rusty bits

[rocky65]

one of the problems I can foresee in the restoration of my 280i ,is a rusty air intake grill in the front air dam.without close inspection I have not yet worked out wether or not it is fixed ie-feberglassed in when the car was made ,or is it removeable.It appears to be quite rusty,has anyone tried to remove it, cleaned it in situ or simply replaced it for another one.maybe a stainless steel one might be the answer left as is or painted black.

Edited by rocky65 on Wednesday 21st September 22:15

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Mate..If you are talking about the mesh mine is cemented into the body work..Bit of a nightmare..Cheers..Ziga

[hallsie]

mine was retained by 4 screws and came out easily, but it was shot.

I replaced it with a bit of punched ally sheet which looks a hell of a lot better!

Stu

[york33]

Stanley knife and a hammer & chisel. It was stuck on with an 80s no more nails type stuff Turned quite brittle when I removed mine and replaced with a shiny new one. I was going to clean up the old one, but quite frankly couldn't be bothered, so replaced with a new one

[E Ponym]

On the topic of grilles, has anybody seen an actual car with the venetian-blind type grille that was shown on the original 390SE launch photos and brochure (the yellow car).

Russ

[adam quantrill]

That sounds interesting but quite tricky to fabricate, how do you make a Venetian blind?

[cello297]

Venetian blind? I would expect the slats to reverberate as it went along, becoming something of a roar at speed:

A NEW TVR NOISE: got to have one!

Seriously though, I want to change the grill on mine which seems to be fibreglassed in. Is there a way of cutting it out, or should I simply hack it out and plaster more fibreglass over the current bodge? Sounds as if this is a regular problem.

Shane

[mikesp]

adam quantrill said:

That sounds interesting but quite tricky to fabricate, how do you make a Venetian blind?

Poke his eyes out (The old one's are the best!!)

[rocky65]

Get it out and put a new one in by fiberglass or some other means, this would seem to be the best approach.You know what they say "If it aint broke fix it anyway".
cheers lads.

[Wedg1e]

E Ponym said:

On the topic of grilles, has anybody seen an actual car with the venetian-blind type grille that was shown on the original 390SE launch photos and brochure (the yellow car).

Russ

Given the state my intake gets, I would expect the venetian slats to look like crap in short order. I have never seen another picture, or an actual car, apart from the publicity shot, with them fitted.

[rocky65]

rocky65 said:

one of the problems I can foresee in the restoration of my 280i ,is a rusty air intake grill in the front air dam.without close inspection I have not yet worked out wether or not it is fixed ie-feberglassed in when the car was made ,or is it removeable.It appears to be quite rusty,has anyone tried to remove it, cleaned it in situ or simply replaced it for another one.maybe a stainless steel one might be the answer left as is or painted black.

Edited by rocky65 on Wednesday 21st September 22:15

Got mine out without damaging any body work just needs a clean up now ,that could be the tricky part.Think I will think of a way to put the new one in so it can be removed if required for any reason.