painting 1st gen sportvan front small grill area

as my friend is starting on my  1st gen sportvan  paint job ,the front small grill area ,under windshield  (NOT THE LOWER LARGER GRILL WHERE YOU CAN SEE BELLY PAN ) .   we would like to get any help on best way to 1ST  PREP the area BEHIND grill , then paint it .     thanks for any help .
danny  502 432 3684

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Really about all you can do is get the guns pattern to shoot between the grills in a limited fanning motion , probably turn the pressure down to. Might have to clean up the outer before exterior paint but at least it will be a limited amount of work. You could even mask off the grill to minimize it further.

I think he is mainly concerned with getting it prepped to get the paint to stick

All I managed to do was tape sand paper to the end of a stick and knock off the rough edges. Sand blasting may not be a good course if the welting is still in place inside the inner and outer panels.

"Welting" That's what you call that rubber stuff that's hanging down in my grille area. Thanks! Looks like a real problem to replace it if it's available?

Digz wrote:
All I managed to do was tape sand paper to the end of a stick and knock off the rough edges.  Sand blasting may not be a good course if the welting is still in place inside the inner and outer panels.

would anyone know what the plug in the center of the area behind grill

Russell wrote:"Welting" That's what you call that rubber stuff that's hanging down in my grille area. Thanks! Looks like a real problem to replace it if it's available?

Mine kept falling down also. ended up just pulling it out. I think it really just separates the air box for the vent and heater from the grill air. Possibly helps with engine fumes..I don't know.

ditdater wrote:

Digz wrote:
All I managed to do was tape sand paper to the end of a stick and knock off the rough edges.  Sand blasting may not be a good course if the welting is still in place inside the inner and outer panels.

  would anyone know what the plug in the center of the area behind grill

Good question, mine is painted over, maybe to cover a bolt for something inside or to seal a handling hole during assembly that was needed for placing the firewall?

On mine the hose for the washer nozzle goes through it.And while I'm looking at it a lot of paint peel in there. LOL

thanks again ,danny

I wonder if the body shop did any prep on that surface when they painted my van. It looks like it's holding up pretty well.



I've been wanting to paint it black in there. Same with the area behind the main grill. My belief is those areas should just "disappear." Especially behind the main grill, which is now a mix of whatever it was before and turquoise overspray. That area is easy to get to from underneath but yeah, how to reach in to prep and paint behind the little one? Especially without messing up the nice paint on the grill! I had asked the painter about painting the black first but then how do you mask that off when painting the rest of the van?

I figure I'll tape over the grill with that low-tack blue tape. Then try wrapping a small piece of that 3M scuff pad over the end of a wooden tongue depressor. Should be able to slip that in and swipe it up and down to scuff it up. Then do the same thing with a piece of rag and that wax and grease remover.

Then, to paint it! I think if I used spray paint I'd end up getting overspray on the outer paint. Maybe use the rag on a tongue depressor method as a paint brush.

Yes, that big hole in the center is for the rubber grommet the windshield washer hose passes through. I assume that was just plugged on vans without the washer option. There's also a little hole on the left where the plastic retainer that holds the kick panel pokes through.