tollertdi Posted June 23, 2021 Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 Many thanks to member Mark D for providing me with excellent photos of his near pristine P15 serial plate from which I was able to build a decal. I originally ordered a reproduction serial plate as shown below and was very disappointed since both the size and font of the plate does not match the original. There are no P15 reproduction serial plates on the market that I could find. See below for comparison – top is repro, bottom is original (restored). PROCESS 1) You must remove the Serial Plate from vehicle, since the serial plate requires baking in an oven. This can be done by removing the side panel behind the emergency brake and then using a punch and hammer to gently drive out the rivets. 2) Thoroughly remove all the black paint from the plate with Brake Clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tollertdi Posted June 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 3) Obtain Sunnyscopa Film Free decal paper for Laser Printer. Unfortunately ink jet decal paper does not work, so make sure it’s for Laser. I bought mine from Amazon. Pictured below is the package. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tollertdi Posted June 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 4) Print below form on a Laser Printer. Make sure you set the printer for glossy heavy weight paper (120g to 185g) and manual feed. There are 6 decals so you’ll have extra’s if you make a mistake and need to do it over again. Note the image is reversed, since the decal will be going on the plate face down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tollertdi Posted June 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 5) Use a paper cutter to cut out all the decals using the guide lines. The guides were designed to match very closely the size of the plate for ease of installation and centering on the plate. 6) Preheat oven to 300 F 7) Put decal in water for 10 seconds ? Leave decal out water for 45 seconds 9) IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not use the glue that came with the paper. For some reason the glue causes the decal to not bond properly to the plate when baked in the oven. 10) Place decal face down on plate 11) Remove paper from decal and carefully center decal on plate 12) Carefully rub the decal against the plate to remove any air bubbles that might have formed. 13) Place the plate in the 300 F oven for 2 minutes 14) Remove and inspect for bubbles in the plastic film. Carefully use a pin to puncture the bubbles which will allow the toner on the decal to “seat” on the metal plate when put back in the oven. Gently press down on the bubbles. 15) Place back in the oven for 12 minutes. It might be good to check the plate again after 2 minutes to recheck for bubbles. 16) Remove from oven. 17) Under hot running water, carefully remove the film from the plate. Peel the film up at 90 degree to plate at a moderate pace. 18) If the plate is not satisfactory, use Brake Clean to remove all the black toner from the plate. Repeat the above process. 19) If the plate came out OK, you must do a final cure of the plate. Preheat oven to 400 F. 20) Place plate in oven for 15 minutes. 21) Inspect the plate. Minor imperfections can be touched up with Testors Gloss Black paint (#1147) 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tollertdi Posted June 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 Here are before and after pictures of the P15 Serial Plate restoration: 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckleharley Posted June 23, 2021 Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 6 hours ago, tollertdi said: 5) Use a paper cutter to cut out all the decals using the guide lines. The guides were designed to match very closely the size of the plate for ease of installation and centering on the plate. 6) Preheat oven to 300 F 7) Put decal in water for 10 seconds ? Leave decal out water for 45 seconds 9) IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not use the glue that came with the paper. For some reason the glue causes the decal to not bond properly to the plate when baked in the oven. 10) Place decal face down on plate 11) Remove paper from decal and carefully center decal on plate 12) Carefully rub the decal against the plate to remove any air bubbles that might have formed. 13) Place the plate in the 300 F oven for 2 minutes 14) Remove and inspect for bubbles in the plastic film. Carefully use a pin to puncture the bubbles which will allow the toner on the decal to “seat” on the metal plate when put back in the oven. Gently press down on the bubbles. 15) Place back in the oven for 12 minutes. It might be good to check the plate again after 2 minutes to recheck for bubbles. 16) Removeif th from oven. 17) Under hot running water, carefully remove the film from the plate. Peel the film up at 90 degree to plate at a moderate pace. 18) If the plate is not satisfactory, use Brake Clean to remove all the black toner from the plate. Repeat the above process. 19) If the plate came out OK, you must do a final cure of the plate. Preheat oven to 400 F. 20) Place plate in oven for 15 minutes. 21) Inspect the plate. Minor imperfections can be touched up with Testors Gloss Black paint (#1147) This one gets MY vote for "post of the month",if there is such a thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eneto-55 Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 My car had been painted twice before I bought it, and the door jambs, too. (I don't remember about my 49 P15, and it's stored at my brother's place, so I cannot just go out & look.) Anyway, I'm not sure that I ever knew it even said "Serial Number" on it, or that it should not be painted the body color. Maybe I'll have to take mine off, and do it like this. Pretty impressive looking. Great job! What did you use for the rivets - did you find some the same size, and w/o holes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tollertdi Posted July 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2021 If you carefully drive the rivets out from the backside (behind the kick panel) the originals can be reused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eneto-55 Posted July 21, 2021 Report Share Posted July 21, 2021 4 hours ago, tollertdi said: If you carefully drive the rivets out from the backside (behind the kick panel) the originals can be reused. Thanks. I went out later and felt the back side, and could tell then that these fasteners are not actually rivets, but rather nails. I think the same type were used to fasten the cowl weatherstrip (where the back edge of the hood rests), but that's from memory, because I pulled those out nearly 40 years ago. I'm thinking that if the originals couldn't be reused, then a person could use some of those real small nails used in home carpet tack strips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted July 21, 2021 Report Share Posted July 21, 2021 3 hours ago, Eneto-55 said: Thanks. I went out later and felt the back side, and could tell then that these fasteners are not actually rivets, but rather nails. I think the same type were used to fasten the cowl weatherstrip (where the back edge of the hood rests), but that's from memory, because I pulled those out nearly 40 years ago. I'm thinking that if the originals couldn't be reused, then a person could use some of those real small nails used in home carpet tack strips. At least on my '33 the fasteners for the cowl weather strip are of a different size with a different head shape than those used to hold the serial number plate. I believe the ones holding the serial number plate on are called “drive nails” or sometimes “screw nails”. See https://www.mcmaster.com/drive-nails/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted July 21, 2021 Report Share Posted July 21, 2021 Sometimes just know what the thing is called helps tremendously in finding new one, thanks Tod for the proper name. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Douglas Posted July 22, 2021 Report Share Posted July 22, 2021 I used a standard hobby shop model decal transfer sheet that you print on. I had to play with the printer sizing to get it correct. Testing with regular paper first. I then just wet it and slid it on. When dry I shot it with a clear coat on both sides. Looks fine. Attached is the PDF sheet should anyone way it. James Serial_Number_Template.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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