I am working on repairing some broken pieces on my grilles. The curved parts in the center that curl in behind the tooth are mostly gone. I have some other pieces I can use to fabricate the missing parts. I am looking for someone who has or can take some close-up pictures of this area in the center of the grills so I can have a good reference on how they should look. Prefer the S grilles, but I suspect this area is similar on the supreme or 442 grilles.

Thanks

 

How's this? This is my 1970 Cutlass S. The passenger side grille is broken and missing a bolt, but the driver side grille is ok.

Post some before and after pictures of your grille so we can see your repair. I might try to do the same.

 

That helps a lot. I was unsure if the curves where tapered in some what at the top, but it appears they are squared off. I have a couple other broken sets of grille parts to work with. I have determine the bottom curve is similar to the curve in the center. My plan is to take a chunk of this from one of the other broken grills and shape it down to replace the missing one.
I will post some more pics as I progress.

Here is what I am starting with. The other side is similar.

grille.jpg

 

I did some more work today on the the grille repair. The new pieces to fit into the broken areas are made and glued in. After a little glazing putty it is just about ready for some primer.


Grille1.jpgGrille2.jpgGrille3.jpg

 

HOLD ON JEFF!!!

In the set of 3 pics you just posted...the last pic showing the whole grille.

You need to clearance (ie cut out a curved notch) that long vertical piece that you attached to the grille. This is the plastic filler flap piece that you hood tooth vertical edge sits in front of.

The factory pieces have a curved/cutout area at the bottom of that piece where they meet up with the horizontal surface of the grille plastic.

This "cutout/clearance" area is approx 1/2" tall and goes back into the plastic about 3/8".

The factory put these in so the bottom inward facing lip on the hood tooth won't hit the grille plastic. Would hate to see that happen after you've done the nice work on those grilles. This cutout appears on all the '70 grilles (442, S and Supreme)...not just on the 442 grille I pic'd below.

 

Thanks for catching the missing notch. After looking closely at another broken one I could see where it should stop on the bottom. So I used that measurement and the half inch height from the picture and added it in. Got some primer on it.

Grille.jpg

 

Cool. I love when people manage to save parts like this instead of just buying new ones. I had to rebuild tabs on my grilles because someone threw a few boxes of christmas lights on top of all my parts I had laid out carefully in my attic rafters. I appreciate the craftsmanship.

 

Heres a better way...instead of using "glue", i use a common cheap 8 dollar wood burning kit..i can run a weld bead that looks like a tig bead...take a little practice...i use the broken spare parts as the rod...i used to have an AMC business and nothing is reproduced, i used to weld dashes and grilles together, i have some out there 10 years and no issues..some in high stress applications..no problems.....glue works, this is just another option...and its cheap...afer you buy the wood burner..no other costs..

 

I may have to try that on the other side. I was mixing shavings of plastic with PVC glue to form an epoxy. Seemed to work pretty well and was easily sanded.