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I recently put some time into cleaning up and refinishing my grill, headlight bezels, and filler panel. Hopefully some of this info will help others.
After weathering outside for decades the front of my '70 Nova needed some attention. The filler panel was chipping and the headlight bezels were looking pretty faded, so I decided to take the whole grill assembly off the car and make some changes.
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First I decided to give the grill an "SS" style blacked-out finish where just the top and bottom fins of the grill are exposed. After thoroughly cleaning the grill, I masked the top and bottom fins.
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Then I used a self-etching primer.
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And finally I shot it with Krylon Satin Black.
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Next, rather than strip down the old filer panel, I decided to start fresh with a new one from AMD. I gave the whole panel a scuff-down with 150 grit and painted it Rustoleum Metallic Titanium Silver
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Years ago cut off one end of the old filler panel and underlying metal support so it could be removed and installed easily without removing a fender. I did the same with this one. No one will ever see this, but it makes taking the grill and filler panel assembly in and out a breeze.
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Next I decided to tackle the headlight bezels. Looking closely at the originals, a lot of the edges that were supposed to be exposed chrome had overspray on them.
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So before doing anything, I carefully removed the overspray with steel wool.
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The ribs on either side of the headlights are exposed chrome on the top, front, and bottom faces. I tried masking one off and decided it was just way to intricate and time consuming for masking. So I decided just to mask and spray the centers and save the areas between the ribs for later.
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I spayed the bezels the same color as the grill (Krylon Satin Black), then I used a little trick to decant the paint for brushing.
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What I did above is attached a bendy straw to the nozzle of the paint can, then I poked it through some plastic wrap on the top of a glass jar. After spraying enough paint into the jar, I let it it out for about 6 hours so all the propellant could make it's way out of the paint - otherwise it would become a volcano when shaken or blow it's cap off.
Next I took the freshly decanted paint and hand brushed the areas between the ribs.
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Unpainted on the left vs. fresh first coat on the right. I did two coats to cover this area. The decanted paint was a bit thin for brushing but it did the job.
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With everything cleaned up and repainted, I reassembled the front end. Here's what I have now.
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After weathering outside for decades the front of my '70 Nova needed some attention. The filler panel was chipping and the headlight bezels were looking pretty faded, so I decided to take the whole grill assembly off the car and make some changes.
First I decided to give the grill an "SS" style blacked-out finish where just the top and bottom fins of the grill are exposed. After thoroughly cleaning the grill, I masked the top and bottom fins.
Then I used a self-etching primer.
And finally I shot it with Krylon Satin Black.
Next, rather than strip down the old filer panel, I decided to start fresh with a new one from AMD. I gave the whole panel a scuff-down with 150 grit and painted it Rustoleum Metallic Titanium Silver
Years ago cut off one end of the old filler panel and underlying metal support so it could be removed and installed easily without removing a fender. I did the same with this one. No one will ever see this, but it makes taking the grill and filler panel assembly in and out a breeze.
Next I decided to tackle the headlight bezels. Looking closely at the originals, a lot of the edges that were supposed to be exposed chrome had overspray on them.
So before doing anything, I carefully removed the overspray with steel wool.
The ribs on either side of the headlights are exposed chrome on the top, front, and bottom faces. I tried masking one off and decided it was just way to intricate and time consuming for masking. So I decided just to mask and spray the centers and save the areas between the ribs for later.
I spayed the bezels the same color as the grill (Krylon Satin Black), then I used a little trick to decant the paint for brushing.
What I did above is attached a bendy straw to the nozzle of the paint can, then I poked it through some plastic wrap on the top of a glass jar. After spraying enough paint into the jar, I let it it out for about 6 hours so all the propellant could make it's way out of the paint - otherwise it would become a volcano when shaken or blow it's cap off.
Next I took the freshly decanted paint and hand brushed the areas between the ribs.
Unpainted on the left vs. fresh first coat on the right. I did two coats to cover this area. The decanted paint was a bit thin for brushing but it did the job.
With everything cleaned up and repainted, I reassembled the front end. Here's what I have now.
