Restoration of aluminum lower sill moulding’68 Polara

HWYCRZR

Old Man with a Hat
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After years of searching for new lower sill moulding for my ‘68 Polara I am going to try and restore. To be fair I did find some NOS ones a few years back, but didn’t have the money laying around, and of course now they are gone. I had asked a few shops to take a look at it but not many are interested in messing with aluminum. Also due to the long flat nature they are concerned about getting it perfectly straight, and walk away.
So here goes nothing.
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First step, remove anodizing. Since these are 7 ft long I used a plastic rain gutter for a trough. There are always a few different opinions on what to use to remove the anodizing. I used easy off oven cleaner which contains lye.
Sprayed down both sides and covered with plastic to keep the fumes down. I let it soak about an hour and then took a scotch pad to it. If the pad sands or scratches the aluminum it is working through the anodizing. Also the shine will be gone and the aluminum has a dulled sound if you tap it with something. With the anodizing it has a sharper tinny sound.
If it is still partially shiny then it needs to soak in Easy Off a little longer.
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Years ago when I was restoring my 68 Coronet 500 convertible the lower rocker trim was beat to heck, and I could not find a decent replacement set so I was lucky enough to find an old timer locally who repaired, straightened and polished trim in his spare time. I wish I had photos of the before and after but all I can say it was amazing work no way could you tell from the front side that those aluminum rocker trims had suffered from any curb rash or other damage.

I do know that he had to strip the anodizing off them and so I did have to polish that lower trim frequently since the aluminum was now exposed to the environment and would oxidize rather quickly.
 
Anodizing off the first piece. You can really tell the difference in look and feel.
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I really would like to have them re anodized clear. A long with a couple of other pieces that I had to fix. (Left front wheel molding and rear tail extension trim). So far so only place I have found is out in California. They acid etch it to remove the old and removes surface scratches. Then they re anodize it. I haven’t found a home kit yet.
I will keep polishing until then.
 
For $100 I would try it. At $550 or more for the capacity, I would elect to send it off for a professional.
 
Any way, second piece stripped.
Also dressed down my body hammers and dolly’s. Sanded with 80 grit down to 220 so I won’t leave much for witness marks. Also bought a chunk of 1-1/2@ angle Iron for a bed. Also dress it down to keep from imprinting. The angle iron edge is just right to straighten the lower attachment flange. Will straighten these first as it should help straighten the entire piece. Need to figure out the radius and flange for the top side this is most critical.
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Getting it somewhat straight. I need to think about facing something up to match the top profile. (We’ll bottom in this photo)
Maybe I need to router one out of hardwood.
I think I can do this. However they are very flexible without the anodizing.
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Yes Anodizing makes it very stiff and protective. That is why you really cannot effectively pound out dents when it is anodized. I am concerned with dents and dings when I do get this done and no longer anodized.
 
Will see when I get done with it. If it’s a 10 footer ( looks good 10 feet away)I probably won’t bother. If I get it better quality I may consider re-anodizing.
 
Getting my tools made. I am not very good metal fabricator. I am a little out practice welding. I had to cut a little slice to do the flip down for the top beveled side. Wouldn’t you know it, I welded the first on flipped up (upside down).
Next step is to make a barrel shaped tool for the concave edge.
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