Painting the RS grill

[David K]

Mine is an 11E build, so after researching/asking what to color it with, I decided to give it a go. Using actual paint, a small brush and not a pen. Tomorrow I’ll be cleaning up the overpainted area, and evening out any ugly discrepancies. It will never be a judged car and I’m ok with that.

[67stripper]

Looks good David.

What kind of paint and brush did you use?

[David K]

Thanks…A $.94 bag of bulk thin paint brushes from Walmart and a rattle can do Rustoleum Chrome..kid you not. It was this, pay for a new replacement set that may not fit as designed, or pay a pinstripe guy $150. The whole process took about 1 hour.

[cook_dw]

I don't recall the thickness of the ribs but if its 1/16" this would be an option.  Granted more time consuming but maybe worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Chartpak-Graphic-Inches-Metallic-BG6219/dp/B004O7E11E?th=1

[David K]

Thanks cook…but I do some striping installs at work, and they look good from 2 feet way. From 20, I’m embarrassed sometimes. 🤷🏻‍♂️🫣😆. Actually my visual external application parts have to be almost perfect every time.
I could mess this chrome striping up easily, and that’s why I painted it, but thanks for the possibility of plan B. Also, I would be dumb enough to scrub it off when washing the car. But someone reading this might try the decal application. When the restoration was done in 93/4, I don’t remember the chrome grill being available.
I forgot the grill has a raised horizontal rib, but the doors do not. That definitely made it easier to paint. And if someone is close enough to critique or criticize, they are too close anyway. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😆
I’ll post final product pictures.

[Gars68Tux]

I clearcoated mine for added durability. Just sprayed it, no need for masking the grill. I did mask the headlight covers. Has held up well. Sometimes the clear will alter the brightness of some silver paints, so might want to do a test first.

I'm interested in that tape in Darrell's link. Wonder how durable it'd be? I'm guessing it'd peel off eventually...

[David K]

Lemmeee see it.

[David K]

Not bad…will probably look better after I wash the car. Took 20 minutes to remove the uglies.

[bertfam]

Actually, in my opinion, that turned out really well! And since we don't usually drive our cars that often, at least not as much as when they were new, it should hold up for a long time.

Ed

[Gars68Tux]

 

Lemmeee see it.

Suppose ya want a close up, huh? I'll see what I can do... probably need some side marker bezel shots too!

[Gars68Tux]

It's been over 20yrs ago since I painted the grill. It was NOS and did it long before I ever put it on the car. So memory is a bit foggy, but thinking now I did mask the grill as well. It doesn't have to be stuck to the horizontal ribs, just the verticals. Don't hold the can too close when spraying. Silver paint from a rattlecan generally isn't very durable. Any weak solvent will dissolve it instantly. I imagine bug guts would do the same. So, I recommend a clear coat...

EDIT: Don't know why the imagine didn't come out right side up.

 

[David K]

Thanks Ed….Gars…I didn’t mask anything because of the paint brush. I was looking for a chrome Sharpie, but couldn’t find anything but Aluminum….But now with my new engine component inspection stamps and ZL1 hubcaps 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️, it’s looking better than yesterday. My left side headline cover looks like it was molded by a drunken pirate…..zoom in on the picture and look in the top row 3 boxes. It’s not your eyes, it’s crooked. Stand by for the next project thread very soon and it will be fully documented from start to finish.

[Gars68Tux]

 I'm thinkin' that drunken pirate did a number yur license plate?!  lol

Anyway, NICE JOB!

[cook_dw]

I've used the Molotow Liquid Chrome in the past with good success on bezel surrounds and 69 dash clusters.

No afflation with the seller.  I'm sure I bought mine from ebay but can't recall the sellers name.

https://www.amazon.com/Molotow-Liquid-Chrome-Marker-Set/dp/B074JJ1YMY/ref=asc_df_B074JJ1YMY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198059285915&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8570686530842529220&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013191&hvtargid=pla-355627019998&psc=1

[william]

I forgot the grill has a raised horizontal rib, but the doors do not.

Thats because they are '67 doors. Production '68s have raised horizontal ribs.

[bertfam]

There's a caveat to what Bill posted as mentioned HERE.

Apparently with the changeover to the all black grille, the 67 covers (with the part numbers molded on the back side), were utilized on the late year 68's. It is speculation only, but this may have been necessary as a shortage of black 68 headlight covers may have existed or perhaps a way to reduce leftover 67 cover inventory.

Ed

[william]

Sounds like BS to me.

Back in '83 when I became involved in the parts biz, it was 85% GM and 15% repro. The 67-68 RS grille and head lamp covers as serviced by GMPD were production '68 parts with the raised horizontal ribs. Our '67 Z/28 project had a cosmetic resto in the '70s and had incorrect '68 parts as purchased. We located production '67 RS parts for the resto. 

45 years in manufacturing tells me GM revised the '67 grille and headlamp cover tooling for the '68 change. Since they interchange and are virtually identical there was no reason to continue producing '67 parts.

The 11-68 P & A manual lists 3919060, 3919063 & 3919064 for 67 - 68 RS.

[David K]

William, I’m not sure what BS you’re referring to.

[william]

That late '68s were built with '67 covers.

Sales & Operations Planning tells you how many of all components are needed for the production run. 40,000 RS are planned over 50 weeks; 800 pair of covers per week. The tooling is designed for that production rate; Production Control knows it can't schedule more than 800 RS per week. As simple as it seems.

Short of a major tooling failure, not much to go wrong. The only way you're going to 'run out' of anything is to over-release orders. Even the crude systems back in those days must have had some way to material-assure a build order.

Did production scheduling and inventory planning my last 15 years in industry. Much tougher now with parts coming from all over the world, many sitting in cargo containers in the port.

[KurtS]

That late '68s were built with '67 covers.

Ask Steve (the author of the article) for the data he had on late '68's. He didn't write that without data justification.

[Gars68Tux]

David's 68 is an 11E build. I think it's safe to say the headlight doors would've had raised horizontal ribs (with chrome) the same as the grill. 

[David K]

I’ve seen some on eBay that were service replacements with the correct part numbers. The raised ribs are there but no chrome. I wonder how this got rectified if a grill/door was damaged and needed replacement. Thinking the dealer  body shop painted it chrome before install.
I’m no authority on 1968 part labels, but if anyone can verify the vintage…… The ones I saw have these and are most likely modern, but I don’t know. Zoom in to see.

Here’s 2 examples



https://www.ebay.com/itm/304496814569?epid=1830485962&hash=item46e56ca9e9:g:zPkAAOSwPjpiiM7x

[Gars68Tux]

From the report linked above;

The 68 service parts were probably the same as the production parts. So the 68 service parts were probably chrome up to the May 68 timeframe and then supplied as unchromed from then on. To that end, the below picture shows one of two observed "new in the box" service grilles which are black. If a 68 chrome grille needed to be replaced and a NOS chrome grille was not available, the replacement black 68 grille would have been painted to match the original chrome doors. The first "Note: paint as required" is found no earlier than October 1968 for the headlight covers. So far, December 1971 is the earliest such a note is found for the center grille.

I couldn't tell ya the vintage of those on ebay, but I'm sure they're genuine. I bought the entire grill ("over-the-counter") around 1990 and of course there was no chrome.

[Gars68Tux]

Dunno where you got the photo above, it's not in the ebay ad that you linked? I'm not familiar with that tag at all.

9063 & 9064 are 68 production numbers and also 67/8 service part numbers. 

[David K]

Correct Gars…I added the picture because of the older looking label…and was hoping for some insight…vintage or timeline.

Here’s the other I meant to include.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304183016230?fits=Year%3A1968%7CModel%3ACamaro&epid=654199008&hash=item46d2b87b26:g:SXwAAOSwYaJhZd0D

[David K]

So is it safe to speculate the service replacement for a 68 had chrome from the parts department until the supply ran out? Then it was all black that needed to be painted to match?

[william]

It is possible they were supplied with the faux chrome during the '68 MY, but not much longer. In my 15 years of ordering/selling parts, GM had no qualms at all about furnishing a part that fit and functioned but didn't necessarily look the same. A few examples:

When ’68 Z/28 chrome rocker covers were ordered they substituted ‘69 Corvette L79 covers.
When '69 BB chrome rocker covers were ordered they substituted ’71-up covers with the snap-in rubber oil cap and lousy chrome.
When a ’69 Camaro rear license plate bracket was ordered, they substituted the 73-up Nova bracket.
When ’69 Camaro 396 fender emblems were ordered, they substituted ’70 Nova emblems
When ’68-69 Camaro rear spring anchors were ordered, they substituted ’70-up anchors with the sway bar tabs.
When a ’67-’69 12 bolt axle cover was ordered, they substituted a ’70-up cover notched for a rear brake hose bracket.

The Aug '71 P & A manual lists only the '68 part numbers with a note.

[rich69rs]

In my 15 years of ordering/selling parts, GM had no qualms at all about furnishing a part that fit and functioned but didn't necessarily look the same.

The one that has always tickled my fancy is carburetors.  Originally, carb was spec out/had a part no based on car, options, etc., i.e. Camaro vs …., transmission, ac vs non-ac applications, etc.  Service replacements lost that delineation and pretty much became a one or two part number for all applications - if it fits it works.

Richard