Has anyone had there aluminum grille repaired?

[ryan141]

I have 68, with the aluminum grille, and of course, like most of them, it has been bent down on the top and cracked. Is there anyone who repairs these grilles and makes them look new again? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Ryan in NJ

[Hobcobble]

I have 68, with the aluminum grille, and of course, like most of them, it has been bent down on the top and cracked. Is there anyone who repairs these grilles and makes them look new again? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Ryan in NJ

Stop into a local body shop. Someone in your neighborhood might
be able to help you out on this. It would beat trying to send it somewhere and
then sweat out the return trip.
John

[addes426]

I have restored some Al trim but not a grill. Easy off oven cleaner, (yellow can) will remove the anodized finish. Rinse well. Rough it back into shape close to where it should be. Tig up any cracks or holes. (You may have to farm that out) Finish straightening back to exact shapes and contours. Sand with progressively finer grit wet/dry papers, finishing up with 1000. Hand or machine polish to a mirror like shine. Not hard but it takes a lot of time. It's a good winter project.

[ryan141]

Thank's i will keep my eye out for someone who can tig weld, do you put any kind of clear coat on after the final buffing? Thanks again Ryan

[addes426]

You can. They make several products designed to protect raw polished Al. I'd think clear would chip up pretty easy on a grill. Attached is a pic of a "C" ring for a 64 Dodge Polara I did. It was not even driver quality when I started. It will take time and you'll have to make some of the tools you're going to need. Good luck

[BigG]

Thanks for the tip to use Easy Off to remove the anodized finish on alum. trim , I sure hope it makes cut and polish easier. BigG

[Hemicss]

I re-do a lot of grilles for the guys over FBBO. A lot of time goes into it as mentioned above, some have cracks that need welding, some are really smashed, but in the end, they all come out looking pretty damn nice. Post some pics of your grille, maybe I can help.

[moparbay]

Even though I can't help you with who can do it, i can tell you who NOT to send it to. I sent my 68 Aluminum grill to Ano-Brite Inc in Hollywood CA. My grill was nice with only 1 small dent near the right side headlight and the top side was wavy. I sent them all of my SS trim, decals, front bumper, grill, and side trim pieces. When they shipped it back they put the grill in the same box as the bumper and the grill got beat up pretty good. The side trim pieces were also damaged So I sent them back, I even made a wooden crate for it (no way was it going to get damaged this time) and screwed it down to the crate. They ignored the screws and pulled the grill out the crate without removing the screws thus ripping all the mounting tabs that had screws in them. When they sent it back the grill had places where the aluminum was so thin it would not longer hold a shape and there were a couple of places on the edges that they buffed all the way through. The side trim came the same way, on several of the edges the buffed so much that they wore holes in the trim.

To be fair, all the of the emblems, SS trim (drip rails) and bumper came back nice. They also bought another set of side trim (the box pieces) and refinished it and it came back OK. Now the grill, they said they would replace the grill but after a year and a half could not find a suitable one so they bought a chrome steel grill and sent it to me (un repaired) and said that is it.

Oh, this all cost me 2K. I will never do business with them again. Thanks you guys for listening to my rant.