Hood Lettering Repair

As usual, the majority of the pins that locate and retain the hood letters were broken or missing. They had already been re-chromed, but whoever did that job neglected to repair the pins before plating. Since I had been concentrating on installing the brite body trim, the Plymouth name on the hood was next on the agenda. The repair process was time consuming, but not difficult since the results of the pin installation would not be visible from outside the car.

I prepared the letters by first cutting the broken pins flush with the back of the letter and drilling new holes in the original pin locations. A new, very sharp, 1/16^th inch drill bit easily cut the old pot metal, and the holes were then finished to size with a Dremel and a small bur tip. I oversized the hole enough to fill with plenty of five-minute epoxy to hold the pins securely. The new pins were cut from small panel nails.

I let the epoxy cure overnight and then installed the letters with a dab of trim adhesive where the pins protruded through on the back side of the hood sheet metal. It was just one more thing that wasn’t stock but the results worked out fine for a daily driver.

No pictures yet, but I installed the headlights today. Once again I’ll have to loosen several bolts that mount the grille parts and adjust every attachment point before the pot metal headlight surrounds will clear the grille. It must have been frustrating for the factory workers to custom-fit and adjust every car coming down the line.

I'll have to wait to accomplish the final tweaking when the re-chromed hood-lip pieces return from the plating shop.