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69 Front turn signal stud repair and reconditioning

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  KevinW 
#1 · (Edited)
Here is another repair I have been working on. A broken stud on a 69 front turn signal/parking light housing. Over the years the nuts became rusted on to the stud and when you go to take it off, the stud breaks very short. The stud is not a hardened or plated part. It was electro welded to base prior to cad-plating and they need to carry the ground to the bulbs.

Well, here is how I fixed mine. Your mileage may vary :)



Drill out the stud, do not worry about using a large drill size. the hole in the base is bigger then the stud. I did a pilot hole, then went up in drill sizes until the stud was mostly gone. Then I grind the inside enough to thin it to allow it to be punched it out.




For the replacement stud, I took a 1/4 x 20 slotted bolt 1.5" long I had in my parts bin. Put them into my drill press and used a grinder to flatten the head.



Here is the before and after on the bolt



Then I made a bracket to hold the new stud in for welding



You have to clean the plating off the back of stud for a good weld. Just used my press and dremel again



Welded it up. Be careful not to weld the bolt threads too high. The nut needs to go down even with the base to fit properly.





Then grind the excess with a dremel carbide bit to clean it up



Next I put a die on the stud before cutting it to length. Bevel the top of the stud too to match original





Remove die to clean up threads and bead blast to finish it off





Then test fit it! :)



Well this was my first try, things I need to improve on :)

keep the weld lower (I had to clean up the threads to get it to mount)

I cut it 1 thread too tall and did not bevel end enough (fixed it, grinded more off, then put the bevel back)
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Re: 69 Front turn signal stud repair _under construction

OK, so two of my sell sets were rust pitted and not a candidate for re-plating. So I am prepping them for Eastwoods Copy-Cad.



1st step, clean and degrease and mask. For 1st coat I normally use "Stainless Steel" as an undercoat. This time I am using "Alumi-blast".



Step 2, sand undercoat to smooth out surface.

Step 3, mask the studs and spray the "Golden Cad".

Actually, I figured I would just put the nuts on in the proper place and they would be the "mask' for the studs. Here is the 1st layer. You do not want to put on thick, you want some of the silver undercoat to show. So one very light coat.



Step 4. Tints

You apply the Red tint 1st, let dry, then the green.

Instructions on Tints: Apply random "spots" of tint over fully cured Gold cad base. Some spots may be heavier than others as a nonuniform pattern is desired.

I tried to get a good pic, but it is difficult, the colors and gold cad do flop in different light.

In garage under natural light:









Here are 2 pics in the basement under florescent light:





Step 5. Inside white: mask the lamp socket and paint gloss white. No need to be perfect, the factory just gave them a quick blast which only covered the flat areas, metal shows through on the angles. I used Rustoleum Appliance white, but any good gloss white will do.



Step 6. Fix any electrical issues. These were previously cut with bad splices. Removed spade connectors from plug, cut and spliced them back correctly (soldered and 2 layers of shrink tube). Pigtail is around 10" long from black rubber sheath to plug. Grommet is 5" from plug (factory originals used as reference). The wires in grommet are glued in from factory, so it has been re-glued (black silicone) in proper place.



Here they are all done! A right and left (you can tell by which way the pigtail wants to go to inner fender). Just get some new gaskets (lens and screws too) and ready to go!

 
#3 · (Edited)
Re: 69 Front turn signal stud repair _under construction

OK, on to testing, install some amber bulbs.

Get a male spade terminal and attach to positive terminal of battery or battery charger. Attach the ground to one of the studs (not painted section).



Turn on battery charger to test. Black wire is for bright (turn signals)



Move spade terminal to purple wire to test parking light



All done, ready to sell (install!) :D
 
#5 ·
Re: 69 Front turn signal stud repair _under construction

Nice job! Very common issue with these, much better to fix and keep it GM than buy a repro set :thumbsup:
 
#6 ·
Re: 69 Front turn signal stud repair _under construction

Where's the photos after the "golden cad" application ??:) I did my GM actuators (RS), in my own concoction as I felt Eastwoods was overpriced. They look okay, but wouldn't fool anyone who looked close. I'm with you and Tim on using GM parts whenever possible. :yes:

Good fix, btw...
 
#7 ·
Re: 69 Front turn signal stud repair _under construction

Where's the photos after the "golden cad" application ??:) I did my GM actuators (RS), in my own concoction as I felt Eastwoods was overpriced. They look okay, but wouldn't fool anyone who looked close. I'm with you and Tim on using GM parts whenever possible. :yes:

Good fix, btw...
Threw my back out yesterday, been on the couch with a heating pad :(
 
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