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I started the clean up on the grill. I had decided to just clean them as well as possible without disassembling because the louvers operate perfectly. When, I started cleaning them, I started to second guess that decision. That got me looking at how they come apart. They really aren’t that complicated. But, i reminded myself, “they work perfectly”. So, I decided to be patient (not a strong suit for me) and spend a little more time.

I’m glad I did. I believe I’m going to be able to get them cleaned up quite well without disassembling. That means less chance of screwing something up.

I had polished the outside of the louvers a while back. Right now, I’m focused on the inside. Then, I’ll come back and polishe the outside again.

I forgot to take a picture before I started, so I took one after cleaning a couple louvers. The next pictures are where I decided to stop for the night. In all, I have about an hour-and-half in them so far.

I finished the clean up of the grill (without disassembly). I did remove the linkage. After a thorough scrubbing, I took it up to the car wash for a power wash. The plate at the top had all the chrome pealed off and was had surface rust, so I cleaned it all really well and gave it a coat of rust encapsulator.

It came out quite nice. I then gave every moving point a small shot of grease and worked it in. The louvers were operating perfectly when I started, but are even smoother now.

Looking good!

With my car in the shop, I’m relegated to small task. But sometimes the little details can make a huge difference. I spent most of the day lugging 50 lb bags of floor leveling compound to the basement….long story… the floor I put down two years ago has been taken back up…can you say do over!

So, the with the little bit of time left over, I wire brushed, primed and painted my bumper bolts. Of the four, only one had a little bit of red left on it. After searching this site, I went with Rustoleum Regal Red that was recommended by others. I think they look pretty nice, probably too nice for the condition of my rear bumper.

The ones I got from the Dallas Zone Office were plastic dipped. Not the exact same shade of red, but they are durable and squeak free!