Metal grille coating

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hemitheus

hemitheus

19? Plymouth Scampenstein
Joined
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I have a question about the coating that Ma Mopar used on the aluminum grilles. Right now I am sanding it off and have had some success but am having a hard time in the corners and hard to reach places. Is there another method to removing this so i can get a good polish on the aluminum?
 
Are you referring to the anodizing that is done??? If so, you can soak them for a little bit in Purple Power degreaser and the lye in it will take it off. Or use oven cleaner. Just don't leave it on very long.
 
Yep, it's anodized.

Oven cleaner will take it off. Don't use the low odor stuff and get on and off in a reasonable time frame.

Never thought of PP, that would work too since it has some lye in it
 
Yeah, purple power works great. I built a box out of OSB and lined it with a plastic trash bag, and soaked my plastic dash pieces in it, it totally dissolved all the old paint and left it pristine for a new coat of paint. Many, many uses. Love the stuff.
 
I did a grill restore on my ’67 Dart last winter; it was a lot of fussy time consuming work, but well worth it. This winter I tackle the GT trunk panel.

Once you get the factory anodizing off, you will probably need to deal with some imperfections in the aluminum. This can be accomplished with normal hammer and dolly dent repair than dressing rough spots to blend in with a fine cut mill basted file, and working up through various grits of wet/dry sand paper to 2000 grit, finishing off with something like Mothers all metal polish, and clear coat. It will take a lot of elbow grease, but take your time and it will look showroom new when finished.

Headlight surrounds were all dented up; I did not remove much of anodizing, just feathered and blended with clear coat after dent removal, and smoothing surface on leading edges smoothing, then repainted black.
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Hemitheus,thanks for bringing this up.I'm in the process of doing the same thing, and your right it is a real pain in the rear.I never thought of using oven cleaner and I've never heard of purple power before.What is it?
 
mopardads67 said:
Hemitheus,thanks for bringing this up.I'm in the process of doing the same thing, and your right it is a real pain in the rear.I never thought of using oven cleaner and I've never heard of purple power before.What is it?
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auto zone & advanced auto in hagerstown............Artie
 
awesome job wjajr. thanks for the tips.

the purple power didnt do anything. put a scrap headlight surround in for 3 days... nothing. any ideas?
 
I found Drano Kitchen Crystals to work the best for removing the bright dip on trim. Mix some with hot water in a container large enough to soak the piece. Within 20 minutes it will be gone. Leaves a gray smut behind that you wipe/rinse off. http://70duster440.com/grilleresto.html
 
I wound up trying the oven cleaner.Had all the dents worked out all the anodized stuff off,all polished up looking good ready for paint and thought hhhmmm lets test fit.Guess what... it doesn't fit.What I found was whom ever did the body work on this car must have gone a little heavy on the bondo around the end of the fender because the fender where the bezel rests is 3/8 of an inch wider than the bezel.In other words the fender sticks out past the bezel.Bummer..... I will continue on though.So yes the oven cleaner worked real well.Thanks all and good luck Hemitheus.Mark
 
Leanna, thanks. It worked great. The motor on my bench polisher gave up the ghost though. So time to get a new one so I can shine these babies up, mask, prep and paint.

You are awesome
 
Glad to hear it Hemi. :-D

Are you using a converted bench grinder? You can also build your own buffer with an old washing machine motor.
 
CudaChick1968 said:
Glad to hear it Hemi. :-D

Are you using a converted bench grinder? You can also build your own buffer with an old washing machine motor.
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Yeah, it was just a bench grinder with a buffer pad on it.

Never thought of that but thats a great idea... could even put it on trim switch and control the RPM.
 
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