Grill Before & After Pics
 

I finally got a day of warm weather so I got to finish the grill on the 71.
All of the moldings are finished now and the truck gets home from paint on Wednesday.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/grill002.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...edgrill002.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...edgrill005.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...edgrill004.jpg

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

very nicely done.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Nice, what did you use on it?

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Nice work!

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Nice shine! whats your secret?

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Looks great what did you use on it?

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

In an earlier post I mentioned I stripped the anodizing off with a mix of sodium hydroxide and water.
I popped out the dents and sanded out the pits then buffed all of the areas that were going to be shiny and masked off the black area. The black is SEM trim paint. I brushed the lower apron section just to make it sort of a "Three Tone" effect. Then I applied an automotive clear coat to the whole thing and applied the trim black again to break the gloss.
Normally, I would have Re-anodized the thing but I couldn't find any place that had the facility to do it. So, instead I had to clear coat it. It should hold up for a while because I plan to keep it covered and garaged.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Very nice, I plan on doing the exact same thing. Your 71' stripe looks great. Congrats. Trevor

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very, very nice work!

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wow you did one hell of a great job.

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looks new!

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Looks good what did you use for paint on the Inner Grill is it a new Reproduction or did you paint it?

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Wow, great job, I was going to buy a new one but now i think i'll try to clean up my old one. what did you use to buff out the shiney parts? man that looks new!!

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sexy, wow!!!! what words to use

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

The inner grill was painted with Nissan Titan Radiant Silver and clear coated.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

The shiny parts were sanded with 400 wet and then Scotch Bright wheel. Black cutting compound on a Denim Wheel followed with red and a cotton wheel.

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Could that be done while still on the truck?

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Removing the dents and buffing would be hard with it on the truck.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

looks really good

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Looks really good. I just got done doing mine a few weeks ago, so I know what a Pain in the *** it is, but it was worth it, saved a lot of money for something else.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

How did you apply the sodium hydroxate/water mix? Brush, spray, rag.....

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

and what is Hydroxate?? where do you get it??

I can't say anything you havn't heard before

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Sodium Hydroxide is Lye. You can get it in crystal form from EBAY for about $5.00.
WARNING!
THIS STUFF WILL BURN YOUR SKIN AND CAN CAUSE BLINDNESS IF IT GETS IN YOUR EYES. Wear protective clothing, gloves and eye were!!

Mix 1 part lye crystals to 20 parts water in a plastic spray bottle and apply to the grill. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes and scour with an abrasive pad (Scotch-Brite Red works well). Rinse with water and repeat the procedure if necessary.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

I'm clicking on Ebay right now. Man, that looks GREAT!!!!!

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That really turned out nice, awesome work!

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very nice work on the grill.

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You can also use Easy Off, the oven cleaner. It worked good for me.

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how long did you let the easy off sit on the grill?

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I believe a detailed FAQ write up is in order for that transformation!!

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This!

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WOW. That looks great. I just picked up a grill that I will be doing the same thing to. Hope mine comes out as good a yours.

DZL1.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

My grille was painted over i believe...is there a way to get the paint off without messing up the bottom coat (unless the PO already messed that up for me?) your grille looks nice man. Very good work!

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

I kept it on there for 15-20min. I applied several coats and for the most part it removed the anodize. Although it required some sanding.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

great job, that turned out real nice.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

If you're referring to the "Bottom Coat" as the anodizing, You can strip all of the paint off with Jabsco paint remover (Home Depot). It won't harm the anodizing.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

nice...thanks, i'll check it out

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DT1, I appreciate you giving us the courage to try this. I started on my 70 grille today. Got the dings knocks out and got it stripped. If it wouldn't have gotten cold today and tomorrow, I would be sanding it to perfection and buffing it tomorrow. Where did you get the denim wheel? I have tons of wheels but couldn't find a denim one. Trevor

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Your grill looks great!! Real nice work!

Not to hijack your thread, but throwing in my .02 here for another option.
I use Krylon "Dull Aluminum" a lot on my GM resto's.. It works well on grills, rally wheels, etc., and is the closest thing I've found without buying the correct but super-expensive "Argent Silver". I hardly ever see it in stores, but I keep a case here directly from Krylon at about $3.15 a can. For the grills and some of the other stuff, you'll need to follow with a clear coat as well.

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Try these guys. Very reasonably priced.
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/ds.html

Re: Grill Before & After Pics
 

Good idea but I didn't take many pictures. A detailed FAQ won't be very good without them. If most of you here are like me, I rarely read past the first or second paragraph and if it doesn't grab me by then...well.