Mk3 Aluminium Grill Restoration

[s99sdp]

Hello All.

 

Anyone performed a restoration on their aluminium grill and are proud enough of it to give me a few tips?

 

Am I correct they were originally 2 colours? Black and Silver /Chrome?

Any advice and pics would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers!!
SP

[Velocita Rosso]

Up to MK 3 face lift black back ground with front faces polishing of the aluminium, thereafter all black

Gibraltar? we are off to Europe(sorry continent) very soon ....and then various foreign rallies 

[drofgum]

Stuart,

The polished bars of the grill were anodized to prevent oxidization. This protection wears off over the years and polishing to restore the shine doesn't restore it. So the grill will lose its shine more quickly than it originally did.

                                                                              Cheers,

                                                                              Paul

[Velocita Rosso]

My first Spit came out of a car showroom and the grill was not anodised, it was spit and polish from day one

[RobPearce]

I did mine in two halves - the first a while back, the second quite recently. I posted on my blog about the first half. Basically, I cleaned them up in the grit blast cabinet, painted, then scraped the paint off the highlights and polished.

[s99sdp]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I've rubbed mine down with fine wire wool today (I bet i'll get told that was a big mistake).

Primer etched it and I'm just letting it dry overnight before rattle can black tomorrow.

 

Rob, what did you polish the edges with, sorry.....serious pen pusher here.

 

Cheers

 

SP

[s99sdp]

Quoted from Velocita Rosso-

Up to MK 3 face lift black back ground with front faces polishing of the aluminium, thereafter all black

Gibraltar? we are off to Europe(sorry continent) very soon ....and then various foreign rallies 

Yep Gibraltar, If I'm honest I think it may not happen now. It's such a big under taking and we'd have to have a back up crew for the journey there and back. 

I'll give some thought to something a bit more realistic that we can do instead.

[RobPearce]

Quoted from s99sdp-

Rob, what did you polish the edges with, sorry.....serious pen pusher here.

First step was to remove the paint with a scalpel - quicker and cleaner than trying to sand it off. Then very fine wet-and-dry to remove any pitting. After that, just use your favourite alloy polish. To be honest, the amount of exposed shiny bit is too small to worry about, and on a Mk3 it's hidden behind the bumper anyway. Otherwise I might have been tempted to use my electroplating kit to give it a proper shine...

[s99sdp]

Thanks for that Rob. 

I've got the grill in two halves and basically I've realised on the half I've already done, I've done the correct process, in the wrong order.

On the second half I'm going to polish the edges, then tape them then shave the tape with a sharp stanley blade.

I can then primer etch, then rattle can and finally take off the tape. 

If had a bigger compressor I'd use my bead blaster to do the initial strip back but mine is too small and it doesn't seem to work correctly. I think I'll compete this refurb then have another go in a couple of years.

Do you put any lacquer on as some form of a top coat?

 

Cheers

SP

 

[s99sdp]

Shame I cant post a pic to show you the result

[RobPearce]

A coat of lacquer would be a good idea, I think. Make sure the surface is clean - no residue of any polishing compound etc.

Your plan with the tape is a good idea and should help with the highlight removal. You'll probably still need a sharp knife (I prefer a modeller's scalpel for delicate work) to cleanly split the paint at the tape edge.

[sparky_spit]

I more or less did exactly what you have done, Stuart, about 10 years ago when I tarted up my Mk3 Spitfire.  It looked pretty good and did so for some years, but an increasing number of stone chips in the lacquer oxidised the exposed alloy spot and it gradually got worse and worse. If you can keep on top of touching-in the stone-chips you'll be okay.

I didn't, and eventually flatted off the remaining lacquer and then used Auto-Solvol to polish it up every once in a while.

[s99sdp]

Cheers for the info Michael.

It's like everything, you work exactly what you should have done after you've done it a different way 🙂

I'll be happy if the second half turns out like the first. If it deteriorates after a couple a couple of years I'll take it off and start again, just bead blasting it first.

Thanks again

SP