California License Black and Yellow Plate Restoration with Photos
11-28-2013, 04:52 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
California License Black and Yellow Plate Restoration with Photos
Finally, my project is done to the best of my abilities. My downfall is perfection and plates were never originally perfect. This is my journey to the end sharing my problems and how I finished them. Many thanks to those who gave me some direction from their experiences.
This is the original 40+ year old plates:
I sandblasted the plates and primed with PPG DPLF40:
This was followed by spraying the black and these were the disastrous results:
I traced the problems to the compressor as the source of the contamination. At this point, I did the following modifications:
First, I made a cooling run of 50' of copper pipe with soldered connections and fixed to the ceiling.
The line then goes to a "T" where the horizontal branch goes to my first water and oil filter and the vertical line goes to a valve to drain off any water coming out of the copper pipes.
The line is then followed by a large desiccant container and then a final filter.
The entire system looks like this (my '64 that I'm working on is in the background):
This resolved the issues regarding the contamination.
Next came the yellow color on the black painted plate after it was stripped and reprimed. I used a hard rubber roller, softer silicone roller and a sponge roller all of which put a thin blotchy color that tended to run. Once again, the plates were stripped and reprimed. I then painted the yellow color:
This was followed with black paint:
I then carefully sanded the letters and numbers and after 3 attempts of sanding, stripping repriming and painting, I gave up with that technique. On the paint and body forum, I used the suggestion of DUB of priming, paint the yellow, clear coat, paint the black and sand. This is the point to place the clear coat:
The white is the now California compliant, low VOC, DPLF epoxy primer. The material was thicker than the previously used DPLF. It seemed to be a blessing in that after the primer was sprayed, I block sanded over the letters and numbers and followed the yellow and clear coat with block sanding. The black was then sprayed and this is the result:
I then sanded and polished the plates and this is the result:
As I said, not perfect but very acceptable. These are the single stage urethane paints/colors I used.
I am not looking for accolades, just wanted to share my trials. I hope this will helps others.
This is the original 40+ year old plates:
I sandblasted the plates and primed with PPG DPLF40:
This was followed by spraying the black and these were the disastrous results:
I traced the problems to the compressor as the source of the contamination. At this point, I did the following modifications:
First, I made a cooling run of 50' of copper pipe with soldered connections and fixed to the ceiling.
The line then goes to a "T" where the horizontal branch goes to my first water and oil filter and the vertical line goes to a valve to drain off any water coming out of the copper pipes.
The line is then followed by a large desiccant container and then a final filter.
The entire system looks like this (my '64 that I'm working on is in the background):
This resolved the issues regarding the contamination.
Next came the yellow color on the black painted plate after it was stripped and reprimed. I used a hard rubber roller, softer silicone roller and a sponge roller all of which put a thin blotchy color that tended to run. Once again, the plates were stripped and reprimed. I then painted the yellow color:
This was followed with black paint:
I then carefully sanded the letters and numbers and after 3 attempts of sanding, stripping repriming and painting, I gave up with that technique. On the paint and body forum, I used the suggestion of DUB of priming, paint the yellow, clear coat, paint the black and sand. This is the point to place the clear coat:
The white is the now California compliant, low VOC, DPLF epoxy primer. The material was thicker than the previously used DPLF. It seemed to be a blessing in that after the primer was sprayed, I block sanded over the letters and numbers and followed the yellow and clear coat with block sanding. The black was then sprayed and this is the result:
I then sanded and polished the plates and this is the result:
As I said, not perfect but very acceptable. These are the single stage urethane paints/colors I used.
I am not looking for accolades, just wanted to share my trials. I hope this will helps others.
Last edited by Dave Tracy; 11-29-2013 at 12:35 AM.
11-29-2013, 06:38 PM
#2
Race Director
Heck with that Dave. It looks awesome!!!!
DUB
DUB
11-29-2013, 10:59 PM
#4
Race Car Tech
It looks great 
So when you sanded the Black off the letters/numbers, you just basically removed the black and clear coat leaving the yellow?
Whatever you did, it rocks!!!!!
So when you sanded the Black off the letters/numbers, you just basically removed the black and clear coat leaving the yellow?
Whatever you did, it rocks!!!!!
11-30-2013, 01:57 AM
#5
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Thank you for the kind remarks. The clear coat was a cushion between the black and yellow. My goal was to remove the black precisely around the letters and numbers. I used 1000 grit until I saw a slight yellow tinge coming through the black then used 2000 grit until the number or letter was defined. I followed this with polishing compounds.
12-19-2013, 08:44 AM
#6
Melting Slicks
nice work
That is a nice piece of work. I just spent several days driving around California, and do not remember seeing one of the old plates on any car. Your new plate will be an eye catcher for sure. In 1972 I bought a Triumph motorcycle in California and drove it home to Iowa. I still have the blue and yellow plate hanging on my wall.
steve
steve