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I am in the process of having my 1968 3-Speed painted. When were the trim tags on 1968's applied, before or after the factory paint?
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after
During 1968, and for some years beyond, trim tags were installed after paint. Do not remove the trim tag is your intent to paint the jams. The chances of reinstalling it in an undetectable manner are low. If you intend to paint the jams just mask the tag.Terry -
Re: after
Terry (and the rest) - maybe a very stupid question but would your advice be the same (do not remove tag, but mask it) if you paint the full body??
ErikComment
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Re: after
You intend to paint body, but not the jams? I suppose one would mask the jams in that case, don’t you think? -- you don't want to do what the factory did to a friend's new Corvette -- they painted the rear quarter without masking the jamb/interior. As a result they also painted the edge of the saddle leather seat white along with the carpet. And the C6 guys are complaining about orange peel on the new cars -- they don't know how good they have it.TerryComment
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Re: after
Oh sorry Terry - I am doing a body off so I was just wondering how to deal with the trim tag - removing it or masking it? '
ErikComment
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Re: after
The only compelling reason I can think of to remove a trim tag from a C3 is if one had to replace the birdcage in that area. In all other cases mask it off. KISS is the best policy.TerryComment
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Terry, It Seems To Me...
You will not be able to conceal that the car has been painted by masking the trim plate.
You don't have to paint very much to realize that no matter how carefully you mask trim, the inevitable legacy of that masking will be there forever; the thickness of the tape provides a dam for the paint to flow up against and make a tape line. Even if you are perfect, and get the tape precisely on the edge of the tape, then dust and lint will be drawn to the edge and corners like magic. I don't care how carefully you mask the edge, it will be detectable; it's simple a matter of how close you need to look.
Perhaps the penalty of disturbing the trim tag is greater than the deduction for the paint, but isn't there is a difference between trim tag tampering and actually having swapped trim tags? Not having done that much exterior judging, I'm not sure how swaps are detected anyway unless it's a detectable repro tag. Unlike the VIN plate installation, which requires rosette rivet heads, the trim tag install seems pretty straight forward and could be easily duplicated with standard aluminum pop rivets. What am I missing here?...Email me if this is on a "need-to-know" basis.Comment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
I'm sure I have seen trim tags masked in a way that is undetectable, but of course I wouldn't know -- that is precisely the definition of undetectable.
The issue with removing the trim tag is not the style of the replacement rivets (attention to detail will resolve that), but rather the tool that installed them. I don't know what it was (although I have my suspicions), but the hand tools that are small enough to access this area without removing the door do not deform the rivet in the same way the factory tool did. Even in those cases where the door is removed (and reinstalling the door exactly like the factory is another post) the crush of the rivet is difficult to get exactly like the factory did it. I suppose with the right tool one might be able to do it, but I would think a careful masking is easier – at least it is reversible – once the tag is removed there is no going back.TerryComment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
Steve instead of masking brush on light grease on the trim tag only before your going to paint the car once the paint has cured wipe the grease off. Most times when you try to remove a pop rivet it tends to spin with the drill bit causing the part being held by it to be gouged or have grooves from this. PaulComment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
The only thing I noted as unusal about the rivets was that the mandrel was pulled completely out of the rivet leaving the center hole empty. The assembly process probably used a pneumatic setting tool that pulled the mandrel completely through the rivet without looking back.
Most hand setting tools are designed to pull up the shank of the rivet, collapsing it against the backing material, until the setting pull is sufficient to pinch off the mandrel leaving the hole filled with the stub.
If you're lucky, and you select the proper grip length, you can duplicate the factory rivet appearance (pulling out the mandrel) by constantly releasing the tool and moving up the tool on the mandrel until it's tight against the head, and carefully resuming the setting pull...if you're lucky, and you didn't use rivets with too much grip length, you can pull the mandrel through.
Pop rivets typically do not have any "crush" on the head; if the heads are marked by the factory tool, I would figure that it was incidental to the process...maybe the result of the high pressure used and the tool being triggered without being held against the head.Comment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
I don't disagree with anything you posted, except the crush of the head. The factory tool usually did that, and did it in a way that a hand tool will not.
I still stand by the Keep it Simple.... (KISS) philosophy. I also do not recommend doing anything that is irreversible unless there is a compelling reason to do so. I don't think the masking difficulty compares with the riveting difficulty, but to each his own.TerryComment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
The plant used air-powered pop-rivet guns - we bought them from United Shoe Machinery, who held the patent on the pop-rivet at the time.Comment
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Re: Terry, It Seems To Me...
I would think you could let the paint start to set up, pull the tape and then use a good thin rag and some mineral spirits to soften the mask line?? That is what I would do. Take care, TerryComment
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