plastic supplies for grill repair

[motorcitydak]

I looked thru that thread that linked to a ton of grill q&a's but I never saw what kind of plastic to use to repair missing sections. I have a 68, the grill is not bad but its still broken. I have to replace a few fins on the the center, but no large sections. Does anyone know what kind of plastic bar I should use to fix this thing and where to get it from? Then there is the question of how to glue it in. I read that some guys used JB weld, 2 part epoxy, fiberglass resin, fiberglass cloth and 3m panel bonding adhesive. I like the idea of using the panel bonding adhesive since Id like to use that on the body too since I hate welding sheet metal, all the warping, taching and grinding gets really annoying especially if I can avoid it. My car doesnt need much for patch panels, but I still need some. Ill save the welding for reinforcing the frame rails, the frame connectors and my rear 4 link I want to do. Anyway, back to the grill...sorry to make another thread about this, but I still have questions

[2Gunz]

I used Loctites 2 part epoxy and it worked great.

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=11&subid=49&plid=760

I basically formed missing parts with tape.... when it was mostly hard I pulled the tape off.
However I didnt have broken fins on the front part of the grill just chips on the back sides of the fins.

For cracks I used a dremel and widened the cracks but not all the way though the plactic.
Basically I made a valley for the epoxy to fill in..... then sanded it even.

If I had to do it again I would use the same stuff.

The Grill is sick and looks better than new

[motorcitydak]

Thats a cool idea to make a 'mold' for the fins, but unfortunately I dont have any chipped fins, just missing ones.

I also like the idea of digging out the cracks so the epoxy will have a place to bind to, I was planning on doing that too. I have some fins that are cracked off on one side so I will have to be careful and glue the one end back together.

How long ago did you do this resto on your grill? Have you had any problems?


I forgot to add that a few of my mounts and alignment pins are broken. The car is no where near ready for fitting the grill. Should I just fix the fins rite now and wait until I can mount it to replace the mounts?

[69*F5*SE]

I didn't have any missing fins but I had some broken off pieces on the bottom front lip.  I cut off and used the plastic from an old black 8 track tape that I had and it all went together very well. Epoxy holds it together.

[2Gunz]

My grill also had a bunch of broken mounts.
Almost everyone was broken and the ones that where not would soon be.


I say the resto on it took about 40 hours, it was a mess.

Its been done for about 2 years now and still looks great.

[70daytonaclone]

I read a thread here a couple years ago and there ws one post from some one who didn't and doesn't post very often. he said to take and make your own glue! a small glass jar, broken grill parts and pour Acetone on it. the lod plastic will melt down in a few hours and this glue works the best. it will conform to shapes and u can mold it with tape. you can control thickness. and it will fill in cracks. I have used this car secret on several grills. Stephen