C2 grill and supports

[Garry E.]

The aluminum grill on my '64 has a small amount of black over-spray on the bottom of each louver adjacent to each black-painted support bracket holding the grill together..... Is this black-over spray "original" from the painting of the original support brackets or is this an artifact from an over-zealous previous owner trying to touch up the black paint on the brackets....? What makes this suspicious is that it is on every louver in about the same area and quantity.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

Garry

[John H.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Garry -

The support/mounting brackets were painted separately prior to assembling/riveting the grille together; I wouldn't expect to see any black paint on the louvers.

[Garry E.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Thanks..... One would think the support brackets were painted before assembly in some type of jig.... also, some the rivets are painted and some are not....
I'm going to remove the paint....

[Jim W.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Gary- I just recently removed my 64 grill to clean it up. No paint overspray as mentioned. But let me (us) know what nifty masking trick you come up with, short of miticulous taping each vane. Actually cleaning/sanding the light rust to prep mine will be the hardest, not to mention polishing the Alum. What a pain.

[Garry E.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Jim....

I'm afraid I have the tedious task ahead of me of masking each of the vanes... I found the product "Blue Magic" quite effective in polishing the aluminum. Also, another little trick I've used.... after masking off the vanes, put a small amount of grease on each of the "tails" of the rivets. You can then spray the support brackets and then wipe off the paint on the rivets since it will not stick to the grease....

Good luck.

[Tracy C.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Jim,

I seem to remember the JG states these brackets are black oxide rather than paint. Unless you disassemble the the grill to do this, paint really is your only option.

You might try brushing vasoline on the bars prior to paint or if you use lacquer paint, just paint the brackets without any masking and then wipe the overspray off the bars with lacquer thinner ASAP after painting the brackets. A small "art" brush will help with this task. (work on one bar at a time)

Don't expect any noticable results from buffing the aluminum bars. These are bright dipped anodized and are as shiny as they are going to get short of completely stripping, buffing and redipping to replace the OEM anodized finish. But again, the grill would need to be taken apart to accomplish this.

tc

[Jim W.]

Re: C2 grill and supports

Tracy, Disassembly of the grill is out of the question. My rivets are in great condition and I have no desire to take it appart. Actually the black phos. brackets are barely showing some rust, such that I'm at crossroads trying to decide if I should bother doing the painting process or just find the right portable small buffer attachment and clean them up similar to lightly cleaning a rusty bolt on the wire wheel which I have had good results. I apply just enough pressure to get the rust off then stop before the black plating rubs off.

I've used Artisian Metal Polish by POR on the alum. and it works fairly good. Just too much rubbing with the fingertips.