DIY Rear Flowtie
 

I wanted to de-chrome the car, but I also wanted to keep a bowtie on the rear.
This is the solution I came up with.
I bought a used emblem on eBay and cut out the middle part. Then painted it matt black.
Step by step description below:

The 1st picture is the "before" pic. The black ZL1 emblem is from Wildhammer.

The 2nd picture is the emblem I bought from eBay. $15 shipped. I didn't want to experiment by cutting apart the emblem from my own car.

The 3rd picture is what the rear of the emblem looks like.

The 4th picture is what the front of the emblem looks like after the gold insert is removed. The chrome part is the same for all 16-18 Camaros. Some have a black insert, some have gold.

The 5th picture is after I used a Dremel saw to cut out most of the inside of the emblem. You can see I wrote with a Sharpie "U" and "D" for up and down. That was before I figured out how to tell which side goes up. In Picture 3 you can see an arrow which tells you which side is up. But I cut that part out...

The 6th picture is after I used a medium Dremel sanding wheel.

Pictures 7-9 are after I used the smallest Dremel sanding wheel I have.

I had to use an X-Acto knife to carve out the interior corners that were too tight for the Dremel.

Then I used 180 grit sandpaper to sand the rough edges down as far as possible.

Then I used 1000 grit sandpaper to get a super smooth surface for painting.

The 10th picture is a homemade stand I created to hold the emblems up in the air for painting.

The 11th picture is after primer coating with Duplicolor automotive primer.

Primering showed me all the places that needed more sanding (a lot..). So I went back and repeated the 180 grit, then 1000 grit then primered again.

Pictures 12-13 are the final product after painting with SEM matte black automotive trim paint.

Then I cut out and applied some 3M doublesided molding tape. Not shown.

Picture 14 is the old logo prepped for removal. I used braided fishing line to cut through the adhesive.

Picture 15 is what remained after the old logo was removed. Other threads go into detail on the best way to remove the adhesive. Basically Goo Gone and elbow grease..

Picture 16 is the final product.

Interesting take, can’t say I’ve ever seen someone do this. Only downside could be the dirt and grime that could get stuck under there. Also water retention, I fear that water could sit there but it’ll probably drain on a little gas

There’s nothing for dirt or water to get under. 100% of the backside of the emblem is covered with 3M tape and stuck to the body. No gaps.
Otherwise, I have the same cleaning work as when I’m working around the edges of the ZL1 emblems.

Looks Great !!!

Nice job!! Insert that you like that Trim Black product haha.

One other tip regarding the sanding, do not jump from 180 to 1000. The scratches will be harder to remove. The trick is to never go over the double of the previous step.

When I want to sand up to 1000, I will use those grit:

80, 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800 then 1000.

When I'm in a rush or tired of sanding I will skip 220 and 400. And if I don't have to use 80 I'll start with 120.

The whole thing turned out great!

I wonder if it would be possible to remove the gold section of the logo without taking it all off... That way I could paint it black...

There’s no way to remove the gold insert without taking the entire emblem off of the car.
It’s mounted with four pegs that go through the chrome piece and are then melted to permanently lock it in place. Drilling out the pegs has to be done from the backside.

The SEM trim black is perfect.

This was my first time cutting or sanding anything like this. Adding a few levels between 180 and 1000 grit would have made my life a lot easier. Lesson learned for next time.

Well crap, I'll have to take mine off then at some point. Thanks for the info!!

Looks really good!!!

Very Nice!