Todd:
I just finished the grill on my TR3A restoration. After getting a quote of
$450 from a polishing shop, I decided to do it myself (this is many hours,
but the result is good). Aluminum is like wood, you can "sand" out the
rough spots using course paper and then gradually work your way down to a
fine grit to end with a smooth finish. I started with the medium grade
flexible sanding pads, cut into small pieces for the size of the slats. If
I had really deep gouges from stones, I used 100 grit paper and the dremel.
I worked on one section at a time just to keep my sanity (one vertical
section per night). Sand all slats with the flexible pad. Then go back
over again using a fine grit flexible pad. Then go back over again using a
220 grit paper, not using much pressure. You will see the results as you
move to each finer grit (if you are really meticulous, you could add
additional grit sizes between the sizes the used). The final step was using
Wenol. This is a highly recommended polish for aluminum and chrome and the
end result is fantastic (it is $10 a tube, but goes a long way and you will
use it on your other metal parts). The one thing you may want to have done
if you go this route is to have the grill dipped to strip the original
factory applied coating. I did this and made the work much easier (cost was
$20).
Scott Suhring
Elizabethtown, PA
'70 TR6
'59 TR3
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-triumphs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-triumphs@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Joe Curry
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 4:55 PM
To: JBoyle6981@aol.com
Cc: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Grill cleaning
JBoyle6981@aol.com wrote:
>
> HI,
>
> Is there anything made special for cleaning the front grill on my TR4A,
looks
> kinda dull and before I wasted my time I wanted to ask the list.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd
It is likely due to the aluminum having been blasted by years of rock
chips and other debris and therefore anythng you do will not make the
original shine come back. If you attempt to polish it using an
abrasive, it is a good chance that you will make it look worse than it
did to begin with. The real solution would be to send it to Fred for a
nice powder coating.
Joe
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