refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

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Melchior
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refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by Melchior »

Hi everyone,

I want to refurbish the 2 aluminium strips on the rocker rails. As these do have a profile and cannot be replaced I want to sand them down and polish them - anybody who did this already and does have experience?

Secondly the surface was treated somehow - I am sure it was no plating (like Chrome) but kind of anodizing. I went to a professional anodizer but he said that he cannot do it this way. The surface is somehow silky tarnich. Does anybody know how the technique is called when the strips were treated genuinly and which company would do this job?

regards,

Martin
250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
Melchior
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by Melchior »

Foto of Alu strip
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250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
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tyang
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by tyang »

Oh, yeah, I'm VERY familiar with sanding and polishing these pieces! They were originally clear anodized, but would have to be sanded and polished to a high shine before sending them out for anodizing which will dull the finish slightly. If you simply polish them, they will dull, and scuff easily. The anodizing gives them a slightly harder surface.

I've always wondered if some of the new ceramic coatings would work, but have not tried it. The surfaces would still have to be sanded smooth to take a new finish like high temp ceramic, or powder coating.

Tom
'63 330 America #5053
Melchior
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by Melchior »

Hello Tom, do you sand blast them softly and sand them with paper afterwards? I think sand blasting them first would make it easier to get rid of the hard anodized surface. After that saning with paper and polishing with the machine to high gloss finish before anodizing - is this the way?

Regards,

Martin
250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
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tyang
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by tyang »

Hi Martin,

I think blasting may remove more of the softer material that doesn't have the anodizing, which means you'll have to sand further down into the aluminum to flatten the surface. That's just my opinion. Try it, and see how much anodizing can be removed without damaging the rest of the surface. I would use a coarse sand paper to remove the anodizing and work your way up to to a finer sandpaper for buffing. It's a long tedious task!

Tom
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by 330GT »

One can de-anodize the part before trying to remove any scratches or marks. That way there is no hard surface and one won't get dips where the anodizing was marred. It also makes the sanding much faster.

See https://www.rctalk.com/de-anodizing-and ... g-aluminum for the method.

For long parts like the door sills, one can use a PVC pipe of the right diameter with a cap glued on one end. Another choice is a section of plastic roof gutter with two end caps. The advantage of the latter is that you can see the item and it's easier to agitate.

Once everything is sanded and highly polished, it can be re-anodized the prevent new scratches from grit on shoe soles. Or just keep it covered with blue tape to be removed for shows, etc. I think that clear auto film (like used on the front of cars) would provide protection that would look pretty normal and it can be removed/replaced as needed.
Regards, Kerry
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Melchior
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Re: refurbishment of Alu strips on rocker rails

Post by Melchior »

Thank you very much for these hints, I think de-anodizing is an excellent idea and will try this. It‘s winter time anyhow and the snowy season is ideal to do refurbishments like this one...

Thank you agan, Martin
250 GTE #3631 (series Ii)
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