Does anyone have any tips to get this part of the roof stainless to stay in place? This piece was always a little rough, but my body guy took it off and had it sent to the polisher, so it may have been tweaked more in the process. But it does not seem to want to wrap around this corner and if I force it around, the bottom edge kinks and their is nothing for the lip to grab onto.
as a mad polisher from way back, I would be tempted to hit the inside of that curve on my buffer and see if the heat pulled it back in again. just on that spot where it needs to come in.
That would be worth a try. Thanks. I have a buffing wheel, so ill mess with it later on and see if it brings it in.
be careful with the buffer especially on inside as it will catch and you will end up with a xmas tree decoration.looking at picture from bottom view it looks like when buffing it caught on buffer and twisted by the marks on it unless it is reflecting off something.I doubt very much you will be able to get shape back with heat from buffing..having said that I wish you good luck.
Ya the bottom is pretty mangled up. Thats very possibly what happened to it. Any other ideas other than heat from a buffing wheel to correct it? Im also thinking maybe using some small pliers to give the bottom more of a lip to grab with. But there is quite a bit of force pulling it away, so a lip would have to hold it pretty solid.
Ditto on the "BE CAREFUL". buffers are one of the more dangerous power tools in the shop. I definetly would not try to buff the inner surface. It will grab the wheel......looks like it already had done that. I'd maybe be looking for a replacement piece and either buff it by hand or possibly a small hand held power buffer like the 4" type they make for getting into small areas. I'm also curious about what's going on with your project (avatar car?). I see the jam/pillar area is stripped, but not finished. Same for the driprail..looks painted (primer?) but not seam sealed. So, with that in mind, I'm curious why your attaching the trim at this time. Is there a small piece missing....kinda like a cap that snaps over both pieces at the joint. Or does the front piece snap over the side piece? Is it possible some attachment stuff/clips are missing? How's the other side?
Its not mine so I have nothing to lose—-my first attempt would probably be a heat gun and the second a torch. May discolor it but it can be polished again. And probably concentrate on that mangled area. Then find a replacement.
Ya thanks. Your right, I would probably damage it more. I don't have that much experience with a buffing wheel. I understand how, but these small pieces with multiple edges would probably be above my skill level. And it seems like there is a piece missing, but it wasn't on the car when I got it, so I'm not 100% sure. Yes, this is the car in my avatar. I have been having scheduling issues with my body guy for a while now. The roof was supposed to be completely stripped and painted in its final color before the glass was installed, but he just didn't have the time. So the glass got installed and he said he could just mask around it. That was about a year ago and he's still too busy to continue working on my car, and Im out of money and all my time is******** with work and kids, so Im just trying to get it resembled as much as possible until i have the time and money to do it all right. I know a lot of what Im doing is backwards, and Im not happy about that. This whole project is a learning experience for me, the first time I've ever done this amount of work to a car, so Im learning as I'm going. Probably could have built 2 cars with the time and money ive dropped into this thing doing most things twice. I either sell the car and probably not have another project for years, or keep on like this and eventually have something nice. Always open to advice and criticisms. Im here to learn and so far this platform has been incredibly helpful along the way.
Job....kids..........AND a cool car project. You're doing great. I had****umed from you forum name, you maybe had a custom shop. Don't be afraid to ask questions.......lol, on the '57 forum, I have about 3x as many posts as the next guy on the "how many posts?" list. Half of them are me needing to know how to do things, and the other half are mostly passing that info on. Of course, there's a lot of bs'ing also. So, the white on your car is primer or paint?
Thanks. Ya the name I got from my dad's old business "Voodoo Seats". We made high end motorcycle and chopper seats. And yes, the car is in primer. Or at least most of the car. Its a light grey actually. And I ended up getting the stainless to stay on by carefully bending and tweaking it with pliers, screwdrivers and lots of tape to protect the surfaces. I think it looks ok considering the condition it was in before. Definitely not a great fit, but for a garage built heap, it will work.
This is on the other side. I got it to fit on ok, but I'm thinking the polishing shop must have heated it up and bent it in the process. The radius in the back did not fit properly, so it kinked in a few spots as i was installing it, leaving dents on the outside. And looking down the edge of it, you can see the entire middle is bent in. Ill try prying something in between it and the body to pull it out a little. But it seems like none of my stainless fit properly after it was polished. The big piece above the rear window has this large gap that wasn't there before. And its like the radius changed because i had to force the ends down, which pushed the center high like you see. Is this common or did my guy mess up my parts?
They were sitting in my dad's shop for a long time so I'm not 100% sure. But I think he said they were from a 65 impala or something similar?
you asked if the guy screwed it up to put it mildly YES.the only way to fix it is to replace the pieces as they are never going to come back I am sure you do not want to hear that but.they are like that from being twisted not heat from polishing.Rich texas 57 asked if there were clips to cover the space where the pieces meet yes.there should be a clip if lost may be hard to find.when they twisted they stretched an accomplished stainless polisher may have a way to (shrink) them back but the labour cost will probably be more than replacement pieces.they would need your car to keep fitting as they attempt to repair as I doubt very much there are any jigs out there.good luck
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