68 Charger headlight bezels, has anyone here painted these?

[QuickBpBp]

Here is an Nos 69 Charger Grille center just to see the color used in this batch of grilles...

 

[QuickBpBp]

Unfortunately to some degree, these and the rest of the grill are for a customer. They have to be damn near perfect because they will be unpacking them and seeing them up close and personal. What I have so far after a lot of hours: Zooming in I can see a couple of little things that need touching up. Then, I hope I am done with these!

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Great work!!

 

[QOTHL]

Here is an Nos 69 Charger Grille center just to see the color used in this batch of grilles... View attachment 1119359

Nice! Looks like light silver to me... I talked to a concours restoration Mopar guy today and he said there is no hard and fast rule about the silver on 69 Charger front grills, they can be either light or dark. I didn't want to seem like a braggart by mentioning how many decent shows I've won with my "handsome devil" and no judge has ever deducted points for the grill color. (His name is Emmett, after my father).

 

[Jacksprater]

Could be better but at some point I have to stop. There are things I would do different if I had to do this again....
I hope you're right because I'm working for someone who got this job from a shop and I don't want to make him OR myself look bad.

I really appreciate your help and kind words.

Your Welcome, here’s a pic of my drivers side grill hide away , I’m happy with the results , the trim was tricky , I’m going to touch up the grill with black, to cover up the inside edges of the slats , where the silver over runs in places , I agree a labor of time & love , I’ll send a picture of the rest of it ,soon , I would like to see yours , when your done , Thank you

 

[QOTHL]

Here is an Nos 69 Charger Grille center just to see the color used in this batch of grilles... View attachment 1119359

Got any more photos? I'd love to see them! It's interesting to see one of these that hasn't been through years of driving abuse.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Got any more photos? I'd love to see them! It's interesting to see one of these that hasn't been through years of driving abuse.

I can get some better ones over the weekend...

 

[QOTHL]

I can get some better ones over the weekend...

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see whatever you care to show of this grill. Thanks!

 

[QOTHL]

Your Welcome, here’s a pic of my drivers side grill hide away , I’m happy with the results , the trim was tricky , I’m going to touch up the grill with black, to cover up the inside edges of the slats , where the silver over runs in places , I agree a labor of time & love , I’ll send a picture of the rest of it ,soon , I would like to see yours , when your done , Thank you

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Not to mention a labor of insanity...
I should be done tomorrow and will definitely be taking photos.

 

[QOTHL]

Your Welcome, here’s a pic of my drivers side grill hide away , I’m happy with the results , the trim was tricky , I’m going to touch up the grill with black, to cover up the inside edges of the slats , where the silver over runs in places , I agree a labor of time & love , I’ll send a picture of the rest of it ,soon , I would like to see yours , when your done , Thank you

View attachment 1119426

See below...

 

[QOTHL]

 

[QOTHL]

 

[QOTHL]

Here's the "before":

 

[blue69runner]

Nice work.

 

[QOTHL]

Hi I used SEM Trim Black 39143 & SEM Titanium Silver & SEM Adhesion Promoter for prep I used a soda media blaster I got off Amazon, built a card board box on top of 4’ table with a plexiglass 3’x2’ see through window for blasting soda works best
as it’s water soluble just rinse off the parts , dried them completely, any flaws or chips in the plastic I used jb weld for plastics waited 24 hrs and sanded with 400 & 800 grit wet sand paper each piece was then heated up with a heat gun ,then applied the Sem adhesion promoter follow directions on the spray can , heating between Sprays , then blacked out parts that require black, taped off the silver areas using different widths of masking tape , let dry 24 hrs , then taped off black areas , then more adhesion promoter & heat gun then sprayed Sem Silver titanium go lightly with sprays then get heavy then heat again between sprays , it stops running if you spray to much, let dry 24hrs, to get the silver stripes back to original I used a square piece of foam , pinched it off with a paper spring clip so just about an 1/8” of it was protruding at the end
You can see the pictures in this chat ,borrowed from the Mrs 2 pie plates with tinfoil protection, I sprayed adhesion promoter in one plate , the other silver paint
and gently brushed on promoter down each grill slat , then heat , then silver down each slat and more heat , go lightly don’t worry if you don’t get the paint on immediately, I gave mine 3 coats take your time have a beer and think how beautiful it will turn out , Good luck , I hope I helped you out Cheers !!!

Just a suggestion because it might not occur to a guy, you can get disposable foam tipped make-up applicators that work really well. I painted the whole thing silver after using 2K primer to seal the old paint after using Scuff Stuff to clean off the scum and a lot of old paint. Then I used 1/4" and 1/16" tape, the smaller for the ribs. Next time I would use 1/8". Then I used adhesion promoter and painted black after masking off the silver. The 1/16" was hard to line up and it didn't bleed much but think the bigger tape would be better.
When I repaired the chips in the plastic, I used Plastex, easy to use, took some doing to develop a technique for small stuff. I also used their system to make and repair broken tabs.
I was ready to drink a bottle of Bourbon by the time I was done but worked it off at the gym instead!

I shipped the finished piece yesterday. If they don't like it they can find someone better!

 

[blue69runner]

fantastic repair on the plastic. Have used a solider iron and plastic to fill holes in some thing's before like on the quad runner. It had cracks where bolt held it to the bike. Good choice on the repair. Think they will be really happy with the product you turned out.

 

[QOTHL]

fantastic repair on the plastic. Have used a solider iron and plastic to fill holes in some thing's before like on the quad runner. It had cracks where bolt held it to the bike. Good choice on the repair. Think they will be really happy with the product you turned out.

I've done that as well and worked for basic repair. It's hard to do fine work with a soldering iron, at least for me, so the Plastex allows for more control. I had to make new parts to fit in the damaged area and Plastex is strong and easy to do that with. I have liquid ABS but found it difficult to use because it starts to set as soon as it's poured out.

Thanks for the kind words! That repair is also very structurally sound so should bolt up just fine.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Very nice work.

 

[QOTHL]

Very nice work.

Thanks for the compliment - I really appreciate it! I found out the other day the car it's going on has had over $100K put in to it.
My boss is really happy with it and he's VERY picky. So that made me feel good after all that work.

 

[blue69runner]

Not hard to drop a 100K into a full on restore. Even if you do all the work your self it is not cheap either. Might cut the cost in half if you deduct the man hours you would have to pay a shop to do the work. Yes that was grate work you did and think you won't have any problem's form the guy who's car it is going on. Keep up the good work you do and can see the pride you take in your work.

 

[QOTHL]

Not hard to drop a 100K into a full on restore. Even if you do all the work your self it is not cheap either. Might cut the cost in half if you deduct the man hours you would have to pay a shop to do the work. Yes that was grate work you did and think you won't have any problem's form the guy who's car it is going on. Keep up the good work you do and can see the pride you take in your work.

I wouldn't ship it until I KNEW it was nearly perfect as possible and that's what I told my boss. The true test was when he shipped it on to the shop. After shipping it I told myself if they didn't think it was good enough, they're going to have to find someone else!

No not cheap, you'd better love what you're working on. I spent $20K with AMD Installations alone on one car.