How to paint the gills on a 70
 

This is my 'new to me' 70 vert. The gills are raw metal and look a little odd contrasted against the paint on the rest of car. I know you can buy aerosol cans of the factory color but i'm a little worried about the color matching. Anyone have any advice other than taking it to a body shop and paying (probably too much) just to paint a couple pieces of, what amounts to, side trim? If i get desperate i may try Maaco. They cant mess up 2 pieces of trim can they??



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d3b064be1f.jpg

Check this thread, good luck:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...gg-crates.html

Take it to a good bodyshop, not Maaco. The difference in price to have it done right isn’t worth having it look like crap, or worse having to get it redone.

Hi Brian ... FYI I am about to spray a re-paint on my Laguna Gray 1970 Coupe in a week or so. I have been prepping everything, including the side gills. Be aware that Laguna Gray is a metallic, 1970 ONLY, Corvette ONLY color. I had to do some shopping when I got paint mixed, and it was only available in a couple of paint systems. Your paint looks like it might not be too old (?) so maybe matching won't be an issue. On the gills, they are one solid plated pc, so the shop will need to prep and mask the faces of the "eggcrate" grid on the front and then prime and basecoat the parts. If you found aerosol touch-up already, it couldn't hurt to order some and try it to check color match. You might get lucky and have a match. Whoever you order from, you should get a primer that is compatible with their particular paint.

The gills should be removed for painting - they come out pretty easy. There are a couple of screws visible from the outside of the car, and then each one has a threaded stud out the bottom that can be accessed from the engine compartment/bottom of the car - look inside the fender. There will be a sheetmetal "speed nut" on each stud. When out they can be prepped and handled more easily on a bench.

The PO may have repainted the car and decided not to paint the gills once stripped -- they are a painful project to strip and prep.

The only reason i mention Maaco is that i could remove the pieces and just have them color match, primer and spray. I wouldn't even give them the car. If they can paint an entire car for a couple hundred how much could they possibly charge for a couple metal squares. Even if they do mess it up i could always strip the paint and start over.

I found a place online w/ the aerosol cans and they have the color but i don't know how well it would match (as mentioned, its an odd color). I think it was like $75 for a can of color and primer/etcher. For that price i may just try it and see.

I also have a sherwin williams around me and i know they have automotive paints so i could possible go that route and spray it myself.

The hardest part is getting them ready to paint. It took me hours of sanding every square to get the old paint off. (my PO spray painted them black)

I used simple cheap pinstriping to tape the horizontal edges for the chrome edges and they turned out great.