I want to restore my 72 Comet Grille. What is the best way to redo it? Should I blast it in a blast cabinet? What paint should I use? What color? Should I prime it first? Does anyone have a pic of one redone? Thanks!
i wouldnt blast it. i dount thing the plastic would hold up to well. a good cleaning with a degreaser of some sort, then a plastic primer and then some paint.
I thought I once read where someone used a less abrasive media for blasting plastics. I do remember for sure reading that crushed walnut shells was used but don't remember on what. Definitly wouldn't use sand. I would blast it cause that gets into the crevisus and makes the task fast. I would have to find the right stuff to use and then try it on something first and trial and error the air pressure.
A plastic primer sounds good, didn't think of that. About the blasting I was thinking the same thing that Gene was thinking about getting into all the crevisus. I gues it depends on the condition of the grille. I'm in the military and don't have a blast cabinet and use the one on base. I will test it on something else and see how it does. They usw a very fine glass bead. If it doesn't look good I will go the degreaser route. What color is correct? Are the inserts around the lights different?
I wouldn't blast it either, and be careful of using any stripper or paint remover. I have restored a couple of Comet grills. I used a Scotch-Brite pad to clean up the old paint and soap and water to clean it well. I used a light coat of primer to fill any sanding marks. I then used BullDog paint prep to make the paint stick better. I like Sems paint for items like this. Mine is mostly semi-flat black with silver/argent highlights. Most Comet grills(non-GT) were a charcoal color with silver/argent highlights. I can e-mail you pictures if needed. Seth seth@realtor.com
I had some1 try a old plastic grille with blasting using baking soda. He said worked fine and only uses 30 -35 PSI. My car was totally stripped with baking soda and 35 psi. Low pressure and no heat. turned out great. hellava mess but its better than sand. JMO
Why not just use soap and water and Elbow Grease!!!? It is a lot safer, and you will spend a lot less time in the long run. Just use good quality paint, made for plastics, and it should come out ok. I just redid mine, and it looks fine. I'll post a pic tomorrow.
Or you could spend hours (time is money) trying to run down the proper type of material, experimenting to make sure it will work before trying the grille, then finding someone that's gonna let you change out the media in their machine for this one part since most everything else being blasted is usually a type of metal, fuel expense for your running around...etc. Wow...maybe you should just find a good NOS grille on eBay and save some money!
All i did was wash it, sand it down with 400 grit sandpaper, take gloss black ratal can paint, and then used a ratal can clear coat. Came out pretty nice.
Spent about 6 hours on mine. Had to rebuild 2 mounting points and both pins for the bottom. Luckily I had our body shop supplies on hand. 3M has a great 2 part material that goes on with a gun and hardens in minutes. Can drill and tap it if needed. I cleaned the grill with a scotch pad and a silicone and grease remover. Fixed the cracks with the 2 part and added a few pieces for the mounting. Used the 2 part as a bonding material and as a filler. Some time grinding and sanding then primed and painted with a rattle can semigloss black trim paint. The trim paint is designed to stand up to UV and abuse.
