'78 Cherokee Grille

[SafeGuy]

I own a ’78 Cherokee Chief ‘S” and am attempting to do some bodywork. (Can you spell r-u-s-t?) I need an answer that my local dealership cannot provide. What did the original chrome on the front grille look like for this model? I can see where the black paint belongs in the center of each vertical bar, but were the surrounding silver parts a bright, shiny chrome or were they a brushed chrome? Also, what type of paint do you recommend to re-paint the black centers so it won't come off when a bug hits it at 70 mph?

safeguy@bellsouth.net

[wn]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SafeGuy:
I own a ’78 Cherokee Chief ‘S” and am attempting to do some bodywork. (Can you spell r-u-s-t?) I need an answer that my local dealership cannot provide. What did the original chrome on the front grille look like for this model? I can see where the black paint belongs in the center of each vertical bar, but were the surrounding silver parts a bright, shiny chrome or were they a brushed chrome? Also, what type of paint do you recommend to re-paint the black centers so it won't come off when a bug hits it at 70 mph?

safeguy@bellsouth.net<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Welcome to the board. I have a 75 cherokee chief S Levis package and it has the same grill. It is bright shiny chrome. As far the black, I would think your paint shop would recommend something that will stick...

I am doing body work on mine and hope to finish this summer....It's renegade orange with black trim.

Good luck...

[J20 project]

Guys, I could be wrong but I don't think any of these grills had chrome on them. They were just polished aluminum.
J20 project

[Chero77]

If it helps any the grille on my '77 Chero is polished aluminum.

[UnkleMunky]

Polished aluminum may be the correct description. If it all makes you feel any better, the thin "black" painted strips were on some models and not on others. Thus, if you removed it all, it would look like models that didn't have any! smile.gif If you want to redo it with the black, I'd (after removing the grill of course) clean it down so it's a workable surface(slightly roughened with a dremel or some fine tool), and then mask it off. Ask a paint shop what paint to go STRAIGHT on aluminum with and that should work. It looks "flat" to me on the '76 Honcho, but then after 25 years, who knows! If I couldn't get any better input, I'd probably just use a can of flat black after getting it cleaned off and masked off. Let it dry, remove masking and replace grill to the Cherokee! smile.gif Or something like that!

Take care...

[SafeGuy]

Thanks for the info, guys. Upon further inspection, I think you are right. It appears to be polished aluminum - not bright chrome. At the risk of sounding stupid, what's the best way to clean the years of crud that has built up on polished aluminum? redface.gif Is there any special chemical or just plain 'ole elbow grease?

[Bob Barry]

I'm wondering if the aluminum wheel-cleaner and polisher that works so well on aluminum wheels would work as well on an aluminum grille; I can't see why it wouldn't.