"66 grille rehab

[effienut2]

I have a '66 with the anodized aluminum grille. I've removed most of the anodizing but it's getting to be a real pain to get it completely off especially on the back side. I am trying to salvage it without spending a lot of $$$. Eastwood has a product called Liquid Chrome which gives up to 80% reflectivity. But I have to get all of the anodizing off. I used Blue Lightning anodize remover but it's becoming a real pain. I looked at powder coating but it to requires all of the anodize to be removed. Same with polishing.

Any thoughts on how to keep the cost down but end up with a nice grille?

Thanks very much.

[1961 slickwilly]

i used something called chrome polish sorry i cant remeber the real name it was a blue paste worked real well with a mothers power ball in a drill or lots of elbow grease but after i got it all of i waxed it when i waxed my truck to keep it from oxidizing again. i've also used batterie acid cheap and easy but be carefull

[effienut2]

the polish is probably called Blue Magic Polishing Creme. I've been using it for years. It is great stuff. I bought 6 jars of it on eBay which should last a long time. I stripped and polished my side trim and it holds up well.

[64Ranger]

I had my 64 aluminum grille polished and they took all the anodizing off when they polished it. I would think your polisher could remove all the anodize.

After it was polished I taped all but the black area and had it powder coated. Then I removed all the tape and had them powder coat clear over it. It has been 5 years and still looks as good as new.


Hope that helps,

[willy3486]

I used old fashioned oven cleaner to clean that coating off mine. I sprayed it on,let it set about 30 minutes to and hour. You can tell when you need more. I did that one day while working on other stuff. After a while it got it all off and I just washed it off with a hose pipe. It really cleaned it good. To get it back to mirror shine look. I then used a scotch brite scrubber to clean it then I hand polished it with a silver wadding compound. I got that at walmart but I have seen it at advance auto I think. I found out this was the easiest process for me. I tried the mothers compund with a buffer and I was not satisfied.I remember others saying they then clear coated it but I didn't .
To get an idea of how good it works you can see a aluminum cover on a saw I rebuilt. The first pic is before and the second is after
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/alb ... 9443RItWVK

Although you can't tell how shiny it is in this picture here is the after of my truck and its trim. And by the way my fender and grill was bent into the tire on the passinger side to the point one time. I had to pull the fender away, the grill was warped. My dougnut messed up and I had no steering. I am going to do a write up for folks on to fix the trim.
The truck is at
http://fordtruk.com/forums/album_pic.ph ... user_id=25

[1961 slickwilly]

i used oven cleaner on alumium before. would not suggest it. the oven cleaner in a yellow can do not use it. will cause it to oxidize even more and it make it super cloudy. And its hard enough to get oxidization off any way then on top of the oven cleaner. Real PITA

[willy3486]

i used oven cleaner on alumium before. would not suggest it. the oven cleaner in a yellow can do not use it. will cause it to oxidize even more and it make it super cloudy. And its hard enough to get oxidization off any way then on top of the oven cleaner. Real PITA

Mine clouded up as well. But I was able to get that off with the scotch brite pad. Then I polished it by hand. I have done this method a lot with aluminum. You can see my scotty after it was done. Some of the corner trim was twisted and was a dull grey. I was able to straighten the aluminum trim on the scotty and polish it. It looked brand new. The oven cleaner eats the coating off and will oxidize the top layer of aluminum. But thats why you have to use the scotch brite and then follow with polishing. But remember to wear a mask because of the fumes and check it often. I checked every few minutes to make sure it wasn't eating the aluminum. I also would scrub it a little with the scotch brite to see if the coating was off. Wear gloves and follow the directions on the can. I use this method because I can find all the stuff I need locally. Don't even try to ask for adonizing remover here in the sticks where I live or you will waste an hour trying to explain what it is and get nowhere. You can try it out on a scrap piece like a tailight ring you might have to test it. There is a good article about it at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n9123869/



Here is a picture of my scotty
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2663 ... 8653bsEDMM

[1961 slickwilly]

that mite work what kind of scothch brite pad do yo use? i would be afraid of scratching the aluminnum. but likw willy said where a mask the fumes with the oven cleaner will take your breath and will caugh for ever seams like

[1961 slickwilly]

thats a coll little camper i bet it looks nice behind your slick

[willy3486]

I get a scotch brite thats really soft. As far as what kind I think I got the oven cleaner and scotch brite at dollar general store. Its not the really hard scotch brite.So just do a "touch" check with your fingers on it to see. On the aluminum trim of the scotty I even used a extremely fine steel wool to clean and start the polishing process. Its like polishing the clear coat, start with the bigger grit and work to the extremely fine stuff. I was thinking it would scratch as well. But I took some old trim that I wasn't going to use and experimented on it. I was suprised at how well it worked,in fact I actually used some of those pieces it shined so nice. Just find some old pieces and try it. That way you can practice on it and if it messes up no big loss. Look at the first of the scotty pictures to see just how bad the aluminum trim was. I had some pieces almost twisted like wrought iron. I had to twist it out,then hammer it out straight,then polish it so I could reform it around the curves. Theres nothing like taking a old piece of aluminum on one of those old campers and doing that process. It makes you feel like a craftsman or artist. I highly recomend to anyone who thinks they want a old camper to go with their truck to get one. If you can build a doghouse and redo a slick you can redo a camper. I really enjoy redoing the old campers. And they are a unreal combination going down the road. I was even told to bring it to a local cruise in then next time I go. People go wild over the combo,even Chevy owners.

[effienut2]

Thanks to all who have replied so far. The pics look real good. I also thought about media blasting it with glass bead but do you guys think soft scotchbrite would do just as well?

[1961 slickwilly]

if you blast it it mite put tiny dents in it or scratch it past return. but i'm going to go with willy on this you could probally go to yuor local paint and body work supply store and pick up some grey and red scuff pads red is finner than the gray and they should work as well as a scotch brite pad but are softer

[effienut2]

I finally bit the bullet and polished the stripped grille with my buffers then finished it off with Blue Magic. It came out pretty good although you can see a lot of scratches but it does shine and looks a heck of a lot better than it did.

The best part is it didn't cost but maybe $10 in material and a lot of time. But us retired guys have more time than money anyways.

Thanks for all the replies.