Grilling about my grille...

[myk]

Hello folks,




I finished painting the grille support and new headlight adjusting hardware is in place, the buckets are painted.  The body shop straightened out the support as well as they could, so this is the best I can do with this part for now.


As for my grille, I've polished up the trim and cleaned it up as good as I can.  I replaced a lot of missing hardware and repaired some of the cracks.  I do have some questions though:


First of all, on the passenger side the top part of the grille's plastic has sunken right in the middle.  The grille has been in the car for at least twenty six years, so I don't see how that could've happened unless it was like that before I bought the car in '94.  Is there a way that I could straighten that out?  I was thinking low heat applied to the area and trying  to gently push it back up?  If I can't straighten it out, I went ahead and cheated a little by moving the grille trim down and as straight as possible to give the optical illusion of the grille being more straight than it actually is.


The two left-most plastic brackets, on top and below, that help to secure the grille to the support are broken off.  So, I heard about JB's plastic putty and thought that I could use that to reshape the brackets.  Now that I think about it, I should've consulted with you guys before I went ahead with the putty.  Do you guys have any experience with this putty and think it will hold? 


I bought a kit that's supposed to have all of the hardware necessary to bolt the grille to the support.  Parts group #1 and#4 look easy enough; it's the J-nuts and the bolts that bolt the grille to the support and the hardware that's used throughout the grille itself.  Group #2 I'm not too sure about.  There are two types of spacers, ten of each, twenty in total.  How do the spacers work?  I wish I could remember how they looked on the car before I removed the grille but the car had maybe two or three of them in total and they crumbled into dust when I pulled the assembly out.  Group #3 is labeled "grille top and bottom" and I just don't understand what that means, because the screws don't fit into the J-nuts. 

Finally, I test-fitted the grille to the support after I got the support back from the body shop and...it's a tight fit.  The issue I have with this, is that it's going to be a bear to get those J-nuts back on to the grille AND shoehorn the grille back into the support.  Is this normal?  Is it supposed to be this snug of a fit?  Thanks for reading all of this guys, I look forward to your input and direction.  Hopefully I can get the car back on the road with your help...

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Looking good Myk!

A little heat might be ok but I wouldn't go nuts. I'd go real slow on low heat and just try to move it a tiny bit at a time. If it feels brittle though I'd leave it alone. Maybe fit some blocks of wood in there to push it up slightly and leave it overnight after a little heat.   

The plastic putty should be good. I've used similar stuff and it held up. You'll know for sure when you are sanding it and drilling a hole if it does't feel right.

On those clips (#2) for the grill, they get sandwiched on the support for each hole except the middle mounts. So one on each side and they should snap together. Mine are a little different (mine have metal and gaskets along with the black plastic?) but here's a pic of them installed. I'm not sure what #4 is for, I don't remember those screws unless they are the center mounting screws but my kit had larger ones? Maybe the 68 grilles use them for something but not 69's?

[myk]

Thanks clayton!  Looks like theres a soft, sponge like material that goes in between the plastic spacer and the grille surface?  I'll have make those as my kit didn't come with those pieces.   

Meanwhile, I got carried away and decided to repaint the headlight doors.  After that, I obviously had to paint the grille center as well.  I'm tempted to do the silver parts but I need to get this car back on the road!  Thanks again!

[b5blue]

Take the time to paint the metal stuff. All my repo hardware rusted in very little time and as you see it's tuff to get to. (Even a coat of clear will help.) 

[myk]

Take the time to paint the metal stuff. All my repo hardware rusted in very little time and as you see it's tuff to get to. (Even a coat of clear will help.)  

So much for repro hardware; I bet the original stuff lasted longer.  A coat of clear is a great idea!  Question though: wouldn't it be better to paint the bolts/nuts after they're torqued down?  I figure if I start wrenching on them it's just going to take the paint off anyway, right?

[jlatessa]

Myk, we had the same "sag' on each side of our grill too. (common)

What I finally did to correct it was to get two pieces of Al. approximately
6 or 8 inches long, about 1/4" thick and maybe an inch and a half wide.

Glued them to the top of the grill where the "sags" were,
and clamped the grill to conform to the stiff Al. while it dried.

Took out 95% of the sag.

Joe

P.s. they can be seen only if you look closely from under the top part of the bumper
Forgot to mention ,ours is a 70 so visibility might be a factor on a 68/69

[myk]

Myk, we had the same "sag' on each side of our grill too. (common)

What I finally did to correct it was to get two pieces of Al. approximately
6 or 8 inches long, about 1/4" thick and maybe an inch and a half wide.

Glued them to the top of the grill where the "sags" were,
and clamped the grill to conform to the stiff Al. while it dried.

Took out 95% of the sag.

Joe

P.s. they can be seen only if you look closely from under the top part of the bumper
Forgot to mention ,ours is a 70 so visibility might be a factor on a 68/69

Aluminum?  I never thought of that.  Why do you think the these grilles sag?  There's no pressure on them...

[myk]

In an effort to align the headlight doors better with the center piece, I thought I would glue a washer to the inside of the headlight door to raise it a little bit. I might need to raise the other side as well. Is there another idea you folks think I should try? Thanks in advance.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Are the stop tabs broken off on the doors?

[myk]

Are the stop tabs broken off on the doors?

No, but on the farthest side of the left door, the hole where the pin from the grille goes into is worn out; almost oblong shaped.  Because of the shape, the door sits lower than it should.  Or, maybe there are other things wrong with the grille but I don't see anything.  My idea was just to "raise" the hole so that the door would sit higher when it is in the down position.  

[WHITE AND RED 69]

That's good, the stop tab is usually the issue but since yours is intact the washer should work then. You could also add a little putty to where the stop tab hits to raise it up if the washer isn't enough.

[myk]

That's a great idea.  I have to get this dialed in because once the grille goes back in I won't have any access to this stuff...

[b5blue]

Are the stop tabs broken off on the doors?

No, but on the farthest side of the left door, the hole where the pin from the grille goes into is worn out; almost oblong shaped.  Because of the shape, the door sits lower than it should.  Or, maybe there are other things wrong with the grille but I don't see anything.  My idea was just to "raise" the hole so that the door would sit higher when it is in the down position.  

70's have bushings, it took a while to find some. 

[myk]

Got the grille back on the car today for a test fit.   There were some issues I wasn't able to fix, but at least its clean, painted and with fresh hardware.   Anyway, I couldn't help but notice the holes in the front of the fender where the grille sits in front of-the "L" shaped area.  Is something supposed to go in there?  Like a plastic piece, gasket or something?  Thanks again...

[70 sublime]

Do you have the same amount of room on both sides of the car like that ?

[myk]

The grille isn't locked in place yet, I'm just test fitting.  I purposefully left the grille lower than normal so I could show you the L shaped area that has holes in it, like it's waiting for a gasket or piece of trim, or something.  Anyone?

[lukedukem]

I just looked at mine and it's the same. Has the holes. But let's wait for others to see.

Luke

[cdr]

Got the grille back on the car today for a test fit.   There were some issues I wasn't able to fix, but at least its clean, painted and with fresh hardware.   Anyway, I couldn't help but notice the holes in the front of the fender where the grille sits in front of-the "L" shaped area.  Is something supposed to go in there?  Like a plastic piece, gasket or something?  Thanks again...

the grill assy needs to come up, nothing goes in those holes

[myk]

Alrighty then Charlie, up it goes.  Another question though: the bracket that connects the lower radiator support to the grille support is bent, as you can see it's up and to the passenger side. From my estimations its going to take more than a little prying or tapping to get it down lower and to the driver's side.  What do you guys recommend for that sort of work?  I've heard all kinds of suggestions like sledgehammers, come-alongs, etc.  I'm worried that if I use a sledgehammer it's going to bend the actual radiator support as well.
Thanks again...


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[cdr]

A slide hammer with a J hook on the end Maybe ?

[70 sublime]

Put a floor jack with a chunk of 2x4 on it up under the rad support then you should be good to just give it a whack down with a big hammer
Well that is what I would do 

[myk]

Put a floor jack with a chunk of 2x4 on it up under the rad support then you should be good to just give it a whack down with a big hammer
Well that is what I would do 

That's what I'm thinking about doing, as I don't really have the leverage with the adjustable wrench I put on it, trying to bend it down.  I thought about the slide hammer too but I just can't generate enough force with it...