Road Runner Nest

One of the things I haven't been able to figure out is how to make my factory ash tray look better. The outside, dashboard part is fine, but the inside of the tray itself shows it's age, and the fact that it was used. How can I freshen it up, or where can I get another? I see that its rivited to the black dashboard door. Thanks for the help.

some folks just lightly bead blast or use some sort of media very lightly not a lot of air pressure and just spray like a zinc type chromate paint or plating, makes it look like brand new, check out the "refurbished" rear defrost for a 71-74 b-body on ebay now, the guy wants like 400.00 for complete resto, but you can see how sharp it looks, he did the same with the steel housing

You could always try letting it soak in some form of chemical like the kind for jewelry and such,it thats doesnt work i guess you could do whatever you it then refinish it.

ROGERLEE wrote:some folks just lightly bead blast or use some sort of media very lightly not a lot of air pressure and just spray like a zinc type chromate paint or plating, makes it look like brand new, check out the "refurbished" rear defrost for a 71-74 b-body on ebay now, the guy wants like 400.00 for complete resto, but you can see how sharp it looks, he did the same with the steel housing

I like the Zinc Chromate idea. . .like it a lot. . .

if you can't bead blast, then I'd use steel wool on the inside starting rough and moving to the finer stuff.

But the Zinc Chromate idea is sure worth a strong look especially considering the 400 buck alternative.

Unless I can seperate the ashtray from the dashboard door, and get it riveted back together, I don't know about the chemical idea. I did however consider naval jelly. Bead blasting seems like a good idea, I just need to pick up the media. What would you guys think about a little wire wheel at the end of a dremmel?

that would work, but wouldn't be as smooth as a media form, some folks use walnut shells as a media, i would think some light pressure and glass beads should do the trick, then hit it with some zinc, anything would look better than some old rusty 38 yr old cig residue, some of those old ash trays do get disgusting

Thanks for the zinc idea ROGERLEE. What do you think about sandblasting, too harsh?

sandblast would work, after all its just standard type steel gauge, only thing is sometimes the sandblaster gets carried away and all of a sudden you have swisscheese, just tell him you want a light blasting

I'll be the one screwing it up,
Since I live on an island, sand is plentiful, I would have to track down and buy glass bead. I guess if I'm going to paint it, sand should be OK. It does show some rust, so I'm going to hit it w/naval jelly to see how that affects the finish. I could always blast it later.

I've used a product called Oxysolv. You let the part soak in it overnight and it will disolve the rust....and it will leave most types of plating intact (also won't damage rubber or plastic).

I was reading a post that said that Oxysolv has been replaced with the Fast Etch.

http://forum.eastwoodco.com/showthread.php?t=4449

I looked on the website and it looks like a good product, cleans rust and leaves a protective zinc-phosphate coating.I wonder if I can use it in my carb basket to clean my carb parts.

OOPS....that was the wrong product I stated earlier. I should have said Evapo-Rust NOT Oxysolv. Not sure if the Oxy would be safe on the plastic, but the Evapo-Rust is safe.

Thanks for the tips fellas, I'm going to try the naval jelly and see how that reacts with the metal. If it's not much of a help, I'll blast it.

your choice, but I wouldn't discount the EvapoRust alernative...it's much less harsh on the finish and surrounding material....
http://www.evaporust.com/

I've done 2 applications of the naval jelly so far. I haven't left it on for more than 10 minutes per application, and things are looking much better. There is still a stubborn rust spot or two that is going to require another application, but it's tons better than before. The metal that was only midly stained is almost like new. The wire brush wasn't going to work. I tried it in a little spot on the back of the ashtray, and it turned the matal a darker color, so that was NG. Thanks for all the help.