I asked this in my "help with my SS" thread, but I think it kinda got lost in there (mainly because I've asked it twice in there and no one responds -- and I can't believe that no one knows the answer to what I think is a simple question smile.gif ), so I'm asking again in a thread by itself...

I need to repaint the grille on my wife's '70 SS:
http://dcg.com/jgoggan/chevelle/12Aug2003-Front.jpg

It does have the chrome parts on there -- even though you can't really see them well in the picture. So, I'll pull those off, of course, and put them back on after the painting.

My question is more about the painting itself. A local guy suggested just buying a shake-can of flat black spray paint to paint the grille. Is that a good way to do it? Or do I need to go through more than that to make it look proper?

For now, once I find out how to do it, I'm just going to paint the whole thing black. I'll worry about doing the center bar (which is currently black) in the real car-color later if I decide to go that way. Again, I've seen at least one original red '70 SS where the entire grille was black from the factory...

Thanks for any help/tips!

- John...

The hardware store rattle can paint may or may not hold up. The best bet would be to order some plastic paint and bonding agent from Year One. It's rattle can paint also, but it's made specifically to bond to plastic. I think satin black is close to the original color.

Thanks for the info. Any idea of part numbers from YearOne? I couldn't find it searching on "paint" -- and I even went so far as to call them and ask -- and they told me that they didn't have anything that would work. They said that the cloest thing that they have is a silver paint -- which, of course, isn't what I want...

- John...

Ok -- I found #A3986 which says: "When painting polypropylene or other similar thermoplastic, use this agent for proper paint adhesion."

Looks like maybe that is what I should use first -- and then a coat of some black over that?

- John...

Plasti-Cote Gloss Black. Cheap- Easy.

I have used it on my 70 elky and on my girlfriends 69 camaro's grills. Holds up good- and easy to re-shoot later if you get a rock chip or something.

Gloss then? Or flat? The local guy said that the SS grille should be flat black... Then again, he could easily be wrong. Is it glossy originally?

- John...

And do I need to strip anything that is on there? Or can I paint right over however they come from the factory if they are grey and haven't been painted for an SS before? I'm not sure if the factory ones are grey painted and I need to strip that or if the plastic itself is just grey colored and I can spray right over it. Do I need to do any prep work before just using something like the Plasti-Cote spray?

Thanks!

- John...

John,
The correct color for the 70 SS grill is
0 degree satin black:
Ditzler # 9358
Rinshed Mason # 171B90
DuPont # 9895L
This information I got from my chevelle restoration guide.
My grill had a broken tab,so I bought a new GM from local Chevy dealer,took it to the body shop and he painted it for me.
Looks great.
Hopes this helps.
Randy

John, I guess if I were to paint this grille then I would use regular auto paint, simply because YOU KNOW it will hold up.

Now depending if the grille has paint on it you can refinish in two ways. One is if the grille is bare plastic other is painted before.

If its bare plastic then you NEED to use a plastic primer. This type of primer will soften the plastic opening up its pores(pretty much the smae process as sanding) allowing the paint to adhere.

Never used the Year one stuff so cant say on its quality. I like PPG paint, for a plastic primer use DPX801, its a RTS(ready to spray) product.

Clean the part first with water and soap to remove any oils or MOLD release agent still on the part. Then you can follow up with a plastic cleaner,PPG dx103.

Spray one coat of DPX801 allow 30 mins of flash or dry time. You can then paint the grille with color of choice. PPG has a preflattened clear with 0-5% gloss called 2060. You can basecoat the grille the shot on that flat clear. Or you can use SS urethane with DX885 I believe the number is. Dx885 is a flattner, add this to that SS for a desired gloss. I have the percent tables on file if you are at all interested in going this route,as the ratio of dx885 changes per gloss wanted, product used and hardner used...Eric

The Year One line is for interiors. I thought they carried the correct satin black for the grill, but it's not in the catalog. I'll have to check the other vendors, because I may have seen that paint in some other catalog and just thought that the Year One catalog was where I had seen it.