DIY heritage grill

[DubZuc]

Looks great!

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[DarthLincoln]

Hi All,

wanted to post a log of my project here which was a homemade version of the heritage grill on a budget.

Pic below of finished product:

I started off with the “Vintage Grill” from RPM Bronco which only comes in a gloss white unfortunately (I wasn’t a huge fan of the white grill, I am going to be wrapping my hard top white soon though however)

I dry/wet sanded this with 400,600 grit to remove all of the gloss so I could prime for paint. I used rustoleum 2 in 1 filler/sandable primer

(Below It are the trail sight deletes which I also primed. Still not sure where I stand on these but trying them out)

Forgot to take a pic before i initially painted. Masked off the surround with 3M automotive tape & sprayed with some really cheap single stage duplicolor. This was my biggest mistake, ended up having to wet/dry sand again for a recoat. This time I used rustoleum professional high performance enamel in flat black and it came out better.

Forgot to take pictures, but went to a local paint shop that mixes from manufacturer paint code and puts it in aerosols for around $30 a can. Masked off the center part, and sprayed the surround cactus grey. Cleared over everything, then wet sanded the really bad spots with 1000 grit and cleared again.

after that, it was pretty close to where I wanted it but still looked very homemade so I decided to polish & wax it with a DA and maguires ultimate polish / Yellow wax. This really brought out a much better gloss and removed some of the orange peel I had before.

the heritage style “FORD” letters I got from vasher design on Etsy, which comes with the end blank out plates (I ended up filing down the part that usually wraps around the inner headlight, as this grill has a little bit more clearance around it than stock for the amber inserts.)

Went ahead and installed it along with the trail sight deletes and got this final product. By no means perfect but I had fun learning throughout the process and didn’t spend fortune having a paint shop do it. materials all in minus the grill itself probably totaled around $150-$200, and that was with trial and error on paints etc. not bad, and I’m pretty happy with the final result for doing this whole project in an apartment.

Very nicely done! I think that vintage style grille is the best looking one available but I’m biased.

I did the same thing to mine, essentially the same 2-step paint process. I think the carbon black center is a good match with all the other carbon black on the 6G. I did stick with BRONCO letters, but I really like the look of yours with FORD letters.

Nice work!

 

[BayBronc]

Very nicely done! I think that vintage style grille is the best looking one available but I”m biased.

I did the same thing to mine, essentially the same 2-step paint process. I think the carbon black center is a good match with all the other carbon black on the 6G. I did stick with BRONCO letters, but I really like the look of yours with FORD letters.

Nice work!

Brother your project was the blueprint the whole way!!! Loved the way yours came out w/the painted surround. Only thing was I think IAG stopped selling it but evidently it’s all the same dropshipped grill from wherever. Appreciate the comment & the idea!

Curious, did you have an extensive sanding/priming/correction process? Yours came out looking more professional than mine and I probably had to put a good 30 hours of sanding/prep/correction in

 

[DarthLincoln]

Curious, did you have an extensive sanding/priming/correction process? Yours came out looking more professional than mine and I probably had to put a good 30 hours of sanding/prep/correction in

I did do a lot of sanding and scuffing and cleaning i think with citrus cleaner-degreaser before and after primer. That and masking twice took a ton of time.

The Rustoleum truck bed coating I used in the center made that part much easier to do. The slight texture eliminates any finish defect problems that you might see with a matte or gloss paint. Just paint slow and evenly and it came out perfectly.

But you did more work on the final paint and correction on the surround. That’s where I failed. I foolishly did not buy enough paint including clear. I managed to get a nice wet gloss finish on the surround, but it needed to be much thicker for durability. It still looks good in photos but up close the clear is failing. I need to wet sand it and redo the clearcoat.

 

[CitrusBronco]

I always thought the grill they offered looked horrible, turns out it just looks bad in white. Great job, the front end looks fantastic.

 

[Roger123]

Looks great, should have came that way from the factory.

 

[VehicleNanny]

Looks good! Projects like this are fun to do and are good learning experiences.

 

[mdainsd]

I used the same grill and painted it at home too. That grill is the best looking of the retro grilled. Nice job!

 

[BayBronc]

I did do a lot of sanding and scuffing and cleaning i think with citrus cleaner-degreaser before and after primer. That and masking twice took a ton of time.

The Rustoleum truck bed coating I used in the center made that part much easier to do. The slight texture eliminates any finish defect problems that you might see with a matte or gloss paint. Just paint slow and evenly and it came out perfectly.

But you did more work on the final paint and correction on the surround. That’s where I failed. I foolishly did not buy enough paint including clear. I managed to get a nice wet gloss finish on the surround, but it needed to be much thicker for durability. It still looks good in photos but up close the clear is failing. I need to wet sand it and redo the clearcoat.

I definitely have some uneven spots / places where clear isn’t as thick but after using all of my spare time for a week to do this I was just anxious to be done with it and get it on the truck. I’ll go back and perfect it eventually but it’s hardly noticeable. Have too many other things I want to do

 

[crzyhawk]

I like that a lot

 

[Karsa]

It looks great! And thanks for the details!

 

[The Green Flash]

Hi All,

wanted to post a log of my project here which was a homemade version of the heritage grill on a budget.

Pic below of finished product:

I started off with the “Vintage Grill” from RPM Bronco which only comes in a gloss white unfortunately (I wasn’t a huge fan of the white grill, I am going to be wrapping my hard top white soon though however)

I dry/wet sanded this with 400,600 grit to remove all of the gloss so I could prime for paint. I used rustoleum 2 in 1 filler/sandable primer

(Below It are the trail sight deletes which I also primed. Still not sure where I stand on these but trying them out)

Forgot to take a pic before i initially painted. Masked off the surround with 3M automotive tape & sprayed with some really cheap single stage duplicolor. This was my biggest mistake, ended up having to wet/dry sand again for a recoat. This time I used rustoleum professional high performance enamel in flat black and it came out better.

Forgot to take pictures, but went to a local paint shop that mixes from manufacturer paint code and puts it in aerosols for around $30 a can. Masked off the center part, and sprayed the surround cactus grey. Cleared over everything, then wet sanded the really bad spots with 1000 grit and cleared again.

after that, it was pretty close to where I wanted it but still looked very homemade so I decided to polish & wax it with a DA and maguires ultimate polish / Yellow wax. This really brought out a much better gloss and removed some of the orange peel I had before.

the heritage style “FORD” letters I got from vasher design on Etsy, which comes with the end blank out plates (I ended up filing down the part that usually wraps around the inner headlight, as this grill has a little bit more clearance around it than stock for the amber inserts.)

Went ahead and installed it along with the trail sight deletes and got this final product. By no means perfect but I had fun learning throughout the process and didn’t spend fortune having a paint shop do it. materials all in minus the grill itself probably totaled around $150-$200, and that was with trial and error on paints etc. not bad, and I’m pretty happy with the final result for doing this whole project in an apartment.

Great minds think alike... I also did almost the same, about a year ago. Used 'Automotive Touch Up' https://www.automotivetouchup.com/
brand paint to match the Eruption Green, and Krylon dark copper.

I also had my son 3D print up the F-O-R-D letters I drafted up based on the same script as the 6g letter font on Autocad. Now that I relocated the front camera to just below the winch, I need to have him 3D print up a blockout plug where the camera used to be...

 

[timhood]

I started off with the “Vintage Grill” from RPM Bronco

Ah, you tricked me! When you said "homemade," I thought I was going to see a grille made from scratch. I was wondering how you were going to 3D print something that big or how you were going to make it.

I never thought of my three-tone grille as homemade before.

 

[BayBronc]

Ah, you tricked me! When you said "homemade," I thought I was going to see a grille made from scratch. I was wondering how you were going to 3D print something that big or how you were going to make it.

I never thought of my three-tone grille as homemade before.

Lol I guess you’re right. I updated the title

 

[BayBronc]

Great minds think alike... I also did almost the same, about a year ago. Used 'Automotive Touch Up' https://www.automotivetouchup.com/
brand paint to match the Eruption Green, and Krylon dark copper.

I also had my son 3D print up the F-O-R-D letters I drafted up based on the same script as the 6g letter font on Autocad. Now that I relocated the front camera to just below the winch, I need to have him 3D print up a blockout plug where the camera used to be...

That looks great! What did you use to cover up the holes for the first and last letters? Looks like it was only ever meant for the ford letters in the first place. Really cool!

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