70 SE Tail panel restoration ... Trial Updated Photos

[Ed]

I bought a 100.00  panel off ebay.  Its in about the same condition as the one on my car.  I am going to try and restore it myself.  I was even thinking of cutting off old ends and aluminum weld new end pieces on.  I can test fit on car before complete and painting .  Appears it was dark argent originally. The previous owner came by and said that he did paint the one on my car black many years ago.   I bought a trim hammer and anvil.  I have to do all the stainless trim that was on the car anyway.  I have the buffing wheels and buffer ect. 
I have done the buffing before,  but just light scratches.  I am a paint and body guy.  Ive been watching  you tube vids on how to repair stainless .   Last photo is one on the car

[autoxcuda]

Look pretty restorable.

I've done 68 Barracuda aluminum grillle trim in worse shape. But those are thicker than the Challenger rear trim.

Don't sand off the bright dip (anodize) on it. You'll remove to much aluminum and thin the metal. Use Easy Off oven cleaner to strip the bright dip off

Use wood to pound against. Make small hits. Moving the metal a lot on at one time fatigue and cracks it.

When finishing , wrap sandpaper around hard block to create miniature longboard. That will get the small straightening lumps out and waves.

[soundcontrol]

Cool, following this, have to do the same on mine, both the SE rear trim and the steel pieces, and I wanna do it myself. I got as far as buying a hammer and a small anvil at Eastwood. I did manage to aluminum solder a hole in the SE trim shut though, not sure if it will polish up to the same finish as the trim, but I will try.

[Brads70]

When I did mine I used various peening tools I made, some metal, some hard wood. It's not real hard just go slow and don't be in a big hurry

[70RTSE383]

I had an idea on repairing my original panel that was really damaged and cracked on the ends. That is to buy regular trim pieces for the edge of the quarters. Then cut off the the damaged molded in ends of the finish panel leaving a little left forming a tab. The tab would than slip under the end pieces covering the tabs and should look the same as original even about a foot away. I did not  follow through as I found a nice one locally but thought this may help others. I did redo the leading edges of the front light buckets. I only sanded off the clear anodizing on the leading edge. After straightening and repolishing they look very good. The front pieces are a substantially harder aluminum than the rear finish panel. Those are really delicate. Enjoy!😊

[anlauto]

Why not just do a two piece design. Cut the existing dented up "trim" pieces off leaving enough material to make a flat flange. Mount the tail panel on the car first, then install brand new corner trim pieces on top of your new flat flange you made holding everything in place.

[Ed]

Ye I was thinking doing that also,  I believe from just a few feet away or closer you could not tell.     

[Ed]

Thats what I am trying to do.  It seems do able  Yes that metal is thin.  I have most dents out of the large part of panel. It is delicate, so thin.  Ill post pics as I go.

[70RTSE383]

That is what I was saying😊

[anlauto]

That is what I was saying😊

Great minds think alike...you're just faster then me... actually didn't read your post until after I typed mine all out....but hey, it's all good

[70RTSE383]

 

[70/6chall]

After google searching these things and talking to people at the large Mopar gatherings here on the West Coast I have found them to be very hard to come by in almost any condition. My association with these panels starts with my '70 Challenger, mine came with one, and as they all get from daily driving, thrashed. I started looking for another one to have restored while the other was still on the car. Well...... one jumped up at the Spring Fling here in SoCal, gave the guy the $20. he wanted. Had it professionally restored, it's been in my garage for about 20 years now. Ended up taking the one off the car, very carefully, and having it restored also when I had the car last painted. The one I bought came with all the original fasteners, which I still have. Here are some pics of it all.  Thanks,   Al

[70RTSE383]

Looks great😎

[Ed]

looks good thanks for the pictures . 

[cordodge]

I sent mine to Patmia in Detroit it have one dent one one of the corners, when it came back I could not tell or remember which side was damaged. They also did all the trim on the car and it was flawless, trim I thought was junk they can fix. Great price as well, Dave from Rosevillemoparts sent me that way.

Send them a picture of it to see if they can fix it, that's what I did. Mine had similar damage.