55, 56 Taillamp Lenses. Weatherproof?
- Thread starter Jwawhite
- Start date
Hot Rod Reverend
Well-known member
Not quite sure what you mean by the notch, maybe I have never recognized that before - there should be a rubber seal from the chrome bezel to the sheet metal body, then like you say a cork seal of the lens to the chrome bezel with three retaining screws. I have never had any trouble with anything sealing up. I have seen some companies use a foam type seal for the lens, but then again a lot of car companies back then used cork to seal their valve covers. Are you have trouble?
Last edited:
Jwawhite
Well-known member
Hello Hot Rod Reverend! Have looked a bit at your rebuild pages, just respect on this end for you and your work.
What happens over a period of time, rust develops on the face of the taillamp base, just below bulb. I've just bought two new ones and I'm trying to alleviate this issue.
Question, when you did your body off work, did you come across any issues when torquing the body to frame bolts? Something must be missing from mine when the car was not put back together correctly. Please take a look at my post about this, was yours this way?
What happens over a period of time, rust develops on the face of the taillamp base, just below bulb. I've just bought two new ones and I'm trying to alleviate this issue.
Question, when you did your body off work, did you come across any issues when torquing the body to frame bolts? Something must be missing from mine when the car was not put back together correctly. Please take a look at my post about this, was yours this way?
Daves55Sedan
Well-known member
Okay, so as far as the taillight lens gaskets, I did not buy the repro junk. I made my own lens gaskets out of the really nice foam gasket material you can buy at any chain auto parts store. They sell it in rolls however long you want.
You can cut out the gaskets using templates. I made a cardboard template, then cut the gaskets out using a boxcutter or a modellers exacto knife (exacto knife is much better and more precise). Then I used a hole punch set to punch out the three screw holes. My homemade gaskets are ten times better than the cork ones and mine don't leak.
Now to address the rusted chrome taillight bezels. You are better off getting your original bezels re-chrome plated as long as you tell them that you want double chrome plating (preferably in a fresh acid bath). The problem with chrome plating is that the guy that is doing the plating has a flat piece of plating material in the bath and does not take the effort to bend the material and hold it so that a premium amount of plating is attracted to that inner surface. It may cost a little more but ask him if he can do that. I have done it so why can't they.
If you buy the repro taillight bezels, there is very little chrome around that inner surface and I can guarantee that they will rust in very short order. I have had two sets of repro bezels that not only did rust there, but also suffered peeling of the chrome around the outer exposed surface. Horrible quality. Don't waste your money on the repro's. I just last year had a set re-chromed and done right for less than the cost of the repro's.
You can cut out the gaskets using templates. I made a cardboard template, then cut the gaskets out using a boxcutter or a modellers exacto knife (exacto knife is much better and more precise). Then I used a hole punch set to punch out the three screw holes. My homemade gaskets are ten times better than the cork ones and mine don't leak.
Now to address the rusted chrome taillight bezels. You are better off getting your original bezels re-chrome plated as long as you tell them that you want double chrome plating (preferably in a fresh acid bath). The problem with chrome plating is that the guy that is doing the plating has a flat piece of plating material in the bath and does not take the effort to bend the material and hold it so that a premium amount of plating is attracted to that inner surface. It may cost a little more but ask him if he can do that. I have done it so why can't they.
If you buy the repro taillight bezels, there is very little chrome around that inner surface and I can guarantee that they will rust in very short order. I have had two sets of repro bezels that not only did rust there, but also suffered peeling of the chrome around the outer exposed surface. Horrible quality. Don't waste your money on the repro's. I just last year had a set re-chromed and done right for less than the cost of the repro's.
Daves55Sedan
Well-known member
For any steel or tin part that needs to be re-chromed, I have always removed rust down to the bare metal before I take the parts to the re-chroming shop. Sometimes this can be accomplished by blasting the rust off using a workbench grinder motor with a wire wheel (using the wire wheel). Ugggh, mine gets a lot of use. So the wire wheel can become dull, but if you take the wire wheel off the motor shaft and turn it around, it will work like new again. If there is pitted rust, the part might still be salvaged by carefully grinding down to bare metal using a Dremel rotary tool with a little grinding stone attachment, but then the metal needs to be polished down smooth. Regardless of how you bring it to them, they will still dunk the part in acid to clean it and polish it down. There can be no fingerprints and even the natural oil in your hands and fingertips must be completely erased prior to chrome plating. That's why they always clean it first.
Ole Don.... are you saying that you paint primer over the part with the intent to have the plating over the primer???
Ole Don.... are you saying that you paint primer over the part with the intent to have the plating over the primer???