Rembrant Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 I cant tell but does your truck have the valance that goes between the fenders and between the bumper & grille? My truck has it, yes, but it is not installed in this picture. The fenders that I put on the truck are only temporary placements. The body shop ordered two new fenders. I had these ones from the '85 I scrapped. I've been doing everything possible to keep the labor hours down for the bodyshop, and part of that was hacking the old fenders off. Most of the bolts were rusted and stuck, so I spent a lot of time removing them and cleaning behind them, cleaning up the fender liners, etc, etc. It's really just to make things easier for them, which in turn is cheaper for me. The shop wanted to supply the fenders in case they have any fitment issues they can just return them for replacements. The driver's door shell I had to order out of the US. The "stone guard" or whatever that front valance between the bumper and grill is called I actually had a NOS Ford piece that I bought locally. Other than that they'll be doing both cab corners, and those I also bought locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 I cant tell but does your truck have the valance that goes between the fenders and between the bumper & grille? My truck has it, yes, but it is not installed in this picture. The fenders that I put on the truck are only temporary placements. The body shop ordered two new fenders. I had these ones from the '85 I scrapped. I've been doing everything possible to keep the labor hours down for the bodyshop, and part of that was hacking the old fenders off. Most of the bolts were rusted and stuck, so I spent a lot of time removing them and cleaning behind them, cleaning up the fender liners, etc, etc. It's really just to make things easier for them, which in turn is cheaper for me. The shop wanted to supply the fenders in case they have any fitment issues they can just return them for replacements. The driver's door shell I had to order out of the US. The "stone guard" or whatever that front valance between the bumper and grill is called I actually had a NOS Ford piece that I bought locally. Other than that they'll be doing both cab corners, and those I also bought locally. It sounds like you have it under control just did not want you to send the truck off for paint and they not have that /part. I also hear you on pulling everything apart and back on with better parts to keep the $$ down. Wished I could have done something to keep labor hours down but has not cost me $$ for labor Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 You are really making good progress, Cory! It won't be long now! As for your questions, I don't know about using lacquer thinner on the headlight doors or the grille. They are plastic underneath and the thinner might harm them. But, Dave's suggestion of trying it somewhere that can't be seen is a good idea. And then finishing up with polishing compound is a good idea as well. Well I took the risk of using the lacquer thinner on the headlight doors and it worked. I used a small piece of white Scotchbrite, and the paint did come off. You pretty much have to let it soak a little bit. I couldn't scrape it off and I couldn't simply wipe it off...the thinner needs to sit on it a bit before it wipes off. The headlight doors and associated parts are not in terrible condition for their age, and I don't mind them looking a little bit weathered (Isn't that weathered look a thing these days?...lol). I'm going to repaint all of the tabs black...can't really see them anyway. The upper grill trim piece (the metal one) had a noticeable dent in it that was driving me crazy. I laid it flat on the bench on a soft rag and then hammered the inside with a piece of wood, and the dent is almost completely gone...I don't think you'll even see it afterwards. This old junk is going to look pretty good! Gary, Question for ya... I've been running a black 82-86 grill in my truck. It was an original Ford part that a local guy was selling a couple years ago and I kinda liked it. Not sure if it is staying or not, but I'm curious...can you remind me again which trucks did come with the black grills? Was it just the Broncos? The number on the back of it is E2TB-8150 A/B if that is any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 You are really making good progress, Cory! It won't be long now! As for your questions, I don't know about using lacquer thinner on the headlight doors or the grille. They are plastic underneath and the thinner might harm them. But, Dave's suggestion of trying it somewhere that can't be seen is a good idea. And then finishing up with polishing compound is a good idea as well. Well I took the risk of using the lacquer thinner on the headlight doors and it worked. I used a small piece of white Scotchbrite, and the paint did come off. You pretty much have to let it soak a little bit. I couldn't scrape it off and I couldn't simply wipe it off...the thinner needs to sit on it a bit before it wipes off. The headlight doors and associated parts are not in terrible condition for their age, and I don't mind them looking a little bit weathered (Isn't that weathered look a thing these days?...lol). I'm going to repaint all of the tabs black...can't really see them anyway. The upper grill trim piece (the metal one) had a noticeable dent in it that was driving me crazy. I laid it flat on the bench on a soft rag and then hammered the inside with a piece of wood, and the dent is almost completely gone...I don't think you'll even see it afterwards. This old junk is going to look pretty good! Gary, Question for ya... I've been running a black 82-86 grill in my truck. It was an original Ford part that a local guy was selling a couple years ago and I kinda liked it. Not sure if it is staying or not, but I'm curious...can you remind me again which trucks did come with the black grills? Was it just the Broncos? The number on the back of it is E2TB-8150 A/B if that is any help. Cory - Glad the thinner worked and didn't damage the headlight doors. Well done! As for the weathered look, I do hope that's a "thing". I took the headlight doors off Big Blue yesterday and saw how badly faded they are. But if I start painting or powder coating everything that is to go back on I'll never get this back together. On the grille, there wasn't a completely black one in the 1982-86 range. As you can see from the snippet below (Exterior/Exterior Trim & Moulding), they even substituted a light argent & black one for the all-black 1980-81 unit when those ran out, so they must have been fairly close in looks. I'll check the E2TB 8150-A/B ID # later in the cross reference and see if I can confirm this, but I'll bet you have E2TZ 8150-A, the light argent and black one from '82. For whatever reason the guru's at Ford tended to turn E2TZ into E2TB and then play with the suffix to create an ID # from a part #. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 On the grille, there wasn't a completely black one in the 1982-86 range. As you can see from the snippet below (Exterior/Exterior Trim & Moulding), they even substituted a light argent & black one for the all-black 1980-81 unit when those ran out, so they must have been fairly close in looks. I'll check the E2TB 8150-A/B ID # later in the cross reference and see if I can confirm this, but I'll bet you have E2TZ 8150-A, the light argent and black one from '82. For whatever reason the guru's at Ford tended to turn E2TZ into E2TB and then play with the suffix to create an ID # from a part #. Gary, Maybe what I have is the dark charcoal grill? Or maybe it was painted at some point I guess? It's just that it doesn't look like it was painted...it just looks like faded plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARIAT 85 Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 Cory - Glad the thinner worked and didn't damage the headlight doors. Well done! As for the weathered look, I do hope that's a "thing". I took the headlight doors off Big Blue yesterday and saw how badly faded they are. But if I start painting or powder coating everything that is to go back on I'll never get this back together. On the grille, there wasn't a completely black one in the 1982-86 range. As you can see from the snippet below (Exterior/Exterior Trim & Moulding), they even substituted a light argent & black one for the all-black 1980-81 unit when those ran out, so they must have been fairly close in looks. I'll check the E2TB 8150-A/B ID # later in the cross reference and see if I can confirm this, but I'll bet you have E2TZ 8150-A, the light argent and black one from '82. For whatever reason the guru's at Ford tended to turn E2TZ into E2TB and then play with the suffix to create an ID # from a part #. Fair warning: any existing parts (headlight doors, mirrors, bumpers, trim molding, etc.) that are on your truck now that look "pretty good" are going to look "pretty bad" against a nice new paint job. Ask me how I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Fair warning: any existing parts (headlight doors, mirrors, bumpers, trim molding, etc.) that are on your truck now that look "pretty good" are going to look "pretty bad" against a nice new paint job. Ask me how I know. Rick, Completely understood! In my case it's a matter of scraping by with what I've got for the reason of this season, and I'll worry about new grill parts later. I'll leave that for easy peasy winter project stuff;). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 On the grille, there wasn't a completely black one in the 1982-86 range. As you can see from the snippet below (Exterior/Exterior Trim & Moulding), they even substituted a light argent & black one for the all-black 1980-81 unit when those ran out, so they must have been fairly close in looks. I'll check the E2TB 8150-A/B ID # later in the cross reference and see if I can confirm this, but I'll bet you have E2TZ 8150-A, the light argent and black one from '82. For whatever reason the guru's at Ford tended to turn E2TZ into E2TB and then play with the suffix to create an ID # from a part #. Gary, Maybe what I have is the dark charcoal grill? Or maybe it was painted at some point I guess? It's just that it doesn't look like it was painted...it just looks like faded plastic. Cory - I forgot to look in the cross-ref today. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 7, 2019 Author Share Posted August 7, 2019 Cory - I forgot to look in the cross-ref today. Sorry. Gary, I've been calling the grill black, but now that I look at it again, it's actually dark grey...so maybe it is the dark charcoal version? I was just curious what level trim trucks had them or if they were just random, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 8, 2019 Share Posted August 8, 2019 Gary, I've been calling the grill black, but now that I look at it again, it's actually dark grey...so maybe it is the dark charcoal version? I was just curious what level trim trucks had them or if they were just random, etc. I think the way to tell is the price lists. Not sure how many I have, but I have the '85 and '86 ones on the website. Looking at the '86 one, I see these grilles: Base truck: Light argent with bright surround grille was standard XL Flaresides: Chrome grill was standard XLT Lariat (available Styleside only): Chrome grille was standard But I don't see anything about dark argent. And I don't have those dealer facts books on the website. So, I plan to do some sleuthing tomorrow. I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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