Engine turned aluminum trim on dash and doors for 1955 Roadmaster

[buickbrothers]

Does anyone know where to get replacement aluminum engine turned trim panels for the dash and two front doors? I saw oldbuickparts has it for the 55 special and century but I need it for a roadmaster. Thanks.

[kgreen]

If you can get your old ones cleaned and polished, get them returned.  You might try Skip Boyer at richboy2@comcast.net or Eamonn Keogh here: https://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eamonn/et/et.htm.  You can also try Doug Seybold at 440.835.1193.  He does a straight vertical pattern, not a staggered pattern if that's OK.

[buickbrothers]

Thanks for the response and link kgreen. Appreciate it...

[Mudbone]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:08 PM, buickbrothers said:

Does anyone know where to get replacement aluminum engine turned trim panels for the dash and two front doors? I saw oldbuickparts has it for the 55 special and century but I need it for a roadmaster. Thanks.

Are they scratched up or are they just yellow? I cleaned and clear coated mine and they look like new.

 

 

[buickbrothers]

The dash pieces I can live with (glove box has some slight scratches). The roadmaster has this same engine turned trim on the driver and passenger side doors above the arm rests. They are worn down from elbow rub where the engine turn is gone - smooth spots in the metal. I'll load some pictures.

[KAD36]

My car had same wear pattern on the door panels.  Used Craytex, made a simple indexing grid with a metal sled and some graph paper and a drill press and was able to replicate them. The trick is consistency of pressure applied, dwell time, and spacing/offset.  It’s really not too hard for the door panels since it’s a straight piece of metal, the dash is harder to do. If you’re ambitious you can do it yourself, here’s a thread. It looks like the pictures are long gone from the database if you’re really interested I can try to dig them up.

 

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/192575-door-panel-engine-turning-project/#comment-972713

 

Bhigdog also has a thread somewhere - he made his from scratch and they came out flawless.  A number of his techniques helped me in my project.  Clear coat as per Muds video when done.
 

BTW it took about 2 months of trial and error on my settings until getting it right, but it’s satisfying when it works.  Screw up 1 swirl and the whole thing is junk.  Sand/polish and start over.

 

This process must be done without beer.  Just sayin…..

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[EmTee]

8 hours ago, KAD36 said:

This process must be done without beer.  Just sayin….

That's it -- I'm out! 

[buickbrothers]

Thanks gents. Yes, during my prior research I did find the Craytex sticks to make the swirls and already bought them. I met with some machine shops to get some estimates since they could program the machines to perform a consistent pattern. However, they wanted to charge $150 an hour so I was gun shy on the cost. I don't know how may craytex sticks are needed, I have two. I believe it is worth it to give it a shot myself since I have a drill press. I haven't attempted it yet, because I noticed the sticks did flex when I was just playing with alignment in my drill press. I can tell I'll need to cut them to a shorter length to make them more rigid in the press to reduce the flex. So any other tip's you can share would be great. KAD36 - can you tell me more about how you "made a simple indexing grid with a metal sled and some graph paper"? My biggest concern is aligning to the current pattern and just trying to refresh the worn area's if possible. I'm not trying to fully redo the entire pattern on each door panel piece. Maybe that's not a good plan, just trying to keep it simple if possible. Thanks.    

[KAD36]

Oboy.  It looks like the old pictures from the forum are gone.  It will take me some time to find them if I can find them…I know, I know (no video + no picture) = it never happened 🙄.  I had to beat someone to that.  😀

 

Here’s the word salad basics of a simple jig and surely improvements can be found on this approach. 
 

1). Find flat smooth surface. Cover with graph paper.  I used an old piece of countertop.  It needs to fit within the throat of your drill press.

 

2) Use calipers to determine the vertical and horizontal spacing of each swirl.  Draw straight horizontal lines along the graph paper, each line separated by the same height as the swirl pattern height on the door piece.  This sets vertical distance as you will be lining the top of the sled (explanation coming up) up with this line.  Get a steel ruler and transfer the left/right dimensions as “tick marks” to the graph paper with a sharp #2 pencil. 1 tick=1 pencil dash.  No thick line coloring.  Follow the graph paper while marking so things stay straight.  Take breaks, go slow, keep pencil sharp, be precise as possible.

 

3) Using a flat sheet of steel slightly larger than the Aluminum piece to be turned, tape the aluminum to this metal “sled”.  The sled edges needs to be cut perfectly square and the edges smooth and straight.  Cut a small slot in the top edge of the sled on center with something like a dremel wheel.  This is like your “sight” that you will index the sled and view (aim) each tick mark with when you drop the press on the aluminum.

 

4) There is a subtlety that escapes me but basically each row going up the aluminum is offset left from the one below it to get the proper nested swirl pattern.  You have to replicate that offset on the graph paper with tick marks.  Just keep track of the measurements.  I’d like to say it’s intuitive but its not that obvious; look closely and the pattern should be evident.  If not you’ll see it on your first test pass, which you can ((should) do on a cheap, clean blank/scrap.

5) Clamp a straightedge to guide the sled left to right as you slide it so it stays in line with the horizontal lines drawn for each row.  Slide the sled along each row, stopping at each vertical tick mark, and drop the Craytex to make 1 swirl.  I fastened a 2 lb plate weight from the drill press arm and timed 2-3 seconds to get consistent pressure and dwell time for each swirl.

 

6) Practice on lots of scrap.  When going for the money take a break after 1 or 2 rows.  Remember everything is relative.  The aluminum doesn’t have to be sitting at the top of the sled.  It just can NEVER move around or get repositioned on the sled once you start.

 

I did not have good luck trying to fill in only the missing swirls worn off the door.  My work looked like hell. Consistency is the key and I could not perfectly match the factory swirls “optics”.   Maybe you will find a better recipe and crack the code.  I had to polish the door panel down smooth (unnerving) basically erasing the factory swirl to start over.  I didn’t do that until I was confident I could replicate it however and it’s the consistency and overlap that will make them come out really nice.  Craytex mgmt is also important ; cut square with razor blade, don’t let it get too ratty, keep it short.  Small wire brushes, erasers with valve grinding compound or toothpaste are other approaches.  Seems I had a spare panel off eBay for the driver side in case of disaster, and think I might have made a blank from scratch, can’t recall exactly.  By the time I did the passenger side some time later, I just went for it.  That actually came out better than the driver side.

 

I have to acknowledge Bhigdog on this - he has a thread as mentioned earlier and fabricated a more precise tooling fixture to successfully do his whole dash plus doors.  Many of his tips, lessons learned and inspiration got me over the finish line with a high standard or my door panels would still look crummy.
 

More than one way to skin this cat.  Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[KAD36]

Found some.  Setup and trial runs, Driver side complete, Pass side complete.  

 

 

In looking closer at the top pic, I think this was one of the setup experiments where the graph paper was used for vertical placement and the tick marks were on sled for horizontal placement.  Less drawing.  The swirls nested “offset” was probably marked on the graph paper.  Once a row is started with that offset it’s just maintained as the piece is indexed left to right. Another observation -  note on the graph paper below the 18 and 9 on the ruler, there is a line drawn at an angle with dashes on it and that angle was the offset that nested each swirl inside the one next to it.  Also a slight raised edge was added on the bottom of the sled to help position the piece. I don’t have any pictures of the final setup but this was pretty close to it and should get you started.

 

Hope this helps out.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[Bhigdog]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:48 AM, KAD36 said:

 Screw up 1 swirl and the whole thing is junk.

Yup!

When I did my 55 dash  inserts the glove box insert had one teeny tiny little glitch. By then I was pretty sick of the whole thing and I figured no one but me would notice so I used it. When I brought my wife out to show off the finished dash the first thing she said was "what happened here".

Of course I junked it and made another one.

BTW. The glove box door on a 55 40/60 has a slight compound curve in it with the insert edges folded over the door edges. I made a copy of the door from 1/8 thick steel as a curved form and backing plate to roll the insert edges over. The insert fit like a glove on the door.......Just sayin.....

Nice job KAD36 and thank you for your kind comments.........Bob (bhigdog)

Edited January 19, 2022 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[buickbrothers]

Thank you so much KAD36 for all the instructions and the pic's! Wow! I've done so many first-time activities on this car (full engine rebuild, transmission rebuild, painting the whole car) with minimal fear, but this activity looks like it will tip my scale on tedious OCD sanity - lol. I'll give it a shot. Thanks again, really appreciate the specifics.  

[KAD36]

 

2 hours ago, buickbrothers said:

but this activity looks like it will tip my scale on tedious OCD sanity

Nah.  Very doable.  Just keep hummin “ the bear went over the mountain” until the dudes in the white van show up or you finish the last swirl, whichever comes first.

[usnavystgc]

So that bit in the drill press is what's called a Craytex stick?

Edited January 19, 2022 by usnavystgc (see edit history)

[KAD36]

Close.  To keep the Cratex stick straight and true when buffing the aluminum, it was pressed into a 1/4 inch hex bit holder & shank typically used on a cordless drill.  That’s what is chucked into the press in the picture.  The Cratex stick is an abrasive cylinder that looks just like a wax crayon.  Wrap the end of it with masking tape so it fits snug into the hex bit holder.   Trim the Cratex end square so it extends between 1/16 - 1/8 inch beyond the bit holder.  As it gets ratty, retrim it square, break it in about 10 times on a scrap piece and then pick up where you left off on your workpiece.  To advance the Craytex as it is used up just shove spitballs of newspaper into the hex bitholder and pack it tight.  Flush the bitholder out with water when done.

 

Cratex comes in various grits and diameters.  I think medium was used for this project, they were the dark grey ones.  Here’s the product link:

https://www.cratex.com/Products/Rubberized-Abrasives/Blocks-and-Sticks/Round-Sticks

 

Think Bhigdogs approach was a pencil eraser and valve grinding compound…

 

 

[EmTee]

6 hours ago, KAD36 said:

Just keep hummin “ the bear went over the mountain”

I was thinking "99 bottles of beer on the wall..."  or maybe "the wheels on the bus go round and round..." if the kids are in the garage. 

[usnavystgc]

Wow, this is so interesting to me.  Your results are amazing Ken.  It literally looks like the factory original.  

[Bhigdog]

On 1/19/2022 at 4:50 PM, KAD36 said:

Think Bhigdogs approach was a pencil eraser and valve grinding compound…

Yes, it was.

I wasn't aware of Cratex at the time so I was just winging it and experimenting to see what worked. I found a pencil with the correct size eraser and coarse valve grinding compound was what worked. The good thing thing about Cratex is you can see what you are doing. With the eraser/compound I couldn't see  the result until I was finished and washed off the compound. At first I made a lot of scrap until I got the rhythm and pressure down pat. Two strokes with about 1/2 second applied pressure each time. If I varied with pressure or dwell time the swirl would look just a bit different. Glad I don't have to do it again.

As an aside, after turning I cleaned them with lacquer thinner and the softest of a soft brush then applied a wet coat of rattle can clear lacquer. After 20 some years they still look as crisp and bright as the day they were done.......Bob

Edited January 20, 2022 by Bhigdog (see edit history)