It's still Tech week, right? Here's mine. I have a '64 Olds 98 and one of the front fender emblems is broken. At the Iola swap meet this year I found the emblem I was looking for, but one of the studs was broken off and it only has two to begin with. This one wasn't a cantidate for double sided tape either. As I'm looking at the emblem, trying to decide if I want to pay the $1 that the guy was asking, he shared this little gem with me. First pic, here's the emblem I need that I bought for $1. Yay! Unfortunately, it only comes with two studs, and one's already broken off. Boo. (my pictures aren't the best, gotta look close to see the one stud that's left) So as I was instructed by the guy who sold me the emblem, I got myself some J-B weld and a nail. The nail needs to be fat enough to get a speed nut or clip onto, but small enough to fit into the little recessed area on the back of the emblem. I bent the nail over at a 90 degree angle and I sanded out the area where I wanted to epoxy my nail. Mixed up some J-B on a piece of cardboard. Then I J-B welded my nail into the little recessed area, with the end of the nail sticking up where the old stud used to be. I put a piece of masking tape on the end of the nail to hold it up at a 90, so it wouldn't tip over. When the epoxy hardened, I was left with this Only took maybe 5 minutes, and now I have two studs that I can get a speed nut or a clip onto. I find that most little cast pot metal pieces have recessed areas in them that would work for this (since the car companies could save 1/2 cent on each one made from that much less materials being used) but it's not impossible to grind a little groove into the back of a part to give yourself a spot to put the nail, if necessary. PS. A couple other dumb little ideas I had that don't deserve their own thread. When credit card companies send you junk mail offers, save the little fake credit cards that they include sometimes. They make great bondo spreaders, since they're flexible and they keep their edge for a long time (unlike store bought spreaders that tend to get nicked up easily) Also, since political elections are coming up, get yourself some of those political signs that they give away for your lawn. They almost all have 1/4" round steel rod in them that can be used for custom stuff. After elections, everyone throws them away anyway, so it's lots of round rod for free. Get them from your neighbors.
JB weld!!-I can already feel the hate coming-you didn't TIG or MIG it. But I dig it. Great simple idea.
Good tip. By the way, anyone too proud to use JB weld is just that, too proud. I fixed a chevy small block that was cracked because the poor people who owned it didn't put anti-freeze in it. I had a six inch crack behind the motor mount in the water jacket. I JB'd it for them, it ran for several years until they wrecked it. Everytime my wife and I stay at a motel, they let us keep our bondo spreaders! Whats this thing about political signs in yards? That must be a local Wisconsin thing.
You can't MIG weld on a pot metal casting anyway. And you can't TIG it without ruining the chrome. I though it was a pretty slick idea. Anybody got a better suggestion? EDIT (not trying to be a jerk or anything, as Unionvillehaunt pointed out, that sounded kinda ***holey of me)
I bought some of those aluminum brazing rods from the guy at the pomona swap yesterday. He had some pot metal emblems and stuff on his table that he had brazed. I am anxious to try it. You just use a regulat propane torch...
Ive used the JB weld trick a few times. I used a small bolt and it held nice. Just do not over tighten.
Ya-had a rhyme one time so I dropped a dime-I remember a thread a few monthes ago about a JB Weld trick and the folks got out their pitchforks and torches. And I didn't know you couldn't MIG pot metal. All I've ever done is cuss it. So I learned 2 things from this thread.
It's alot harder than he makes it look> I saw him braze two soda cans together. I'm still trying not to melt the piece I'm brazing upon!! Practice practice practice.
Never weld that which can be glued! Save the welding for structural repairs. O.K. Start sending the hate mail to me again.
Again, sorry if I came off sounding like a jerk, I didn't mean to. The nice thing about the nail trick is there is a ton more surface area for the nail to adhere to the emblem. Epoxying a stud back on will work, but this (at least, in theory) is stronger. And the magical brazing rod does work, but it takes a lot of practice. My welding teacher could TIG soda cans together with regular aluminum TIG rod, he didn't need the special filler rods for that. The brazing rod does also work on pot metal, I've done it, however in this case I couldn't do that because it'd melt the chrome right off the emblem and I don't want to replate it. If it was getting rechromed afterwards, then TIG away.
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