So are they screwed in, or molded in? If I damage their mount points, I should be able to drill out the holes, coat the threads with cement and put them back in.... the only issue would be getting them straight.

I got all my rough grinding done tonight, will post an update pic tomorrow. The plan is to get the plating off before I start reconstruction.

 

In a nutshell, no. Happened to me recently. If you break off the mounting tab, you will have to try and and reglue it on.

 

I finished the rough grinding last night, so here are five update pics.

Full view:



Bar gaps, right side:



Bowtie top:



Bowtie bottom:



Inter-bar bridges gone:



For the bar gaps, I contoured through the depth of the material so there would be less area to make new, and I'll build up thickness on the back side. Like I mentioned before, the middle portions of the removed bars (the center angle) will be recycled as bowtie edges... the top certainly, maybe a bit on the bottom.

 

I think I have too much exposed plastic now for any glycol based fluid to be an option... it will seep into the plastic and make it brittle.

 

No actual progress today other than pulling the bolts out of the grille. With a moderate grip with the vise grips and a slow, smooth start to the turn, they came out easy.

I did gather materials for the reverse electroplating: a 6V/800ma AC to DC converter, wire, alligator clips, pickling salts, a piece of scrap aluminum, and a big, shallow Sterilite tub.

If this crazy science experiment works, I'll pull my chrome mirror covers off and dunk them as well, and maybe Plastidip them until I'm ready to get the paint done.

 

I did a small reverse electroplate test today:



This is a section of grille bar about 1/2" wide. After about almost an hour in the electrolyte, there was only copper left on most of it, so I took a buffing wheel to it to finish the job. The still-chromed end is where I first put the alligator clip on.

I'll be doing the main job tomorrow, stay tuned.

 

And now for the real deal:



I probably used almost 2 cups of pickling salt here, there's about 8 gallons of water in the tub.

In this pic, the current has been on for about 10 minutes. This is gonna take a while, but it's easier than sanding .

 

Hmmm, well I've seen grilles chopped, 3 bar'd, painted, meshed, and Plasti Dipped, but never marinated. I'm really curious to see how this turns out Dracos, keep the posts a comin'.

 

Follow the link near the bottom of #1, I'm not the first person here to do it.

So I gave up trying to get the clearcoat off (mineral spirits, paint thinner, oven cleaner were all seemingly ineffective), but the marinade seems to take it off with the plating.

For science!

 

Here are a couple of progress pics. I've concentrated on one end so far.

Front:



Back:



This is going really slow. I think I'm going to get a more powerful (2 amp) power converter later.