Another thing to note is that the bosses on the plate holder are not as deep as the outside of the plate holder. This causes the fascia to bow outward toward the plate holder when the screws are tightened into the jack nuts in the fascia.
The simple fix for this is to not overtighten the screws, but typically at this age the damage is done. On my own car, when I replaced the rear fascia, I fabricated small nylon spacers that go over the screw between the holder and the fascia. This allowed me to tighten the screws without deforming the fascia material.
The top right jack nut on my car was really torqued. It has deformed the fascia around that jack nut. It was real simple to cut the fascia with the "router bit" in my Dremal. I only cut where the plate holders stick up the most and left the rest of the fascia to keep pressure on the license plate.
I ordered some "black Oxide Concentrate" on Amazon after seeing a youtube video of it working on bolts. They say it even protects the bolt from rusting. But I'm going to try it with stainless screws.
I prepped my surround by wiping with MEK. That did easily remove the old black paint but that MEK will eat right through thin paint gloves. Would be best to put surround in a tray with MEK and use a brush. Smoothed it out wiping with a scotch brite pad. Sprayed one coat with that STEEL IT paint. After it dried it came out very nice. It's a shame that paint cost $40 a can but it covers with one coat and probably covers what it would take two cans or more of other paint.
I ordered some "black Oxide Concentrate" on Amazon after seeing a youtube video of it working on bolts. They say it even protects the bolt from rusting. But I'm going to try it with stainless screws.
That Black Oxide Concentrate does nothing to Stainless steel screws. It did work on regular steel screw but not really a solid black like paint would do.
Just did a light spray of the heads of my screws. Looks really good. I used longer screws (1.5") so I could start them into the rivnuts with my fingers. There is wider gap between the fascia and my right tail light. I'm thinking of making "nut plates" to replace the tail light rivnuts. My tail light screws are a sheet metal type, not a machine screw. I guess a PO put those in.
Just did a light spray of the heads of my screws. Looks really good. I used longer screws (1.5") so I could start them into the rivnuts with my fingers. There is wider gap between the fascia and my right tail light. I'm thinking of making "nut plates" to replace the tail light rivnuts. My tail light screws are a sheet metal type, not a machine screw. I guess a PO put those in.
I really love that "STEEL-IT" flat black paint.
I?ve heard good things about that Steel-it paint on another forum. I need to look for it. Did you have to order it on line?
I?ve heard good things about that Steel-it paint on another forum. I need to look for it. Did you have to order it on line?
I've not seen it locally. I ordered it online. It's expensive $40 but it seems to cover at least twice as much as other paints. It is a little better with solvent resistance then regular paint. Have yet to need more than one coat. It has a grayish tinge when wet but turns flat black when dry.
I just pulled my surround off and found my facia is deformed at the top two screws. Did you have any of that? Kind of hard to show in a pic.
I?m wondering if I should do the hair dryer trick and bend it back.
I did not check with a level but yes, mine was bowed. I don't think it matters since the surround and plate cover it and also press it back. I don't know why they did not have a cutout behind the surround. Both tail lights needed it.
Here is my finished nut plate for the license plate surround. I welded up some one inch wide 1/8 inch thick 6061 and installed 10-32 PEM nuts. This will slide in the tail light opening. You could just make one out of plate stock but don't think you could slide it in without some cut out.
I want to make nut plates for the tail lights but that is not a flat surface so it would need the "nuts" to be standoffs.
Got the nut plat installed. Those stock "rivnuts" were really to far left and a little to low. With my nut plate, adjustment is easy. It also has stainless PEM nuts to hold the stainless screws. Now I have to paint the new 10-32 screw heads. The stock screws were 10-24.
Originally Posted by DMCMW Dave
Dave M vin 03572
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