66 Dart grill questions

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rod7515

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Was wondering what is the best way to rebuild this grill. Its at the anodizing shop today having the anodizing removed. He told me that in order to redo the anodizing I will need to take the metal off the grill. Its held on by what looks like some very small rivets.
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If I remove them to paint where do I get this style of rivet? does it really even matter. I dont worry about original look but it would be nice to get it close. Also what color and brand paint do you use for the black backdrop paint they have on them. Guess I also need to cover the front of the car so when you look thru the grill you dont see white which is my body color.
Heres some pics of my grills.
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The one above and below is my original grill that was on the car when I bought it. If I can straighten out the center section of grill this one can be made to be very nice.
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The one on the right just above is the one I decided to have reworked.
I have bought 2 additional grills over the last 3 years in order to try to get a better one each time. I struggle with selling any of them in case of and accident but I guess once the car is completed I should pass them on to someone else needing one.
Let me know what I need to do next.
Rod
 
I just drilled them out and used pop rivets to replace. It looks good. Black is what Ma Mopar used behind the grill, I painted my 66 body color...

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Hey Rod... I guess we are doing the same car. Mine is a 66 Dart 2 door Sedan Post. I was just doing my Grill a couple of weeks ago. I used angel hair to cleaned it up and straightened the best way I could. Removed the rivets with Dremmel Tool and just used aluminum rivets to put it all back together. I used black enamel paint using and angel hair brush to paint the black parts. Mine is also white with red interior. Take care..
Pedro
 
Was wondering what is the best way to rebuild this grill. Its at the anodizing shop today having the anodizing removed. He told me that in order to redo the anodizing I will need to take the metal off the grill. Its held on by what looks like some very small rivets.
View attachment 1715133522 View attachment 1715133523
If I remove them to paint where do I get this style of rivet? does it really even matter. I dont worry about original look but it would be nice to get it close. Also what color and brand paint do you use for the black backdrop paint they have on them. Guess I also need to cover the front of the car so when you look thru the grill you dont see white which is my body color.
Heres some pics of my grills. View attachment 1715133524 The one above and below is my original grill that was on the car when I bought it. If I can straighten out the center section of grill this one can be made to be very nice.
View attachment 1715133525 View attachment 1715133526 View attachment 1715133527 View attachment 1715133528 View attachment 1715133529 View attachment 1715133530 View attachment 1715133531 View attachment 1715133532
The one on the right just above is the one I decided to have reworked.
I have bought 2 additional grills over the last 3 years in order to try to get a better one each time. I struggle with selling any of them in case of and accident but I guess once the car is completed I should pass them on to someone else needing one.
Let me know what I need to do next.
Rod

I just used a small grinding bit to remove the back portion of the rivet. you can ise a blind rivet to replace for a factory style look or just pop rivet it back using an an Aluminium rivet instead of steel to minimize rust. here is mine on it's first try after "(original yellow top) Easy-off"ing the anodizing at home.
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and the headlight bezels.
before
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working on em, had to use the propane torch and some HF low heat aluminum rods to solder/weld up some tears and holes in the trim.
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after fixing but before final polish

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I think the paint on the trim is a low gloss (20 to 30% gloss), so it's not flat black & not a real shiny gloss.
 
The powdered coating may be an option. I guess I should get a quote on what the cost would be. I would probably keep it an aluminum color or maybe go with a chrome color. Im not a black trim fan at all.
Rod
 
Oh, was wondering if I decide to polish how should I go about it? Use scotchbrite or go with different grits of sandpaper?
rod
 
I wish someone would start reproducing these grills and head light bezels, mine are in pretty bad shape, and the used ones I have seen were not much better...
 
Coalman, I have 3 grills and only really need 2 of them. If you are interested in one I would sell the one that came off my car originally. It has one bent rail going across the top that I was going to straighten. But if your interested I would let it go. By the way usually shipping is very expensive to send them around. I am in Pa if you are close.
Rod
 
I wish someone would start reproducing these grills and head light bezels, mine are in pretty bad shape, and the used ones I have seen were not much better...
The biggest obstacle with reproducing those parts is the cost vs the need. There aren't enough 66 Dart owners around that would want to pay the price. The grills are quite intricate. The headlight bezels are simpler parts but, I checked with a pattern shop and with a Mopar parts supplier that has parts repopped overseas. The stamping and trimming dies for headlight bezels would cost $10,000 a side each You might have $20-40,000 invested in dies to stamp and trim a left and right bezel. That's no anodizing and/or polishing. We will probably never see those being produced.
 
Toolmanmike, Thats the reason I bought 3 grills, 9 sets of headlight bezels and 3 sets of tail lights and not all the nicest but to make one good set of each! Once this car is done I will probably sell all spare parts.
Rod
 
Understand what you all are saying. There is just so many more parts for a 67 and up..
 
Keep
Toolmanmike, Thats the reason I bought 3 grills, 9 sets of headlight bezels and 3 sets of tail lights and not all the nicest but to make one good set of each! Once this car is done I will probably sell all spare parts.
Rod
Keep me posted, I could use a right head light bezel, mine has a hole in it....
 
Coalman, I have 3 grills and only really need 2 of them. If you are interested in one I would sell the one that came off my car originally. It has one bent rail going across the top that I was going to straighten. But if your interested I would let it go. By the way usually shipping is very expensive to send them around. I am in Pa if you are close.
Rod
Too far, the shipping would kill me, I am in Texas.... Thanks a bunch
 
Keep

Keep me posted, I could use a right head light bezel, mine has a hole in it....


I'd just "(original yellow top only because of the lye in it) easy-off" the anodizing,sand around the hole and
go to harbor freight and get some of those low temp Aluminium rods. Put a flattened copper pipe behind it to help keep heat in that area and stop the melted aluminium from flowing out, fix the hole and polish. mine were torn and had a hole or 2 in them and they came out great. I'm collecting materials for an anodizing setup just for the bezels.
 
I'd just "(original yellow top only because of the lye in it) easy-off" the anodizing,sand around the hole and
go to harbor freight and get some of those low temp Aluminium rods. Put a flattened copper pipe behind it to help keep heat in that area and stop the melted aluminium from flowing out, fix the hole and polish. mine were torn and had a hole or 2 in them and they came out great. I'm collecting materials for an anodizing setup just for the bezels.

Thanks.....
 
Understand what you all are saying. There is just so many more parts for a 67 and up..
More popular cars. I talked to AMD execs at the Nats about sheet metal. They were going to branch out to other car brands and not make sheet metal for early A's. It's all economics and popularity.
 
More popular cars. I talked to AMD execs at the Nats about sheet metal. They were going to branch out to other car brands and not make sheet metal for early A's. It's all economics and popularity.
Kind of sad, but I get it, hanging out at out Cruisin on Grand, with car guys, "I have a couple old cars, 66, 67, 69" Cool!!!! What kind? "Dodge Darts". They leave.....No love for our A bodies. MAYBE if it is a 340 car, Maybe.....
 
Has anyone gone the Powder Coat route? My car is far from stock and I thought about having the parts finally grit blasted and Powder coated silver or flat silver. What do you think?? Thanks
 
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