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I was think about either reprinting or re chrome the side louver vents on my 71. I read that later 71's were chromed under painting. Has anyone ever stripped these vents and ended up with a showable chromed finish? I'm guessing their made from a pot metal composite so prob not. If I do repainted I'm not to concerned with recreating the pinstrip chrome effect on louvers now. Pic is what I have now. Was that the cool thing to do back in the day to change louvers to a black pair? LOL.
Yes, the grilles are pot metal and the chrome under the paint is never a good show quality chrome finish from the factory. the edges were always nice but not in the grooves because they knew the grille would be painted.
I always paint them the car color like original but I've seen people re-chrome the entire grille and run them that way. If you go back with paint you'll need an acid etching primer to get the paint to stay on and it's always smart to scuff the chrome for better adhesion.
Hi v,
Willcox described the side grill situation pretty well.
The condition of the exposed chrome on the edges really depends how the grills have been handled and repainted over the years.
I only began to see the black grills more recently. It appears to me that the all chrome or black grills are on cars that the owner/painter didn't want to do the extra work involved in having them body color with exposed chrome. But's that's only my view.
I find the grills to be similar to the wiper door on 70-72 cars…. it's part of what sets the design apart from other years.
Regards,
Alan
About as pretty as it gets and done with real skill!
Hi W,
I believe you'll find that the vertical edges on a 70 side grill weren't exposed…. they remained painted body color.
Regards,
Alan
As with the 70 front grills, the 70 side grills are more difficult to find and thus more expensive than the 71-72 grills.
It's just more of a challenge because every time I wipe the paint off the edge I seem to wipe it off the vertical edge....
Looking at the edge in the picture below, you'll see there isn't much riser room for the old standard wipe or the razor trim off tricks used on the 1971 and 1972 cars. it's pretty tricky.
I'm not sure but I think they started the vertical clean edge in early 71...
The top picture is a side grille that was stripped of paint so the OP will get a good idea of how crappy the under finished chrome can be on these grilles...
-Willcox
Last edited by Willcox Corvette; Apr 26, 2016 at 04:49 PM.
It's just more of a challenge because every time I wipe the paint off the edge I seem to wipe it off the vertical edge....
Looking at the edge in the picture below, you'll see there isn't much riser room for the old standard wipe or the razor trim off tricks used on the 1971 and 1972 cars. it's pretty tricky.
I'm not sure but I think they started the vertical clean edge in early 71...
The top picture is a side grille that was stripped of paint so the OP will get a good idea of how crappy the under finished chrome can be on these grilles...
-Willcox
I must be the rare bird who actually taped the edges off before I painted.....
first pic shows before & after scuffing (as suggested by Willcox above).... then both scuffed and ready for primer...
...and finally painted & installed with the tape peeled off. I agree with Willcox...I think the verticle edges started in 71.
I tape them also. I use the same 3M tape and I put them in my bast cabinet with aluminum oxide and blast them just enough to kill the sheen. I do it from a distance within my cabinet.... and also using the correct primer that adheres to chrome and also stainless trim because I do the same blasting on the stainless trim for the wiper door and upper fender 'eye brow' trims.
71-72 grilles are pretty easy to paint because the raised lip is high. You can tape them off like you guys have posted, or you can use the thinner on a lint free rag and wipe them, or use a sharp razor blade...
Passing over the vertical edges on the 1970 grilles was something I struggled with... It was difficult and taping them on my 70, the tape kept pulling the paint. Wiping it with thinner on a lint free rag lasted about thirty seconds but the razor blade seem to work best.
71-72 grilles are pretty easy to paint because the raised lip is high. You can tape them off like you guys have posted, or you can use the thinner on a lint free rag and wipe them, or use a sharp razor blade...
Passing over the vertical edges on the 1970 grilles was something I struggled with... It was difficult and taping them on my 70, the tape kept pulling the paint. Wiping it with thinner on a lint free rag lasted about thirty seconds but the razor blade seem to work best.
71 side vent louvers resto question
It's just more of a challenge because every time I wipe the paint off the edge I seem to wipe it off the vertical edge.... 
