Restoring a grill? repairs and paint?

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SirDan

SirDan

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Im curious as to how people go about repairing most of these plastic grills. My 72 grill is "almost" mint. The previous owner broke part of it, luckily it came off in one nice piece in a very workable area. Im just wondering what would be the best way to reattach it to make it appear as it was never broken. Id also like to paint my grill. Im curious as to how people have gone about masking them off, and what kind of paint to use. Im repainting a 72 grill and would like to get black and silvers that are close to factory, it doesent have to be "exact" as this is not a numbers matching crazy restoration car. i just want something rather close. any opinions, pictures or help is greatly appreciated.
 
As for the cracked/broken pieces, I'm not sure what would work best, I would assume that either the two part plastic epoxy or maybe Super Glue would work well. When I painted my grill, I had to mask off the front trim out barbs in my grill. I sprayed my grill with a silver that was as close to silver argent as I could find from duplicolor and let it dry overnight and then went back and masked off the front barbs and sprayed the rest of the grille with a charcoal grey duplicolor. I think the grill turned out really good.
 
There are companies that supply the original type of paint used by the factory on the grills. Several years ago I bought some grille paint and stock ralley wheel paint from a company in PA. It was called argent something or other if I remember right, I will see if I can find their info.
 
Use SEM weld (two part Appoxy) $45 via Yearone.com, go to eastwood to get silver argent wheel paint, aka the sharktooth and vailiant duster silver part of the grille with the texture.
you need a dremel and a wide variation of sand paper.
Also get Diamond clear, clear coat from eastwood and spray it on after your paint drys. Send me your cell number or email and I will show you the grilles that I have repaired.

It should cost you about 80.00 to fix this, REALIZE the amount of time and patience you use, the better the grill will turn out.
If mount taps are broken send me a pm and I will explain how to fix/repair/reinforce them.
 
I used some syrene from the hobby store close to the same thickness as the fins on the grille and used this stuff called LORD Fusor ,that stuff is amazing and beats epoxy.:-D
grille.jpg

My cars a 72 Duster,but I like the look of the 1970 Duster ,so I redid it that way.Besides,I couldnt afford a decent used one(not at the prices the parts are these days,so I just fixed mine)
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a tube of Fusor:already had it at work
sheet styrene from Hobby Lobby:$2
Duplicolor silver metallic:$5 a can
SEM Semi Gloss Black Trim Paint:$5 a can(employee discount)
total:$12,plus a day to repair,4 hours to sand,mask and paint =)
(yeah,im cheap,lol)
 
72 Grilles are a little tough to find around here, so I've had to resort to put them together in piecemeal fashion. Here are some in progress. The second photo is a completed grille.

To repair the structure of the grille, I use Slo Zap glue. It is a gap filling, superglue that sticks well. If the gap is really big, I fill it with plastic body filler, sand it, coat it with a light coat of Slo Zap, and sand it again.

The second grille is the one that is in the Demon. It only needed a little graft in the area in the photo. For the graft, I used the same part of a broken up grille cut a little large, then sanded to fit in. Then the Slo Zap.

The other grilles need a lot of help. I have plastic gusset plates Slo Zapped into place that hold the major pieces into place. There is plenty of room at the bottom to put them in without them being obvious.

For finishing the grilles, I shoot a plastic adhesion promoter first. The next step is to shoot the black areas in Rustoleum Semi-Flat black. The names are being changed around a bit, a Satin finish black would work OK, too. When dried at least a day, I mask off the black parts and shoot Rustoleum Aluminum paint. As soon as I get the grille where I'm going to let it dry, I remove the masking tape. For each color, I usually shoot two coats, ten minutes apart.
 
I see where people talk about light argent, med argent, dark argent...?
Have a 69 Dart... would the color on the flat part of the grill be considered light or med?

Also- any tricks on painting side grill bezels (silver outlines)???? Thanks!
 
DA69RT GT said:
I see where people talk about light argent, med argent, dark argent...?
Click to expand...
I do, too. Some talk about argent silver. Hello. The word argent is derived from argentum which is the Latin name for silver or Ar as in the periodic table of elements. The shade I used on the 72 grilles would be considered a light or pale argent.

That said, particular hues are difficult to replicate. I do not trust my eyes or memory to reproduce colors. I take a color sample with me, or have a sample mixed up to see if it matches. It is a PITA, but often it is the difference between painting once or multiple times.

DA69RT GT said:
Have a 69 Dart... would the color on the flat part of the grill be considered light or med?
Click to expand...
Not really sure what you are talking about. Probably light, but not sure. The other thing is that I think the grilles on the 69 models are anodized aluminum. This is a completely different animal to re-finish than the plastic grilles of the 70 and later models. Even the headlight trim pieces on the 70-72 are plastic. For 73, the grille is plastic, the headlight trim is anodized aluminum.

DA69RT GT said:
Also- any tricks on painting side grill bezels (silver outlines)???? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Generally having a properly prepped surface bared to a spray can/gun will hold paint. Just mask off the portion you don't want painted. I usually use one line of tape to separate what I want painted from what I don't want painted. Then I use another line of tape to fasten newspaper or plastic sheeting to shield the larger area. It's easier for me to do it that way than to have the tape mask the object and hold other coverings in place. It also allows me to adjust one without having a major re-do of the other.

This maybe more than you asked for. Sorry. Hope it helps, though.
 
I redid my 72 a while back. Then traded it for a 70-71 grill so I get to do it again:toothy10:


I sand it down then fix any cracks or chips with Zap-A-Gap. It is a sandable gap filling super glue made just for plastic. Just fillin the cracks or chips with it, let it dry then sand is smoth.

If the crack is on the edge of the grill I will put a peice of tape along the back side of the grill then put the super glue on. That was it wont just run out every where. Then when it is dry remove the tape and sand it down. You can see the tape in the first two pic's.

I just used rattle can black and aluminium engine paint on mine. But I have hered a lot of people say they use rally wheel paint.


I paint the silver first then mask it off and paint the black.
 
to add to what 2Darts said about painting bezels, just put the bezel up to the top and bottom trim pieces and tape the same thickness from the top, something I have notices on the sides, even factory isnt the same from car to car. so its just eye ballin it there.
 
when i did my 70 grille i painted the whole thing black then masked the black off and used the rallye rim paint from mopar it turned out really nice take your time get the blue masking tape and a sharp x-acto knife
 
I've had good luck using fiberglass resin for larger repairs. Make your repair piece out of plastic (even wood) then brush on the resin, it's strong, sandable and takes paint well. I've had very bad luck with cheap-o spray paint, but that could also be chalked up to poor prep.

To replicate bright trim on plastic (consoles, door panels, dash, etc.) you can get silver leaf and adhesive from any hobby store. use a rubber roller or stiff brush for the adhesive, let it tack up and stick the leaves with a soft brush. Burnish it with a soft cloth and shoot it with clear. Looks almost like a new chrome part.
 
I dont know about repairing it, mine was good. Ive heard super glue, like what was mentioned above. When I repainted mine, I sprayed black and then went over the edges with a silver paint pen. It was super easy and it looks almost as good if not as good as duster maniacs.
 
41Husk, an old thread but, I would send Rengo a PM. He is active but hasn't been on in a week or so and might miss this thread through natural progression.
 
Hi all,
hate raising up a "necro-thread" but didnt want to start an all new one. I would like to touch-up paint my '70 Swinger grill, especially this passenger side headlight trim. I think the black vertical slats should be semi-gloss black, no? (I'm going to refinish the black on that turn-signal bezel too cause the flat black the previous owner used just looks too dull to me). Is there a good-matching argent silver spray can available for this discolored/ faded area below the headlight? Is wheel paint still the best option? Thanks in advance!

Dart light.jpg
 
Anyone use this? it appears available from Classic Industries.
says its gloss though...should it be?

K89184.jpg
 
In my mind, argent is a darker silver than what your grill is showing. If you do not refinish the whole grill it is unlikely anything will match the old color.
 
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This is the paint to use to get the textured Argent Silver look. Ive used the Mopar brand Argent Silver and there is no comparison.
Call 877-4PAINT1
 
dustermaniac said:
As for the cracked/broken pieces, I'm not sure what would work best,
Click to expand...
old thread but i just did this.
I "splinted" with strips of thin metal, then JB welded as required. Don't forget to sand down the excess.
IMG_0059.JPG
 
If you're lucky enough to have a parts grill, scrape plastic shavings off of and edge that is like what you want to repair. Then take the 2 parts you want to repair on the good grill and make a very slight V on the front side that shows, and do it from one end to the other. Then take the shavings that you scraped off the parts grill (make sure you have more than enough) and put them in a glass cup. Take a little bit of Toluene, and mix it in with the shavings to make a gooey paste. Apply it from one end of the break in your grill to the other, and build it up slightly in the V you made on the front. Clamp it good, and make sure you pieces are straight. When it sets up and dries, you can gently sand the hump off of the top of the V, and work it with progressively finer sandpaper until it is perfectly smooth. Also smooth up the paste that squirted out on the backside if it shows. That repair will be stronger than any glue you can buy, because you're bonding pieces back together with the same material that the pieces are, and the toluene melts it together kinda like PVC glue does pipe.
 
I recently did a one day overhaul on my demon grill. This had multiple missing tabs, cracks and holes in it. I didn't go nuts kn it because I intend on replacing it when I actually restore the car. This all started when I pressure washed the car and the previous owners paint flew off in sheets.

I took the grill out, apart and repaired the plastic cracks, holes and tabs at work with a nitrogen welder. Then some minor body work. I also sand blasted the entire grill first to get it down to raw plastic. Yes, blasted with my 100 pound pressure blaster. Key is to turn the pressure down. I was using probably 40 psi with zero damage to the grill and probably 10 times faster than sanding by hand.

They used to make a textured silver plastic paint and I used that again. Can't find it in the store anymore but I have used it on console restorations too.

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