1970 Front Grill Restoration

[David F.]

Hey Guys! Looking for some info on restoring the front grills on my 1970.

Specifically:

- What is the acceptable color of charcoal/black for inside the squares?
- Does anyone have details on where the paint starts/stops?
- Any tricks of the trade to mask it off?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

David,

Look down at the bottom of this page to the "similar threads" box to get some ideas.

Patrick

[Terry M.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Dave,
I have posted the text of the paint specifications from the print at least three times, but probably more, in the past. On the last computer crash that text is gone, so you will have to look it up if you want it. I will give you an out. The last person that took those numbers to the paint store reported back that the materials were no longer available at his supplier. YMMV

As I recall someone posted a color from another make of car that they felt was suitable, but I don't recall if that survived judging and at what level. All of that will make a difference. This is not a case of 'put tab A into slot B in order to pass judging.'

[Alan S.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Hi David,
I looked at the threads at the bottom of the page that Patrick suggested and the content is mostly about 70 grills with studs, repairing studs, and the change over to screws from studs; unless I missed something. A search will show up some grill painting threads from past years.
Although the formula for the original paint used on the grills, (and it's gray not black), (except for a particular detail), appears to be available, people have spent a good bit of time doing test samples of possible spray-can paint candidates.
I believe a good choice that's readily available is Eastwood Zinc Phosphate. 10281Z It's very dark gray, has a bit of sparkle to it, and can be applied in a thin coat that covers with out too much build up.
I believe a mask was used originally and try I duplicate that by spraying the egg crate and the border that's at the bottom and inner side of the grill only from the front. I try to get coverage on the entire upper egg crate, but try to get very little paint on the back side of the grill and parking light housing. I don't use tape on the 'egg crate' because I find it leaves an 'edge' which isn't typical of the original paint application.
Using an x-acto blade I then 'slice' the paint off the front face of the egg crate as soon as the paint has flashed. I also slice the paint off the top 'ledge' of each egg crate which extends back about 1/16" from the front face of the egg crate.
The entire bottom row of egg crates is left painted. No chrome was exposed.
Now the black detail. If you look carefully you'll see a narrow slightly recessed 'race track' that runs around the outer perimeter of the parking light lens. It was painted semi-flat black. It extends over the top of the lens and down each side but only as far as that bottom row of 'egg crates' where the gray takes over again.
It's not real a bad job at all and actually kind of fun.
Give it a try and Good Luck.
Regards,
Alan

[Joseph M.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Richard Fortier (advertises in the Driveline) did my 70 grills. He has the correct paint and mask. He may be a source to talk with re your grills.

[David F.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Thanks for all of your input!

Patrick-I should have taken better notes when I was at your house. Just getting started on it

[David F.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

And Alan - Just spent a half hour drooling over your photo bucket pictures. You have an amazing automobile!

[Alan S.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Hi David,
Thanks very much.
I was very fortunate to have a very much untouched car to restore!
It was a tremendous amount of work, but one of the special pleasures of my life!
Again, thank you!
Regards,
Alan

[Phil W.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Alan,I'm in agreement with David, Beautiful restoration. Thanks for the detail documentation and making the photos available - they are a very useful resource.This is off thread topic but my '71 is #7121 and came off the line about a week after yours. I noticed your car has the holes for headlight washers but no nozzles, hoses etc. Mine is the same and mine has a 4-port washer pump - does your have a 4-port pump?Thanks,Phil

[Alan S.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the compliment.
My car, built mid-January, has a 5-port pump, the headlight washer hoses are still in the vacuum hose bundle and were cut off just before they pass through core support and back near the horn relay, and both headlight bezels have the holes for the nozzles.
I have the hoses in the bundle tucked behind the vacuum hoses so they're not obvious in pictures of the engine compartment.
Regards,
Alan

[Chuck Z.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

David,2 X on Richard Fortier. He did the grills on my 70 a few years ago and did an outstanding job.Good luck.Chuck

[Phil W.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the reply, I have a correction to my previous post, my '71 is #6224 build date of January 11th so I'm actually about a week or so before yours. Mine has the 5-port washer pump and holes in both bezels but no nozzles or hoses. I guess my hoses were removed by a previous owner assuming it had them since my was produced before yours.
Thanks again for the information and sharing your photos.
regards,
Phil

[Bill L.]

Re: 1970 Front Grill Restoration

There was a thread somewhere that suggested pressing the front of the grilles lightly in to foam and to paint them from the back. The reason I preferred this method is I thought the lines on the front did not look like hard lines as the grilles were cleaned up. They actually showed what I will call paint fogging. Using this method seemed to duplicate the factory spray pattern perfectly. I did a little touch touch up with a razor and lacquer thinner afterwards.

I did all the other paint work on the grilles before using the foam. Painted the black detail first. Carefully taped off the black detail and painted the lower rows that had no chrome exposed. At this time I taped the chrome surround and sprayed the front except for the rows with chrome edges exposed. Once this cured for a couple weeks I turned them over, pressed them in to the foam and sprayed. The nice thing about the lacquer is I could spray until the desired coverage was obtained.

It was a pretty tedious but very rewarding experience. Now my chrome was in very nice shape with no pits. It does show some wear but nothing worth re-chroming at this point. I especially did not want to risk the original 70 only grills which are rarer then hens teeth these days.

I was able to have a local shop mix up the original lacquer formula including the texturizer (is that a word?)

Here is a pic albeit not a very good one. IMG_0035.jpg IMG_0034.jpg There are a few water spots that were not cleaned off the egg crates. Color sanded a little and some water got on the grilles.



Bill