wills670

I have finally broke down and started striping and painting my egg crate grills for my 72 and thought I would share.

I had posted earlier looking for comments about some side grills I had painted in black because the chrome had been sand blasted off before I got the car. I have been putting off painting the one nos one and one good one for over a year and finally decided to get to work. What a pain in the tail now I see why I have been putting it off so long.

I started by stripping off all the old residue form the one used one and all the black paint from the nos one. I then spent 1 1/2 hrs. each on just taping them up. Well I have got the epoxy primmer on them and removed the tape so I can get it where there will be no primer showing after they are finished. Now I am waiting for the primer to harden up enough to retape them and them shoot the color and clear on them.

It's hard to believe you can spend so much time on two little pics. but I think I will be a lot happier with the finished product when I have them done. I will post pics. of the finished product in a few days.

GD70

It's a tedious job, but well worth it in the end.
Glenn

Alan 71

Hi W,
I aggree with GD... a lot of work but the painted grills will change the appearance of you car. (for the better)!!!!!
I look forward to more pictures.
Regards,
Alan

Dustup7T2

I can imagine how much effort you've invested to date. Every time I look at mine, I know they need this attention so I'll be lurking to see how purdy those turn out.

They look great in primer; are you color matching to the car this time?

toolman1981

I certainly hope so.

Dave J

This is something I've been putting off on one of my cars for quite a while. You're providing a lot of inspiration for us out here. Can I ask what stripper you are using? I've been afraid of using something that would possibly damage the plating on mine.

wills670

Yes I am putting body color back on them. The others I played with before were one's that came on the car and someone sandblasted the chrome. I painted them black just to try something different and see how the black looked with the yellow paint. And also buy some time until I found a good left side grill I was hopeing to find a nos one for the left side to go with the nos right one but I could not find one so I got ahold to a good used one.

wills670

I just used normal paint stripper from lowes and a couple old tooth brushes. I have been trying to keep anything sharp away from them.

Messing up the plating is the biggest factor in me taping them up severial times to keep the sandpaper away.

Good luck on yours... After mine are done you could not pay me to do another set. They are not too bad but they are far from easy. It just takes a lot of time and it would be hard to tell someone they owe you for so may hrs. just for painting some grills.

I don't know if it is correct but I have been tapeing off allof the raised areas to be able to show the chrome on all three sides. The 70 models would not be too bad because they don't have as much chrome showing.

MakoShark72

Stripper isnt going to damage the chrome. I used plain old ACE household stripper, several coats. Stripped the entire piece obviously. Masked off the top surface of the chrome and sprayed away. Must peel away the tape CAREFULLY and while the paint is new and soft...





Good luck!

jordan89

Good luck. Keep us posted.

wills670

Well as seen above I painted the grills this evening. They have a little bit of glue on the chrome from the tape but they will be cleaned up later. The paint is very fresh and it was a pain just getting the tape off while the clear was still soft. After the paint gets hard I will clean them up and get them installed. I got off work at 2:00 pm today and painted and cleared coated them about 4:30 I just had to take the tape off and see the end results.

Well I think it will improve the looks of the car.

Later, Wilson

hammadown

Looks great........... now let's see them mounted


Hammadown

ZBRA

Sell me your black ones so I don't have to go through this myself. I just bought my 72, and I don't like the panels that are on it. I want black.



Seriously, if you wanna sell the black ones, PM me and let me know.

oldsarge

Really nice job, and they look alot nicer than when you had them black, the color match, looks kool.

Alan 71

Hi Wilson,
Looks like they turned out REALLY well!!!!
It'll be good to see the difference they make on the car.
Regards,
Alan