignored by owners of 68 Cal Specials So please excuse the black on the taillight panel and the taillight frames


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Working this week getting the taillight panel prepped for installation.

On inspecting the panel (all ready painted) I found I should have checked the eight – per side, tread inserts before getting this far, but not really a problem.

Originally there were four steel thread inserts that were molded into the panel’s fiberglass to retain the taillight lens to the panel and four to retain the bezel to the panel.


Here is where I found one of the inserts was missing.

Here is a look at an original insert in place

To fix I located some thread inserts designed for installing threads into wood products.

Since they were too long for this purpose I ground off approx 1/8” then taped them to the end of a flat bald screw driver and started them into the original holes which still retained threads that the original inserts made.

Originally the edges of the lens were “blacked out” so that light did not emit from the edges when the brakes or taillights were on.

Earlier the back side was restored by reproducing the original pinkish gelcoat. Painting of the exterior surface produced a little overspray as shown.

Phosphate retaining screws hold the bezels to the panel – all done for the day.

 

[Diesel Donna]

Thank you Jeff. Many years ago I had one panel that was black inside...so I lined it with the shiny side of aluminum foil! I guess I better do it up right huh?

 

[J_Speegle]

Thank you Jeff. Many years ago I had one panel that was black inside...so I lined it with the shiny side of aluminum foil! I guess I better do it up right huh?

The tin foil trick is something that was common on the cars from the 30-40's (with 6 volt systems) Think you'll get slightly better results with recoating the housing