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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Repaired Wiper Bezels

The wiper bezels I repaired with Muggyweld are ready to send off to be replated.
 

You can still see tooling scratches, but the parts will receive a final finish and then be flash-plated with copper before they are chromed. That should make them look quite nice.

I would estimate I have at least 6-7 hours of work on each one to get them to this point, so I now understand why many shops won't attempt to repair pot metal, and if they do, they charge a pretty penny. That said, it was fun doing the repair, but would have been more fun if I had the proper equipment to achieve the final finish. If I had many more parts to repair, I'd look for more appropriate tools.

Overall, I'll give Muggyweld a C+ rating for use by a novice. The instructions and their YouTube videos lack information, so the learning process becomes expensive when a mistake is made and you have to grind away excessive material. A few feet of alloy rod and a small bottle of flux are all you receive in the kit, so the markup has to be at least $50. On the plus side, the applied material is easy to work, and errors are easily corrected if you do screw up.

If the strong winds ever stop, the next step is attaching the tailpanel. Yes, I could weld inside, but I much prefer working outside when possible, especially when grinding down the welds, so I'll wait for better weather.

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