Rusty old Bugeye grill

[jlaird]

Here is what we use to do back when.

Grills have always been expensive and tend to rust on the top part that goes on the flat of the bonnet.

We cut that part off and only had the inter part of the grill on the car. And you know what, it did not look bad that way.

You could even paint the inter part black.

Sorry, no pics. But might be an idea for Ugly Bug to try.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I had a plating guy look at the Ugly Bug's grill. He seems to think that it is solid enough to save. Ironically, the top portion is the best bit. I want to save it because it is an original not a reproduction.


But I've seen cars with only the web portion and I think they look nice. It gives the front more of a raked look.

 

[texas_bugeye]

There was a guy on Ebay that was doing exchanges on BE grills $300?
The pictures of them looked great. Anybody done one thru him? How's the quality?

 

[jlaird]

Buy all means do not chop up a good orginal grill.

If you need one to chop up I have one that would be good to chop, not an orginal, and another that is orginal but needs chrome.

If intrested make me a cheep offer.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Trevor,

I took Bugsy's grille which came minus the eyebrow and submitted it to electroytic rust removal. I was amazed at the difference in the grill before and after. And as you and I have discussed I used a can of chrome paint on the grille. From 5 feet away it certainly look to be a stainless steel grille. My good grille has some corrosion on it, pitting on the eyebrow, and is slightly twanged. I've been holding off doing electrolysis but I'm tempted to do the same as I did with the grille I've got inst6alled on Bugsy now. I figure worst case when I have funds to rechrome it, the acid process used to remove foreign stuff off of the grille will remove all of the chrome paint anyway.

Anyone try chrome paint on a fairly flat surface like a BE Grille eyebrow?

 

[bugimike]

Yes, I did use the "chrome-in-a-puff-can" on an older grill that was dinged up a bit, so I did some filling and smoothing and went with the "Kentucky Chrome" and the results were quite good! The secret I found was to allow lots of drying time before handling it as it was VERY easily marred! Baking in the hot Florida sun seemed to do the trick. The final result was a decent 10 footer! Here's a pic of it.(Not a very good one though!)

 

[Jim_Gruber]

How did the "Kentucky Chrome" look on the wide flat spot of the top of the eyebrow. Bugsy just got his Sprite Hood Emblem from AH Spares and it reallt looks great. I'm waiting to find time to install. Need an extra set of hands to hold from the outside so retainer clips can get installed.

Time to get my fully BE Grille out, do some derusting polishing and repainting.

 

[bugimike]

Jim, the last time I tried that emblem installation (quite some time ago!) I did it solo. I wound up taping it into place from the outside and then pushed those retaining clips in place. As I said re: the "Kentucky Chrome", it came out pretty good. I did put a good, heavy coat on and let it dry for a few days in the hot Florida sun!

 

[Tullamore]

I just did the grill on my Berkeley in chrome powdercoat, it came out very well and will be more durable than the paint.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Mike, the only problem is I've got a forward tilt BE Bonnet. Arms aren't quite long enough if I don't

a: Recruit a helper
b: REmove Grille as in changing to a new repainted/chromed grille
c: Remove a headlight
d: Pull the bonnet off/ no still need to d oa,b,or c to get it done.

Steve,

Will a BE Grille fit in a regular oven to powdercoat? I'm guessing there are smell issues with powdercoating even though we have a spare over downstairs, Mama is going to notice the smell and she'll have my a_s if I did that to her spare baking oven.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

I'm thinking my Wheel Trim Rings need powdercoated as well after derusting. Anyone tried those in the bath? REpainted with Chrome Paint?