Top cross member

[twodko]

Hello all,

What's the correct/best looking paint for the top cross member immediately above the grille in a 69'?
Its gloss black now and needs refinishing, besides body color would it be chassis black, semi gloss etc?
Thanks

                                           Tom

[69*F5*SE]

If you're talking about the frame that holds the grille it's usually semi gloss black.   

[twodko]

This is the topmost piece of sheet metal to which the hood latch mounts. There are 5 small bolts along the front edge of this piece that secures the top of the grille to it. Semigloss sounds correct, its obvious the previous owner sprayed it with gloss at some point.

On another note, those 4 bolts up in the fender well holding the grille assembly in place are proving to be difficult. I've sprayed them with a "breakfree" solvent but with the undercoating on the exposed theads its looking like more spray and a small wire brush. The grille will look great though once its out and restored!

Thanks for the info.

Tom

[70daytonaclone]

Hi all I am currently working on my 69 grill, those 4 nuts are not fun  I had to soak and wire brush several times to get them off. these old cars were really put together!

[NMike]

X2 for semi gloss black. and for the love of pete, NOT body colour.

[twodko]

Thanks for the paint tip. From what I've seen and read that's kinda what I thought but I needed confirmation from other Charger owners. Body color on any of that framing other than the rad support would be butt ugly!

I now have the grille assembly off the car and as 70 DaytonaClone remarked, those 4 bolts up in the wheel wells were very difficult. I ended up using a cup shaped wire brush bit on a cordless drill along with copious amounts of breakfree to get the undercoating off and finally removed them without damage. My next question is the grille assembly looks daunting just getting the grille separated from it. There is the frame holding it all together, the vacuum headlight door assembly and finally the headlight assembly. I've taken a couple pictures to guide me in reassembly however I'm unsure which chunk to remove first. Suggestions please. Thanks

Tom