Front Valance & Grill Valance Work
Background:
This was just hanging on the front of the car by two bolts, it was delicate and already damaged on one of the holes for the bolts. I decided to take the front of the car off a while ago, one to make it easier to work on, two, to allow me to get his bit of before it’s totally ruined. I have also included the grill valance as part of this too. I have taken some photos of the item how it was without me touching it and a few pictures of the rubbed down result. I got the Dewalt sander out (click here for review) and got to work. All started of well until I got the front about a third of the way in each side. I hit filler, in fact there was a lot of filler. I suspect he has had some minor accident scrape on the valance and damaged it, or the stone chips have just been filled on top each time. The inside of the valance shows no indents for a crash. The only evidence is the very center that had been kinked and scuffed badly with a dent. Perhaps he went up a high kerb or dirt bank? The valance was twisted a little probably due to the fact it has been hanging on the car for years and not secured to the car. The under grill valance is not to bad at all, that only took a short while to get to the bare metal on the stone chipped and damaged paint areas.
Process:
Firstly I removed the chrome surrounds for the park lights, this was two bolts each side and they came of easily. I had to evict some spiders from their make shift homes. Next was to take it outside and have a good look at it. The damaged and distorted bolt holes were straightened out almost spot on. The Orbital sander was started on a mixture of 80grit and 100grit. This would leave a scuffing to the surface of the metal and the filler to allow a good key for the Dinitrol filler at a later date. The grill valance again followed exactly the same process.
The grill valance was a lot better to be honest with hardly any issues apart from a few stone ships and little bend inner metal, I can’t imagine how this little bit of handy work was done.
After the sanding was done on the outside I started on the undersides and that was quite straight forward, the abrasive grit discs removed pretty much everything. The under seal was in pretty good shape with some light signs of surface rust on the valance.
The grill valance back was in excellent shape and needed hardly any sanding at all, in fact I have left pretty much well alone.
Results:
So far I am pleased with small amounts of rust. I am looking to make a new bolt hole with some large washers I have and cut them down for strength so they wont be seen from the outside either. I used two 80grit discs and three 100grit discs to get to where I wanted. I managed to shred one discs on the park light hole when I wasn’t being careful. So cost wise it was very good. Time wise it has taken me four or five hours to get to that point. Taking my time and rushing anything. I can use the previous filler as it looks like good stuff and has been applied well. Where the edge of the filler has met rust I have taken that right back to virgin metal in order to build it all up to do it properly again.
Click here for Front Valance Work (Part 2)