Mark_II_Mark
12-27-2009, 01:28 PM
I don't know if the attached pix do it justice, but here's the before & after of what 20 hours of labor restoring a Mark II hubcap will get you.
Starting with the typical dirty & flaking hubcap, the 40 vanes and their associated retainers were removed. Demonstrating some of the typical poor engineering that went into the Mark II, the entire hubcap is manufactured from stainless steel, except for the vane retainers. What you'll find when you remove them is that more than likely they will be badly rusted, having been made out of some cheap iron. While refirbing the hubcap, I took the retainers & their nuts & soaked them overnight in "The Must For Rust", quite possibly the BEST rust inhibitor ever made by man.
The SS vanes were also soaked overnight in a mild solution of hot soapy water & then cleaned & dried inside with a Q-Tip. It was pretty amazing the amount of granular material that came out of the vanes. Then they were dried and polished first with Brasso & then Simichrome Polish.
The hubcover, less vanes, was cleaned in the same soapy water mix & then dried. I took some 0000 steel wool to the flaking paint to prepare it. The shiny parts were then polished with Brasso & Simichrome and masked off with blue painters tape. Polish 1st, paint 2nd unless you want to possibly remove some of the new paint during the application of the Brasso & Simichrome.
2 coats of Rustoleum primer were applied to the prepped, existing painted area of the cover & let dry. The primer coats were followed by 2 coats of Rustoleum Satin Black. While the hubcap was drying the vane retainers were primed & painted also.
Once everything was good & dry, the retainers were inserted into the vanes which were then reattached to the hubcover itself & WALLAH, a beautiful good as new looking hubcap emerged.
With 1 hubcap down & 7 remaining to be refirbed, the 20 hours total labor required will surely decrease some, but the end result is only as good as the effort initially expended.
BTW, I'm sure that I've started a whole new discussion among the "wheels" on whether the paint on the hubcaps should be flat or satin & whether the correct terminology is "vanes" or "fins". At least it'll give those lucky enough to have too much time on their hands something to contemplate...
Starting with the typical dirty & flaking hubcap, the 40 vanes and their associated retainers were removed. Demonstrating some of the typical poor engineering that went into the Mark II, the entire hubcap is manufactured from stainless steel, except for the vane retainers. What you'll find when you remove them is that more than likely they will be badly rusted, having been made out of some cheap iron. While refirbing the hubcap, I took the retainers & their nuts & soaked them overnight in "The Must For Rust", quite possibly the BEST rust inhibitor ever made by man.
The SS vanes were also soaked overnight in a mild solution of hot soapy water & then cleaned & dried inside with a Q-Tip. It was pretty amazing the amount of granular material that came out of the vanes. Then they were dried and polished first with Brasso & then Simichrome Polish.
The hubcover, less vanes, was cleaned in the same soapy water mix & then dried. I took some 0000 steel wool to the flaking paint to prepare it. The shiny parts were then polished with Brasso & Simichrome and masked off with blue painters tape. Polish 1st, paint 2nd unless you want to possibly remove some of the new paint during the application of the Brasso & Simichrome.
2 coats of Rustoleum primer were applied to the prepped, existing painted area of the cover & let dry. The primer coats were followed by 2 coats of Rustoleum Satin Black. While the hubcap was drying the vane retainers were primed & painted also.
Once everything was good & dry, the retainers were inserted into the vanes which were then reattached to the hubcover itself & WALLAH, a beautiful good as new looking hubcap emerged.
With 1 hubcap down & 7 remaining to be refirbed, the 20 hours total labor required will surely decrease some, but the end result is only as good as the effort initially expended.
BTW, I'm sure that I've started a whole new discussion among the "wheels" on whether the paint on the hubcaps should be flat or satin & whether the correct terminology is "vanes" or "fins". At least it'll give those lucky enough to have too much time on their hands something to contemplate...