Sorry to dig this old thread up but was the same question I was just about to post anyways. I see mention in this thread that the Comet caps have the emblem encapsulated within the lense, 1 piece type of deal? Anyone here specifically know this to be fact or maybe restored one where the logo is not part of the lense? Main reason is after cleaning up my Comet GT's cap, I see the black paint below the emblem, well it looks to be below it, has started to peel away pretty badly after the soap and water got down in there. Want to restore it with a red background to match my cars color scheme is possible. So, is it possible to do this? Any input big or small is appreciated guys.
I have taken the grill emblem which is made the same way as the gas cap emblem apart and scrapped the paint off the steerhead which is in an inlayed portion of the emblem and repainted it the color of my car so what you are seeking to do is possible, its a little bit tedious and wouldnt want to do it on a good gas cap until you have seen whats involved
Thanks for the helpful heads up. Since I'm just rough mocking my car up before it gets the full and proper treatment, I just couldn't wait long enough to figure out how to do it more the right way.. with actual patience, time invested and all that other good stuff, so.. I chopped it up and gave it the ole' what for. Figure whatever I learned this go around I could apply to the next and final resto work. So for anyone else searching for this same "Gas cap resto?" info in the future I say pull it apart and do whatever your thang is because it's not really all that hard. It's a detail oriented "artsy craftsy" kinda hard but the project is small and you only have to do one resto piece for the whole car. If only the other resto mod's were this easy I could probably afford to restore 5 cars a year. When I pulled mine apart it becomes clear, literally, that the lens cap is solid clear plastic with a type of chrome paint applied to the lens designs inlay portion, which is formed/impressed/stamped into the plastic lens, and a black coating surrounding everything else to show through to the exterior and make the chrome really pop. Would love to have a GT cap because I think mine's kinda plain compared to the Grabber's deluxe jobber.. mine just says Comet, plus I figure it should say "GT" because it actually IS a "GT".. but I believe it may be the correct blah to the car anyways. Here's the before. Here's the after. Not perfect and had some bleed through where the remaining chrome paint was missing or lifting up/delaminating(chrome model paint touch up would have avoided color bleed), but all in all a doable mod to match any cars color scheme. I should also point out that during cleaning of the black and sooty plastic with acetone, hey.. I thought if I were quick about it and went minimal on the amount used "I would be ok". Well it cleaned everything like a charm without melting the plastic but IMMEDIATELY left hairline fractures looking like spiderwebs in a portion of the lense around the logo's. I believe that the acetone reacted enough with the outer most layer, and primarily because its evaporation rate is so high(feels cold as it dries off you bare skin), that it caused the brittle plastics outer layer to become chemically shocked/quickly cooled which started the cracks. Lesson learned, use denatured alcohol instead of the heavy stuff. I'll just move on to a pop-up style GT cap later on anyways so no biggie and looks better than it did before I started. Also, IF you intend to be able to strip any of these coatings off in the future with a plasitic/composite material safe waterborne stripper.. paints need to be chosen based on their inability to attack plastics as the solvents evaporate and the paint cures. Otherwise solvents will damage the plastic enough that even stripping will not remove it for refinishing. Use solvent free acrylic paints only and be sure to clearcoat the final product for added protection from the elements in the tough sorta spot it has to survive in back there.
