'69 Plastic Grill Paint Prep...hand sand, light sand blast or glass bead?

[Mfr426]

Hello all, moving right along on the grill and frame resto of my 69 Charger. I have the plastic grill all apart now and ready to be prepped for paint. This part looks like it will be tedious as my plastic has 30 years of bug guts all over it. I was wondering what folks recommend for this task? Should I use Scotch Brite pad and do it manually or should I try to drop back the pressure on my sand blaster and lightly blast it? I have a fellow Charger Buddy that has a glass blaster that could do that as well if it works. Someone mentioned the glass beading idea and says it works.

If I do this by hand it looks like it will take me quite a while. I've had good success with blasting (carefully).

Anyone have any suggestions on the fastest, safest, easyest way to do this?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Mike R in Reading PA

[4402tuff4u]

On my 1968 grill, I just used spray-nine cleaner with a soft bristle brush and washed it two times with warm water. I then lightly sanded it with 600 paper. Fixed cracks with J&B plastic epoxy welding sanded the repair areas, primed it with SEM plastic high build primer and painted it. I think sand blasting or glass bead blasting is not necessary - only my opinion.

[Shakey]

Man, I have a ton of time invested in my restored grille.

First, I disassembled everything and cleaned it thoroughly, first with a shot of Simple Green a non toxic household cleaner and a toothbrush for all of the plastic fins.   Then made a "dishwasher" in the driveway using a plastic garbage can, soap and some air.   Let is soak in hot soapy water for 30 minutes and then rinsed, and cleaned again with Simple Green and variuos soft bristled brushes and rinsed again.

Then the wet sanding begins.   I started with a 400, then 800, then 1000 and finally a 1500, always with the garden hose wetting as I go.   It was like glass when I was finished and my finger tips were actually bleeding slightly.   I did this over the course of a weekend.   The sanding was mostly focused on the flat smooth parts (the grey), not so much the fins.   Yes, I paid attention to the fins, mostly "scuffing" them, on the facial side as well as the side so the paint would stick.   It was difficult to clean the headlight doors, as my fingers would barely fit between the fins as I tried to clean the surface as best I could.   It was tedious but it worked great.

Then after I was satisfied with my sanding I used Eastwood's Argent Silver Wheel paint and SEM's Trim Black to paint after prepping the plastic with SEM plastic prep.   I painted the silver first, taping of all of the areas that were to be black, let it dry for a week and then removed the masking and taped off the silver areas prior to painting the black.   The taping part takes a lot of time also but it is well worth it.

It is all complete now with the exception of the trim that needs to be added.   Here are a few photos.

There are a few other threads here regarding grille restos, all very helpful.

As far as any type of sand/bead blasting - I'd be pretty leary of that myself as these items are expensive and hard to find.

My way was definitely not the fastest but seemed to work well.

[Mfr426]

Thank you both for the comments and Pics!!!! Hey Shakey, did you really need that much sanding and the different grades of paper? I didnt realize it was so smooth (or should be). I was dreading the sanding of the fins but it sounds like that was not the hard part?

Simple green is a great idea. I dont want to put anything that could melt the plastic on the grill.

Man, I can see this taking me quite some time...

[Shakey]

Thank you both for the comments and Pics!!!! Hey Shakey, did you really need that much sanding and the different grades of paper? I didnt realize it was so smooth (or should be). I was dreading the sanding of the fins but it sounds like that was not the hard part?

Simple green is a great idea. I dont want to put anything that could melt the plastic on the grill.

Man, I can see this taking me quite some time...

Probably not, but I felt that if I was going to do it, I might as well do it right.  Perhaps I could have started with the 1500 but I chose to do it in stages.  As tedious as it was, I enjoyed it as I looked forward to the finished product.  Make sure when you do sand, keep going in the same direction and when you get to the sides, make a smooth transition as you swing upwards.  You can then flip it over and make the same transition downwards on the sides.

I think the grille on a '69 Charger is the a major focal point of the car and I know that when I look at a Charger, it is usually the first place I look and can judge a resto by it.

As we were finishing, my Father-In-Law says "you watch all your hard work will be shot when the first bumble bee hits the grille while you are doing 100 km/h and busts it".  Thanks a lot for the optimism!

Good luck!

[Mfr426]

I'm with you Shakey, if I'm doing it I'm doing it the right way (and only once). I can tell a resto that was done quickly and poorly very quickly. If the car is representing me I want it to be done right.

Hey, what is the heck is bubbling in the driveway? Is that your "portable, non-UCC" grillwasher?

Mike

[Shakey]

I'm with you Shakey, if I'm doing it I'm doing it the right way (and only once). I can tell a resto that was done quickly and poorly very quickly. If the car is representing me I want it to be done right.

Hey, what is the heck is bubbling in the driveway? Is that your "portable, non-UCC" grillwasher?

Mike

We were going to put the items in the dishwasher in the kitchen but we figured Shirley would flip.  Of course we wouldn't have left them in there for the dry cycle.

The garbage can was filled with very hot water, dish soap and we hooked an air line up and submerged it in the water.  Used a clamp to regulate the air flow, you don't need much.  All the air really does is agitate the water, creating bubbles and a lot of movement in there.  Not a huge noticable difference but we felt it loosened a lot of the grime off of the grille pieces.

[Mfr426]

Now that is improvising for sure...

NICE!

[JimShine]

I agree! A clean grille makes a huge difference. When my car went from its beat grille to the restored one, people saw more of a change than what there really was.

[Mfr426]

I think one of the reasons that the 69 is so sought after is that grill. It's got "the look". Nice job Jim!