Fender tag paint questions

[fireguyfire]

I'm about to repaint my 73 challenger, and have just finished prepping the bare metal engine bay. I was thinking about my fender tag (which is off the car) and have a couple of questions.

Firstly, do you guys bead blast the fender tag, or just leave it alone? Seems iffy because the metal is thin, but if I add more paint over the factory paint it might start to blur out the numbers and letters.

And secondly, are you guys remounting the fender tag over bare metal, and then priming and painting the engine bay, or priming the bay, then adding the tag and then painting over that, or priming and painting the engine bay and fender tag separately, and then installing the tag after?
Seems like the 3 options .

[750-h2]

I used paint stripper on my tag. I then glass beaded it with low air pressure to remove the rust. Body and tag were painted separately.

[anlauto]

I just have my guys paint them separately and install after

Depending on the amount of rust...I just wire wheel them

[fireguyfire]

My tag has no rust but quite a bit of paint on it.
It is also very slightly bent; anyone have any tips on "flattening" out a very slightly bent fender tag?

[cuda hunter]

If it is bent on the corner that is a factory bend.
They would have the tag on the car before paint.  Then pry up on one side to get paint under it then screw it back down.
At least that's how I understand it.
So if it's bent on the corner, leave it alone. 

Paint stripper. 

[6bblgt]

 

[RUNCHARGER]

I would take a clear photo or pencil rubbing of the tag before using any method to strip it just in case. I've seen fairly good looking tags get destroyed as they can be thinner than they look after 50 years.

[JS29]

Glass bead not sand blast, Cuda hunter is spot on. The one screw on the fender tag were it is bent gets paint, the other side is bare, no paint. 

[headejm]

For a non-rusted tag...paint stripper, clean with acetone or lacquer thinner, paint, enjoy! 

If it's bent up and looking bad...have a reproduction tag made and store your original in a safe place.

[fireguyfire]

Here's my tag still in original paint; has a few slight bends but I'm guessing that overall it's in pretty good shape

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes, that one's very nice. I would use paint stripper on that one I think.

[JS29]

As you can see, the hole on the top of the picture has no color on it. the hole on the bottom dose. to be authentic the screw on that one would not have paint. 

[fireguyfire]

Interesting observation; thanks for pointing that out

[Claudia]

I did a media blast on mine with super low air pressure (off the car), then prime, paint and installation!

[fireguyfire]

Do you guys prime the tag first, or just hit it with colour?
I'm thinking priming them paint might obscure the stamping s a bit?