Ruined my '69 outer grill w/ oven cleaner......

[72c5]

My 69 outer grill was pretty trashed, but now it is really shot! I tried Easy-Off oven cleaner to get it clean prior to buffing it..........left the easy-off on over night, now it is a bit pitted with all that white flaky stuff....

I used white and browm/rouge buffing compounds, just cakes up and smears.....

Any ideas? Think I need to have it blasted......any thoughts on media?

[Alexis]

you're suppose to just let it set for 15 to 20 mins

[cdowns]

maybe next time you try using a product you'll read the instructions provided by the maker, if i'm not mistaken there's a warning about using oven cleaner on aluminum in the very first sentance of the instructions

[COBALT]

Ouch.

Reminds me of an episode of that traveling antique show where antique appraisers examine people's old antiques and family items. A woman brought in a 19th century Tiffany Lamp (one of the original hand-made ones). She thought it looked "grimey", so she did the same thing you did only with metal stripper. The end result was clean and new looking (to give her credit), but the "grimey" residue on the lamp was the original finish. Her lamp went from an estimated worth of $20,000 down to about $500 because of it.

[69 Short Fleet]

Yikes! Those grills are pretty thin so theres not much material to work with. You may have to replace it, any pics ?

[jlaird]

hey, theres a 69 k-5 in my local salvage yard. Need anything?

[kaycee]

I would try and use some 600 grit paper on it and see if that helps if it does do the whole thing then go to 1000 grit then use 1500 grit and then polish it ,u might even start with 400 grit and work up from there.

[special-K]

It`s prepped for paint!

[bobs409]

As stated, it was left on way too long. If you want to avoid the chance of ruining any more pieces, skip the oven cleaner and use annodizing remover. I found some at: http://www.villagebuffing.com/compound.htm 6th one down the list for $12.00

This stuff works great! Mix some with warm water and place the part in. It fizzes up like Alkaseltzer. Take out after about 15 minutes and buff. You can leave it in as long as you like with no chance of damaging the part.

I just did all the trim from my 66 Impala and it worked fantastic.

For my grill, I made a temporary rectangular wooden box lined with plastic and set the grill in it. For long strips of molding, use a PVC pipe.

I guarantee, once you try this stuff, you'll leave your wifes oven cleaner alone!

[70c10]

Bob, did you use a "powder" mixed with water?. If so did you submerge the entire grille in it or did you brush it on?

[bobs409]

Yep, it was a powder mixed with warm water from the link above.

I made a frame from scrap plywood and lined it with plastic that fit half of my grill. (66 Impala grill is V shaped) Then I was able to do half, flip over and do the other. I did it this way because it would have take too much (wasteful) to submerse the whole thing due to it's V shape.

For a truck grill that is not slanted as much, you'll probably be best to do the whole thing in 1 shot. Just get "creative" and make some type of a jig to soak it in.

[Shane]

I have a '70 outer and inner grill that I am willing to part with. PM if you are interested.

[72c5]

Thanks Shane, not sure that mine is trashed.......sounds like it is elbow grease time working my way up from 600 grit! Might try that cleaner Bob suggested......but my guess is no easy way..........

[wolfthing2000]

Paint it body color!!

[bagged91]

I used the same stuff that Bob used & it works great. Did a set of 67/8 headlight bezels. One thing to be sure to do is to WEAR A PAIR OF PROTECTIVE GLOVES AND EYE PROTECTION as stated on the instructions! Someone had painted the bezels silver(over the alumimun, go figure!) I had to strip paint off of them before I could strip the anodizing off and the paint stripper ate my gloves so instead of getting another set of gloves, I used my hands and washed them off immediately afterwards. Well, the anodizing went from the aluminum to my hands. Looked like I had a bad case of scurvy or something. Took a few days to wear off.

The fella I bought my stripper from said to use a rain gutter for a tray to do long mouldings. Seemed like a good idea.

[72MARIO]

I dont know who said to use oven cleaner but I hope the word gets out that it not the right product to use.

[nevada70chev]

anyone try doing a set of wheels yet?

[CG]

ive read on here several times you can use oven cleaner to clear off the anodizing. i think there is even a thread somewhere that shows a before and after of a grill done that way.

[72c5]

yea i think the deal is to use it for 15-20 min, actually the acid in oven cleaner is the correct acid for de-anodizing aluminum..........i wonder if it is the same stuff as in the solution that Bob's post lists....

[5150]

I tried the oven cleaner on mine also and didn't like the results. I think my mistake was not wet sanding it. I got some 1000 grit and some 1500 grit. It looked way to much like a dark silver, and if you've seen my truck that's not a good combination. I just gave it to the guys to paint it. It's got too many dings in it to keep with that sweet paint job.

However, I do have fellow officer who's dad has a 69 and told me that if I wanted to swap grilles he'd take mine, even painted. It's a farm truck and he told me it doesn't have any dings or anything in it. When I get my truck back (October 2016) I'm thinking about taking him up on it.

[Robert1970C20rstbukt]

I don't know about anyone else, but I used TurtleWax chrome polish on a '69 grille I picked up for my truck, and it worked great! I just poured it on the grille, used a scotchbrite scrubber to clean the corrosion/etc, and sprayed it off with the water hose and I was done. That stuff works great on the chrome headlight bezels too.