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I hope someone can help me on this. I know Alan is very knowledgeable on these details, I am redoing my front grills on the 70 c3 and am looking for the original color on the inside of the ice cube trays. Thought they where black, but might be a pewter. After 47 years hard to tell. Thanks for all the help in the past, you guys have been great, Rob
Hi Rob,
The painted areas on the 2 front grills, and also the center grill, are a dark gray with a bit of metallic in it.
I found the Zinc Phosphate spray paint that some of the vendors sell is quite a good match.
Typically just the front edge of the egg crates had the chrome exposed, except for the bottom row of 'uprights' that remained painted.
Try Eastwood 10281Z.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
This is the original finish on the center grill. The surface that is painted on the other 2 grills is a little smoother, so they tend to look a little lighter even when the same paint is used.
I am preparing these for painting and not an easy task trying to remove the old paint on the inside Does anyone know is I soak these in a parts cleaner tank if it will remove the chrome edge? Thanks, Rob
Hi,
I'm uncertain if the solvent used in parts cleaners would damage the chrome plating or not.
I don't think I'd want 'material' is in the solvent from being used to touch the surface of something I'm going to paint.
I used rags soaked in lacquer thinner as well as brushing lacquer thinner directly into the 'egg crates'.
Tedious work. The lacquer thinner high is sort of interesting though.
Regards,
Alan
Alan, I purchased a can of spray paint remover and it did a nice job removing the paint. Now I have all chrome grill ,but I sort of like it. Have to decide to paint or not. Paint remover worked well and not that hard to use. Used a brass bristle brush to remove old paint, then rinsed with garden hose. Thanks for all the suggestions, Rob
Hi Rob,
I feel the same way on both the side grills and the front grills…. they should be painted with just the 'edges' showing chrome.
Often on the large flat area of the gril,l and the corresponding area on the bumper-ette, the chrome plating isn't very good… were you planning to paint those areas.
Regards,
Alan
I found that the GM grill paint was more difficult to remove than any other paint or finish I've encountered. Alan's choice of the Eastwood paint is mine as well. It really looks nice and is close to factory paint. If you like all chrome, then stop there. The grills are easy to remove in the future in case you change your mind. Here is a couple of pictures of masked off grills. I simple cut the tape in narrow strips for the edges; others have said they used pin stripe tape.
Originally Posted by chrissy t
Alan, I purchased a can of spray paint remover and it did a nice job removing the paint. Now I have all chrome grill ,but I sort of like it. Have to decide to paint or not. Paint remover worked well and not that hard to use. Used a brass bristle brush to remove old paint, then rinsed with garden hose. Thanks for all the suggestions, Rob
Thanks to everyone for all the help with this project. Finished up the painting and they look 100% better. They are not perfect since there was minimal pitting on some of the chrome.My next project will be painting the seat backs. They are black and wonder what paint to use on these since they are not flat or glossy.Thanks again, Rob
Hio Rob,
Since the seat back covers are plastic they can be painted using regular semi-flat paint.
The trick is to find a matching paint color to the seat color.
If black, the black paint used for other black trim parts can be used, if not you'll need to buy a can of the correct interior color from one of the vendors.
Regards,
Alan
Thanks to everyone for all the help with this project. Finished up the painting and they look 100% better. They are not perfect since there was minimal pitting on some of the chrome.My next project will be painting the seat backs. They are black and wonder what paint to use on these since they are not flat or glossy.Thanks again, Rob
Inside grill color
