[Unreal]

I know how the grille gets painted on the exposed side.

What about the unexposed side? From the factory, did the back side of the eyebrow portion get any body color paint? If yes, was it just overspray, or full coverage. If no, should it be masked off to prevent any overspray, or just allow a little slop to get onto the back side?
Thanks for any quick replies. My painter is going to finish up the last little bit of painting on Saturday. (Grille, Spoiler, Header panel, Cowl panel)

[Unreal]

Just moving to the top, in hopes someone knows the answer.

[KevinW]

Gary, I saw this post before, but was hesitant.

I have seen a few factory painted grills back in my youth and the details are hazy, but I seem to remember sloppy overspray. Not a lot, just what escaped over the edge. The open part does not have any overspray.

You are really getting into this huh?

[Unreal]

Thanks Kevin,
Well if you're going to paint it, you might as well try to duplicate the factory paint job (without the orange peel, of course)

[JohnZ]

My (original) '69 grille just has very slight overspray on the outer portion. The grille was taken out of the box, hung on a paint rack, and a form-fitting sheet metal mask was placed on the front that fit closely around the bright moldings, the body color was sprayed on the show surface, and the mask was removed. In order to make sure they got coverage on the leading edges, some overspray got on the back side. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Unreal]

Thanks Kevin and John. Once again you guys come to the rescue. The grille is getting painted on Saturday. [img]graemlins/hurray.gif[/img]

[CamarosRus]

My grill on my X-11 69 is incorrectly painted black.....suggestions please on what EXACT product and color to paint "silver" with and how to prepare??????......Thanks, Chuck at CamarosRus@aol.com

[Unreal]

Black would be correct for X11 SS350, but incorrect for any other X11. Exceptions would be a couple of colors of X11 RS. Black for sure, and Fathom Green, I think got Argent.

Chuck, Argent Silver is the correct color, but I have heard that it is very difficult to duplicate the factory color. I don't understand why. The factory Argent ones were a whitish plastic that was sprayed Argent. I don't understand why painting a black one the same way would make a difference.
I had a black one, that I was planning to paint Argent, but I lucked onto an NOS Silver one, so I didn't pursue it any further.
Maybe someone who has done it can chime in.

[smalblock]

Chuck, I used Dupli-Color, Light Slate, Part # 154. I cleaned the grill with prep-sol and did not use any primer. It's been on the grill for a year and about 8500 miles and shows no wear. Jack

[CamarosRus]

I still havent bought ANY paint yet to repaint BLACK 69 grill to standard "silver"....Someone suggested KRYLON 1403 Dull Aluminum but having trouble findng that....ANY resto experts reading this, please advise what exact paint you use to replicate factory "ARGENT" (???) and how do you prepare plastic surface or use any adhesion promoter.....Thanks, Chuck Sharin/Seattle

[169indy]

I don't think GM had a code for Argent Silver...There is no GM code for it in my PPG books, it is listed by name as a accent/wheel color. The PPG # is 8568 for Argent Silver. The grill was black and the correct color for the grill on car should be silver. Use the GM plastic parts primer and the argent silver that Classic offers or PPG. It should come out good. Found some more info: OEM Paints website is www.oempaints.com Their phone number is 760-747-2100 They're in California.
Good luck, Jim

[Unreal]

Chuck, there are some new plastic paints out that are called Plastic Fusion" I think. I would not paint plastic with anything but plastic paint. You might find someting close and try it on the back side of the eyebrow, to see if you like it.
BTW I used Krylon dull aluminum on my intake. It looks like aluminum, but IMO does not look like argent.