nl320_1963

Damn Wayne, talk about coming through with the information...

What did you use for wind wing rubbers? They look pretty good. Are they original?

Got a reply from a part prototyping outfit that I had found. The mold to do a run of the plastic bezels is $1300, with each part costing $230 Then there is the plating cost... I guess I am going to abandon this venture as I suspect that there is very little stomach for a $500 repro bezel. I had seen that solder product previously. I wonder how well the old bezels turn out after they are plated. I have seen some really awful jobs done re-plating pot metal, although I guess there are guys that can do it well. All it takes is money

In my case, I have the reflectors, so it is not an issue. I am still moving forward on this, but some of the urgency has diminishes as I found a good set of bezels that I thought I had lost in a move. I will probably just powder coat this set as I have never seen a good re-chrome done on pot metal that has pits. I am sure it can be done, but I bet the cost is huge. Thanks for all the ideas guys.

I have good reflectors, but the bezels are cracked and pitted. Would be loads of work to fix them before plating. It would even be loads of work to fix them enough to powder coat them.

So I want to get these reproduced. I have heard that certain plastics can be chrome plated by first plating with copper. Does anyone out there know of a place that could pull a mold off this NL320 tail light and make up some plastic reproductions. I would be willing to do a small group buy on these, as I know that they are impossible to find, and most of them have some damage on them. This is the only NOS one I have ever seen, and I have had NL320's since the 80's IMG_3847 by nl320_1963, on Flickr IMG_3848 by nl320_1963, on Flickr

Thanks guys, I will check out Verne's next time I am in the LA area. I was willing to ship, but with something almost in my back yard the chances of loss or damage in shipping goes to ZERO. I like those odds... Does Verne's do stainless trim straightening and re-polish?

Due to EPA regulations my favorite local chrome plating business closed down years ago. A person that takes parts across the border into Mexico kept the name, but their work sucks. Is there any good chrome shops out there that anyone can recommend? I need to have a grille, bumpers, license hood, and door handles off a 64 NL320 that need to be re-plated. Thanks

Just be glad they broke the window which is pretty easy to fix, rather than giant screwdriver in the lock which need paint, body, new set of locks... Thiefs suck ass.

Did you get the hood and gate in san Diego? If so, I am going to guess Batson's sheet metal in Santee did them. He did the louvers on my hood back in the day, although mine were innies, not outies, and the opening was toward the front of the hood. Sounds wierd, but it looked great (stealthy) and was pretty uncommon. Nice score!!!

My buddy had a chop top 74 620 that Mark painted. It was bright yellow with asymetrical stripes in candy blue and red (I think). Engine was done by Clark Steppler and was at least bored and stroked to the 2400 range. I still remember that blue Mazda that faded in a series of 1-1/2" stripes. Dead straight lines with no evidence of a tape line or imperfection. Mark could sure paint...

That entire truck is old school. Gotta luv the gold center Enkei's. PAC Coast, shoot me an e-mail and we can get together. I wont be able to do it next weekend, but the weekend after works. Dave

Hey guys- Here is where my truck is, and has been for the past 17 years... Had a L20b and 5 speed in it that I blew in 1991 (i think). Grabbed an 800 mi KA24 from a junk yard truck and quicly did the mock up installation. Then life got in the way and so it has sat and sat and well you know. I have finally decided to bite the bullet and finish the damn thing and start enjoying it again. For those of you who have been around the mini's for a long time, this truck was in mini truckin magazine in the late 80's. I will see if I can find the spread in my less than organized files. Here are the pics after the lets unwrap it and see where we are stage. Dave

Anyone know a good quality chrome shop they can recommend? The ones in San Diego are all out of business except the ones that send the stuff to Mexico and bring it back. Not the best work IMO. In the 80's I had a local guy that did great work, and straightened and polished SS trim as well. TIA Dave

Sold the NL today to Chris from LA. I think he will be joining the site later... Dave