Ok, so this is a little off topic...but it is a restoration question. They are tearing down the Drive - In movie theater in my town. My brother and I went for a last walk around the place and found a few cool looking in car heaters. Apparently, they would give these heaters out to drive in customers when the weather got cold. They plugged into the poles on which the speakers where located. Anyway, we grabbed a few and I wanted to restore one the best I could. I plan on strippng off the paint and repainting it. However, there are two decals on the top that i want to protect from paint. Does anyone know how to keep paint off decals when spray painting. These things are probably from the '60 so if I tried to tape off the decals, I'm sure they would come right off when i pulled off the tape...any suggestions??

I taped off the REAR decal on my original cowl induction air cleaner. We patted the tape on our pants to take come of the sticky off. When I pulled the tape, the paper was fine, but some of the ink came off with the tape. It's OK, but not as dark as original....still cool, though.

I've heard of using petrolium jelly for metal parts, but don't know if it might stain the decal.

I would take good digital photos of the decals along with some measurements so worst case you can print and make new decals. Then I would research and see if there is a way to lift the decal off the surface so it can be preserved. Check into book and painting (art) restoration for ideas on how to save them.

Even if you tape them off successfully I think you'll end up with a tape line after painting that will detract from the quality.

I just thought of this so it may or may not work...
Maybe try cutting a small flat refrigerator magnet to the size of the decal then place the magnet over the decal then paint... I would go real light with the paint around the edge of the magnet... just enough to get the color on there. Use multiple light coats.