Repairing old aluminum grease caps.

[Willy]

Has anyone tried to repair an old aluminum grease cap with Dura-Fix?
I have a '27 Whippet, and my caps are terrible, with gouges, nicks
and scratches. I've been thinking I could heat some of that Dura-Fix
into, say a deep scratch, then sand/file/whatever, to bring it back
to new condition. Any thoughts? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[Terry Bond]

Replacements should be readily available. Not sure what kind of cap you have but if an exact replacement can't be found you can certainly restore your originals. Not sure about the product you intend to use but any filler that bonds to the aluminum could be used. A final coat of paint should be some of the Aluminum colored paint from Eastwood or similar. It will give you a protective coat that looks like finished aluminum and neatly hides any filler you need to use.
Terry

[Jay Wolf]

I repair something similar with some Mad Dog Rod.
Mad Dog rod is an aluminum welding rod you use with a propane torch, I got at Hershey years ago, it goes under different names. You always see the guys welding beer cans together at swap meets.

Clean them real well (stainless steel brush and heat), carefully filled in the scratches then sanded it smooth. I polished them and used some muratic acid to give it the dull look.

it was little different color but not noticeable from 3 feet.

[Willy]

Thank you for your reply. I will find a really bad cap and experiment on it,
before I try it on any of my Whippet caps. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

[Willy]

Thanks. I'll look for some fillers and experiment with them too. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />