advice on grill disassembly

[c00nhunterjoe]

Well I pulled the whole front end off the car today. Made out with only 4 broken bolts. All 4 happen to be on the grill where it mounts to the fenders in the wheel wells. Not a big deal to fix...... onto the dilema. How do you disassemble the grill without breaking it? Figuring the plastic is brittle and all those tiny bolts are really rusty..... I want to restore it but don't want to make it worse in the process.....

[twodko]

Hey Joe
Congrats getting the grille assembly out! I had no freakin' idea how to remove mine and began taking it apart from the top........big mistake/lesson learned. The members here showed me the light. The bolts that broke will have to be drilled out and new bolts tacked in place. I made a cradle from 2x4's covered with foam pipe insulation so I could lay the whole assembly on its face without damage. Then I removed the latch panel which gave me easy access to all the bolts/clips holding the grille itself to the headlight frame. Look closely at how the black plastic spacers are stacked/oriented because they need to go back the same way. I sprayed some PB Blaster on all these fasteners and mine came out OK and undamaged, some were pretty rusty too. As I recall I had to remove the head light doors before I could separate the grille from the frame. The push nuts that hold the doors onto the small pivot shafts are a bitch to get off...again take your time with them because you don't want to crack the plastic door hinge areas. The next step for me was removing all the bolts/clips holding the grille trim on, I used some PB on these as well. The whole plastic grille should lift right off the frame now. After all this I was able to remove each end of the grille from the center section and it was on to sanding and painting. Your grille is already sitting on your bench so you know its not a big deal just take your time. I took lots of pix of the assembly before I started on it and during disassembly so I could put it back together correctly. If you have any questions during the process, PM me and I'll be happy to relay what I did. Good luck.

I had a couple cracks here and there and used a PlastiFix kit to make repairs. Awesome stuff, I highly recommend it.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I've been soaking them so I will see how it goes.....

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

If its never been apart before definitely soaking the grill retaining bolts is a must or you will have broken grill-o-plenty!

Also upon reassembly its a good idea to coat all the nuts/bolts with never-seize...I have had my grill out 3x and this little bit of preventative maintenance has been worth it

[UFO]

When removing the grille to frame bolts,its a good idea to use a pair of needle nose pliers and hold the retainer from spinning and breaking the mounting point.