Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

[wisdom]

Well my original dart from my from my front bumper was damaged in the accident. You cold see where it flexed and the chrome was starting to chip. I set out to fix/mod it.

I removed the interior clear plastic piece with a mini screw driver, and cleaned all the red and silver paint off. Then I masked off the front side, and sprayed the back side to match my body color. While that was drying. I sanded, spayed primmer and sanded some more. Finally I painted the outer chrome gloss black. Once I was happy with the piano black finish I spayed it with 2 coats of clear coat. In the picture it looks chrome, but it's black. I also used some Mothers polish and my rotery tool to polish the face of the clear piece. I think it looks bitchin' and cant wait to put it back together and put it on the car.

Here is the clear insert after painting on a white back ground.



Here it is on a black background, a piece of 800 grit sandpaper.



Here is the black surround. it looks chrome. but it's black.





I can't wait to get them put together and on the car!



Any thoughts?

[Tombstone86]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

Hell yea! That looks sweet! Nice job.

[wisdom]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

Hell yea! That looks sweet! Nice job.

Hey thanks! You swap your tune in and out? interesting...

[mitchd17]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

It will be different. Can't wait to see it installed.

[wisdom]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

It will be different. Can't wait to see it installed.

I couldn't take it any longer, the paint is almost hard. Turns out I'll have to re drill the alignment holes but I think it looks pretty cool.

It's just sitting on the car now, but after seeing it I may color match the surround instead.

[mitchd17]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

I think it looks good like that, pop's better.. But it depends on what look you're going for.

[wisdom]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

I think it looks good like that, pop's better.. But it depends on what look you're going for.

It does stand out. I think I'll wait for the paint to cure and try it color matched. Once I figure out what I want I'll do the trunk too.

[Trompii]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

I like it, can you do mine? lol

[snowmanG6]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

is that the OEM dart that came with the car? if so how did you get it apart?

[wisdom]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

is that the OEM dart that came with the car? if so how did you get it apart?

It is the original dart that came on the car. It was slightly damaged in the accident, witch may or may not have contributed to the easy dis-assembly. I was able to pry it apart with a mini flat-head screw driver that I use for RC helicopters, It's very similar to the ones that you would use to fix eye glasses.

Basically I started at the point and worked it loose, being careful not to break it.

[Echidna]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

I don't think that this option would work for my old emblems.....the tip broke off of one, and the other is missing the insert.

[Lampoon]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

gonna be hard scraping the bugs off it...but it looks cool

[Tombstone86]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

Hey thanks! You swap your tune in and out? interesting...

I take it out in the winter. No use in adding power to snowy roads. By far one of the most original mods I've seen in a long time.

[Matts06GT]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

This is really cool!! Just a couple quick questions for you... I have some carbon fiber inserts that were done for me and the problem with them is that they are made to go over the stock insert but unfortunately they no longer have the recessed look and are now more of a flush look ie:


I was wondering if when you popped out the middle, was the backing smooth or was it in the V shape like the red emblem part? Also, was it held in by glue? Because if it was then it should be easy to remove with a hair dryer!!

[wisdom]

Re: Old Dart... New look. What do ya think?

This is really cool!! Just a couple quick questions for you... I have some carbon fiber inserts that were done for me and the problem with them is that they are made to go over the stock insert but unfortunately they no longer have the recessed look and are now more of a flush look ie:





I was wondering if when you popped out the middle, was the backing smooth or was it in the V shape like the red emblem part? Also, was it held in by glue? Because if it was then it should be easy to remove with a hair dryer!!

Ok. mine was damaged in the accident and flexed some. I wish I had a pic of it, but you could see where the chrome coating over the plastic was cracked about a 1/2 from the tip, but the dart was not broken.

Once I had it off the old bumper I was able to flex the tip of the outer chrome surround to reveal a small gap in the tip where the clear insert met. the glue is rubbery and I would think a hair dryer would work. Don't use a heat gun... TOO HOT! Once I got it started it basically fell apart.

The mating surfaces of both pieces are "V" Shaped.


The four point star in the center of the clear plastic is filled with a foam material like weatherstripping. I scraped that out with a very small screw driver. Careful not to scratch it! The red that you see is transparent paint that is then backed with silver or chrome. I actually used my wife's nail polish remover to get that off the back side. I didn't want to use something that would damage the plastic.
It took a while and sometimes soaked it for a few min. or so. even then there were a few valleys that needed to be picked out. Scotch-Brite helped out a but.

Once all the paint was off I found that the star and the texture that you see in the dart are molded into the clear plastic exactly like a reflector would be only clear.

I had some imperfections in the plastic from driving. So, I sanded the outer face with 800 to get the dings out. then 1000, then 3000 then I used a polishing compound and my dremmel to polish the shine back into it.

I didn't care for the black surround so I sanded it again and color matched to the body this evening. once it's clear coated I'll post pics.