COMET CENTRAL

I would like to restore my grille to 65 Cyclone specs. Has anyone here ever restored their grille? I am looking for any tips on how to strip it safely, prep it, what areas need to blacked out, what colour/type of paint to use for the blacked out area. Things like that. Any suggestions or photos would be greatly appreciated.

I am a fan of UPOL rattle can's. I used that on my grille and it has held up for 6 years.

Stacey

Thanks for the advice. We have UPOL where I work, as well as SEM, Spray Max, 5 Star. Do you have any ideas about stripping the grille? I don't even know what they are made of. Are they stamped steel or pot metal?

Coldgin wrote:Thanks for the advice. We have UPOL where I work, as well as SEM, Spray Max, 5 Star. Do you have any ideas about stripping the grille? I don't even know what they are made of. Are they stamped steel or pot metal?

I like SEM trim paint, use it a lot! Pretty sure the grilles are made out of aluminum and think they may be anodized. I haven't done mine yet but plan on sandblasting mine then painting the whole grille with black trim paint(prob SEM) then after it dries I will wet sand the front edges to bring the shine back to the edges. I have Cyclone trim for mine so will just sand the front grille edge part inside the Cyclone trim. But without the trim I would sand the front edges on whole grill. Won't be original but feel it will be close and look good. Have done cylinder's on Harley's this way before and they looked really good. (Used heat paint instead of the trim paint tho)

Lou

I put a Cyclone grill on my Caliente last year. It needed cleaning up. I scuffed the painted parts with light sandpaper and blacked out the area outside of the ring. Polished the leading edges of the grill on the inside.
Here's the thread http://www.cometcentral.com/forum/viewt ... &start=120
I used Rustoleum semi gloss rattle can.

Joe

That grille looks awesome. Great work. I like the model paint idea too. I think I'll give that a shot too. Thanks everyone for the great tips. I hope I don't screw this up.....lol

On my first Cyclone, I removed the corral, sprayed the grill flat black, then sanded the paint off the leading edges that had been within the corral using 400 grit paper. The result was a matte black grill with matte silver highlights. I also sprayed the headlight bezels flat black. On my current Cyclone, I plan to treat the grill the same except leave the corral on, and leave the headlight bezels chrome. It should look about the same as Joe's. I also used the model car paint for all the colored highlights on the trim (grill center piece, flags, etc.)

Jim

comethead wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:23 pm

I put a Cyclone grill on my Caliente last year. It needed cleaning up. I scuffed the painted parts with light sandpaper and blacked out the area outside of the ring. Polished the leading edges of the grill on the inside. Here's the thread http://www.cometcentral.com/forum/viewt ... &start=120. I used Rustoleum semi gloss rattle can.

Joe did you then determine the grill is indeed most likely aluminum? E.g. the shiny ribs are polished aluminum rather than chromed?

If so then the quick summary (I am asking, not telling) is to mask off what is practical (such as the Cyclone ring), then spray everything back then wet sand/polish the bits that are supposed to by shiny (such as the rib edges)?

(Random: Does anyone know how these grills were originally manufactured - how did Ford produce this grill with polish over black in the first place?)

I painted my grill flat black and then sanded off the edges using a fine dremmel barrel sander.



Worked really slick.
Tom

kevinshi wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:50 am

mask off what is practical (such as the Cyclone ring)

Much easier to remove the Cyclone coral before painting. There are 4 or 6 bolts on the back side that hold it on. Makes it easier to polish up the coral before reinstalling, too. I sprayed my grill a satin black and didn't polish any of the edges. I felt like that really accented the contrast between the grill and the coral.

Jim

tomb22 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:23 pm

I painted my grill flat black and then sanded off the edges using a fine dremmel barrel sander... Worked really slick.

That's the tip I needed! Dremel - brilliant! Thanks Tom!!!

I use to black in the cylinders on bikes like Lou mentioned doing,but jap bikes the fins edges were kinda rounded over,I'd use a file & cut them down until I had a full flat edge. these grills have a flat edge & is kinda facing up ,guessing to gleam in the sun so you need to keep the same angle with what ever you use to sand them. I was thinking of block sanding them but I put it on the car all black for a look at it,then decided to leave it black.

Jims65cyclone wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:14 pm

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This is a mean look, Jim. Really like this one. Kind of like Don Nicholson's '65 A/FX car, in a way.
Looks like the same color of my old Cyclone, Dark Metallic Turquoise?

Joe

It was actually a 68 Mopar color called Electric Blue. Thinking about painting my current Cyclone a Toyota shade of metallic blue, but haven't settled on which one.
https://www.autocolorlibrary.com/pages/ ... zontalTab3

Jim

Jims65cyclone wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 12:25 pm

It was actually a 68 Mopar color called Electric Blue.

Checking the '65 color chart, mine was Ocean Turquoise Poly.
Have always heard it referred to as 'Dark Metallic Turquoise' in the past. When I owned it, an old friend from JHS working @ my uncle's service station owned the same color '65 202. The 'Pinot Noir Purple' 202 I was working on early this year was also the same color originally.



Close, but no cigar.

Joe