Grill refinishing

[pwdcougar]

Got a nice almost dent free 69-70 grill the other day that was sanded then painted. I've removed almost all of the paint with paint stripper and lacquer thinner. Looks like it was sanded with 80 or 100 grit paper prior to painting.

Were the original grills anodized? My winter beer-drinking project will be to wet sand the grill and polish it. Has anyone done this and how did it come out?




Paul

[JAC10K]

It is very easy to polish aluminum, but you will have to get those nasty 80-100 grit scratches out. Try to get to at least 400 before you wet sand, but 1000-2000 would be ideal.

[leftybass209]

Wow, that sucks that they sanded it. Best of luck with the sanding project but be careful as these things were thin from the factory and still dented easily so they need all the material they can hang on to.

[Already Gone]

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[Lou Boffa]

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[flashed]

Post some pics when you get started on it ,would love to follow along as I have one that needs done .

[70LonghornCST]

Yes, our grilles were originally anodized or electro-plated. Once you polish the grille, you'll need to seal it. I stripped, sanded, and polished an aluminum part off of my Plymouth and found the polished effect to be very bright and mirror-like. The trouble with polished aluminum is that the aluminum, once stripped, is not protected and will need to be polished often. You may want to look into sealing it with a clear (not sure how it would turn out), but ideally, anodizing would be best and the most natural looking.

[snipescastle2]

if you have to remove that anodizing, use some "draino" crystals in warm water and use a paint brush to apply it, it will turn the aluminum a dark color as it removes the anodizing layer, don't over do it, but once the metals turns dark, you need to rinse very well and then dry it right away, then it's just a matter of sanding with very fine sand paper- 300, 400, 600, 800, 1000 grit,etc.... then use some jewelers rouge and a good flannel buff wheel to polish it out, you can get most of the polishing compounds at any truck stop, or eastwood,etc...Zaino makes a good sealer for polished aluminum... hth,
Ben

[Lattimer]

I stripped mine with oven cleaner to get the anodizing off, then I rubbed it with steel wool to get a "brushed" finish. I went over that with rattle can gloss clear coat, then painted the black parts back in over the clear. Its been a year and still looks good.

[flashed]

Very good info so far everyone ,I have a very nice original 70 and 72 grill I want to do that on. Will make nice wall art .

[Devins-step]

Thanks for posting this question. I have a '72 grill I want to shine up too.

[pwdcougar]

Great tips and ideas, thanks!

It has been too cold in the garage the last few days so I haven't started working on it again yet. I've got piles of 220 grit sandpaper so I'll start with that first. I learned in school that the best way to sand was to go 90 degrees from the previous grit to see that the scratches were removed. Not going to happen with the grill though since it is going to be awful tough to go side to side on those long parts.

Paul