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70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill

Posted By: anlauto

70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 04:01 PM

I'm trying to refinish a 70 Grill and was wondering if the black was originally textured or smooth ?

I'm removing the black paint now, but it looks as if it was painted over the original argent.

Also is the "egg crate" part blacked-out on T/A's or R/T's ?
Posted By: domingo

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 04:24 PM

the black was kind of a suede black like the dashes I think....

on the RTs the eggcrate was left anodized...

On the TAs im not sure....i think they blacked em out on those....

Not much help I guess....sorry
Posted By: moparo

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 04:37 PM

A T/A grill is the same as an R/T.

They are not textured at all.

The last 2 ribs at the egg crate are not paint.

The black is a ralley type black.
Posted By: FJ5_Fish

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 05:01 PM

33-40% flattened black
Posted By: Kirby

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 06:41 PM

Any pics of a T/A grill?
Posted By: anlauto

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 08:40 PM

Quote:

The last 2 ribs at the egg crate are not paint.





Mop...Do you have a picture of what this means ?

I'm stripping the argent off the grill I have and it goes all the way in past the egg crate

I know now that this is not an original R/T or T/A grill because of the argent found What a PITA to strip
Posted By: hemi_rtdave

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 09:11 PM

Alan. Check out this link!

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post4837369
Posted By: autoxcuda

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 09:30 PM

That link leads to this link that seems to have more info.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...part=1&vc=1
Posted By: domingo

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 09:37 PM

Oh...FYI I saw they were reproducing the center section of the grille (egg crate and surrounding bezel). They had themn for sale eveywhere at the NATS. However, they are not the exact finish as OEM. The eggcrate looked kinda matte grey, where the original egg crate looks a lot brighter anodized. Still they looked very nice.
Posted By: ECS

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 10:22 PM

Quote:

Quote:

The last 2 ribs at the egg crate are not paint.



....Do you have a picture of what this means ?



Here is a picture Alan. The paint edge on the originals were not taped or a solid looking line. They had a soft, over-spray appearance.

Posted By: anlauto

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 10:27 PM

I don't know...without 7-10 examples of original pieces I'm not buying it...EVERY restored grill I've seen has a clean taped edge...
Posted By: ECS

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 10:40 PM

Quote:

...EVERY restored grill I've seen has a clean taped edge...



I was not referencing grills that were restored to a condition "unlike" the factory examples. Who do you think took the time to "tape" them when they were originally manufactured? They used a template type overlay to cover the areas that were not intended to be painted. If you would like Alan, I can post a picture of the headlight surround bezels (that are 100% original) which also have the exact same paint edge pattern as the grill!
Posted By: NANKET

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 10:43 PM

Production line parts had varying levels of masking and finish details. Many grilles were painted with a mask and had a shadowed paint line like the above picture. Look at original parts from 60's-70's mopars and you will see many that were not taped off with a hard paint line. Use what you believe to be correct, many differences per plant and different times of year.
Posted By: domingo

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/16/10 11:28 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

The last 2 ribs at the egg crate are not paint.



....Do you have a picture of what this means ?



Here is a picture Alan. The paint edge on the originals were not taped or a solid looking line. They had a soft, over-spray appearance.







THATS HOW MY NOS 70 GRILLE LOOKS LIKE
Posted By: FJ5_Fish

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 12:06 AM

I never count NOS stuff for comparing what came on cars originally...Might have been done well after the cars production run. I have original cars with what looks like Daves and some with a pronounced hard line - If you do not have evidence of what originally came on your car - flip a coin.
Posted By: anlauto

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 12:21 AM

I was being facetious....look it up
Posted By: ECS

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 01:11 AM

Keep in mind that these items were not painted by "The Factory". They were supplied by an independent-subsidized manufacturer, commissioned to make parts in compliance with Chrysler engineering specifications. If a "hard" paint line was evident, is is due to the mask being placed very close to the part and the paint almost running around the template/mask perimeter. It would be crazy to think that ANY specialized manufacturing firm (making cookie cutter parts) would have employees manually taping these grills prior to painting them. Such an inefficiency and waste of time would have been counterproductive to the cost of the part. There would have been no reason whatsoever to paint them this way (manually taping) since the "template" procedure was already being used for so many similarly painted parts. Even 40 years ago, technology allowed for SOME modern techniques in manufacturing processes!
Posted By: domingo

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 01:16 AM

Quote:

Keep in mind that these items were not painted by "The Factory". They were supplied by an independent-subsidized manufacturer, commissioned to make parts in compliance with Chrysler engineering specifications. If a "hard" paint line was evident, is is due to the mask being placed very close to the part and the paint almost running around the template/mask perimeter. It would be crazy to think that ANY specialized manufacturing firm (making cookie cutter parts) would have employees manually taping these grills prior to painting them. Such an inefficiency and waste of time would have been counterproductive to the cost of the part. There would have been no reason whatsoever to paint them this way (manually taping) since the "template" procedure was already being used for so many similarly painted parts. Even 40 years ago, technology allowed for SOME modern techniques in manufacturing processes!

Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 02:10 AM

Quote:



I'm stripping the argent off the grill. What a PITA to strip



What are you using? Aircraft Stripper generally turns textured argent into a slurry that can be wiped off with a paper towel... But than the last time I used aircraft stripper the EPA had killed it... Hopefully you guys in Canada aren't effected...
Posted By: anlauto

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 03:15 AM

I'm using a Marhyde stripper, it's coming off ok, just a real mess and too cold to rinse it off outside...
I've got it cleaned off now...
Posted By: ebodiesonly

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 06:04 PM

Quote:


If you would like Alan, I can post a picture of the headlight surround bezels (that are 100% original) which also have the exact same paint edge pattern as the grill!



Dave, can you post it for teaching us
Posted By: Beebuzzn

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 08:01 PM

Here is a NOS bezel. Every grille (R/T) I have and have seen that is original looked like the above picture with soft paint line. The argent grilles I have and have seen have a sharper line do to the argent paint texture.

Attached picture 6362824-IMG_3714.JPG
Posted By: Beebuzzn

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 08:12 PM

Here is the original bezel to my car. Bad picture, hopefully Santa will bring me a new camera.

Attached picture 6362843-IMG_3713.JPG
Posted By: ECS

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 11:01 PM

Quote:

Dave, can you post it for teaching us



We are all in trouble if I am doing the "teaching". Here are the front end components on my Challenger. The headlight pieces were original and the center grill was painted by Steve Been. He used a "dart" adhesive foam tape to replicate the soft edge for the paint line. The two pieces match just about perfectly. The Valiant has the silver textured paint but also exhibits a "soft" paint edge. Those are the original factory parts and were NOT restored or NOS replacements. There is even paint over-spray and fogging on the backside of these front end parts!

Posted By: ECS

Re: 70 Challenger R/T or T/A grill - 12/17/10 11:24 PM

Quote:

Here is the original bezel to my car. Bad picture, hopefully Santa will bring me a new camera.



Notice on your original bucket how the over-spray or "fogged" area is more pronounced in the curved section of the part. The template was loser fitting around the contours and the paint was able to blow under the gaps of the paint fixture. Even when using the foam "dart" tape, we were able to manipulate the same over-spray patterns by leaving the tape more "relaxed" in the contoured areas.
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