Hi all,

I'm in the process of replacing the front and rear embilems on my 1990. After removing the backing nuts I find that they are still on tight with some adhesive. Can anyone suggest anything to use to lossen the glue without damaging the paint?

 

Hi Mike,
Just went through this myself. I was a little surprised tofind the adhesive after replacing the front emblem. 3M Adhesive and Wax Remover does a pretty good job of loosening the old adhesive although it took a several application. I sprayed some on a rag and dabbed it on pretty liberallythen wiped the melted goop off. I did use a safety razor to clean it up a bit. This needed a little patience of course but it cleaned up very well.
I bought it at my local Walmart andthe labeldid say it was safe on most painted surfaces.
Before I replaced the emblem, I did use a clear coat safe cleaner and gave it a good coat of wax.

Have you replaced the front one yet? That one is a little tricky. You might want to get a pack of small magnets in case the nut falls inside the hood-mine did! I had to tie a string to it and go fishing-luckily I retrieved it right away.

 

Use some fishing line or even dental floss to remove the emblems. A piece about a foot long and wrap around a couple of small sticks like pencils and then work the line back and forth like a saw behind the emblem. Take it easy though so you dont damage the paint. I found I had to use some pretty heavy line like 40 or 50 pound weight test line to remove mine. You will also probably find out that the nuts will not go back on the emblem studs. My emblems are just held on with the adhesive on the back. They aint budging.

 

I replaced mine about 3 months ago. Yes...the front one was a PAIN IN THE A$$. I did the magnet trick. I taped a pretty small yet strong magnet onto a socket, 10mm I think. Be very carefull not to drop the nuts into the cavity below. It took me 30 mins to get mine out and I used the magnet for that too. Good luck. Remember......it is worth the effort. The new emblems will look great!!

[IMG]local://upfiles/6540/7A15D7AA73FB44A8810B387F08374064.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6540/BFFCF231B82F4855ABFCC2418951BBDC.jpg[/IMG]

 

Chassis grease in the socket works wonderfully. An old mechanics trick.

 

Chassis grease...why didn't I think of that?[sm=smiley20.gif][sm=smiley32.gif]

 

Thanks all,

I finished installing my embolims and they look great. The one on the reargas lid, which was glued on, I used Ronsonol lighter fluid (Naphtha) to loosen the glue and then the fish line trick that was sugested to work it off. The front one was easy. It did'nt have any glue holding it on. Itfell right off after the nuts were removed. The magnet to catch the nuts as they came off, asone of you sugested,was a life saver. I cleaned, waxed, and buffedthe areas under the embolems good. When installing the front one I used painters blue tape to hold the embolem in place while I installed the nuts. I also used the same tape to hold the nut in the socket and pocked a holethroughit to allow the stud to start easly. Once the nuts were tight I pulled the socket out leaving the tape inside the holes where it can't be seen anyway. All in all it went very well.

Thanks Again!

 

Glad to hear it. Keep it up! Keep that vette looking nice.[sm=Flahssssss.gif] [sm=shades.gif]

 

Hi Mike:
Here's a tip I use for all my biker buddies when they want to de badge their bikes. Dental floss, YEP it works great. Now to get really technical I've found that dental tape works better than regular dental floss. Spray a little WD-40 around the edges of the emblem and then gently work the dental floss / tape under the adhesive while working the floss / tape back and forth. WD-40 will work well to remove the adhesive residue after you 'pop' the emblem off. Good luck.

Larry