Restore your entire front end for under $100? Yes. It's possible

[Mister-B]

I've had some other threads as I've gone, but I wanted to show the completed shots, and add a bit more, since I've done some other stuff.

First the before shot, complete with smashed grill, dented and crooked bumper, faded inner grille, rusted headlight bezels, and jacked up hood emblem:


After, complete with replacement grille, replacement bumper, and replacement hood emblem. All parts are factory, and were obtained from the salvage yard. They were shined and painted where necessary:


Here's my thread on how to restore a bumper from the junk yard
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=562911

Here's my thread on how to restore an inner and outer grille
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=559305

I also replaced my hood emblem, but haven't done a how to on that yet, so I'll cover it here. I bought an after market emblem from a parts vendor. It was so cheaply made, that I sent it back. The metal was light, the black painted border all along the outside of the emblem was poorly painted with huge areas of paint that got on the wrong area, and there was a chip in one corner of the plastic. Needless to say, I sent it back for a refund. I'm not paying $60 for a garbage emblem.

So, I found an original at the junk yard for about $4. The metal and plastic insert were in good shape, but the black border was faded and needed fresh paint, and and the blue backing was a bit faded. So, I used some Good Off to remove the paint from the back side, and strip it completely down to clear plastic. Then, I sprayed blue paint on the back side plastic. Used several coats until it looked good. Then, as per how the factory does the emblems, I finished with several backing coats of silver metallic paint. I then used a small paint brush and some black paint to paint the black border.

Anyway, it's a big improvement, and I'm happy with the results. You can really do a lot with factory parts from the salvage yard, some elbow grease, and some paint.

Here are a couple more completed shots. Please note I'm still working on getting the grill to line up just right



Posted via Mobile Device