grille trim removal and installation

[rjpohl]

I'm going to replace my stock grille with a after market Mach 1 grille.  My trim is on old grille is good (have been told the trim is the same on the standard and mach 1).

1.  how do i remove and re-install (can I re-use the clips)?

2.  On Mach 1 is the trim painted black?

3.  Has anyone bought the grille from NPD?  Good/Bad??

thanks

Bob

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

What year model you working on? The 73 has a series of plastic clips that snap into the PVC grill and then the stainless snaps onto it. I ordered Daniel Carpenter clips and they were too small. I had couple of sets of stainless and did not fit any of them. I had to squeeze the trim in a little right where the clips were.

I did complain to Daniel Carpenter in person about them. He pulled out a pad from his pocket and wrote it down but I do not know if he fixed the issue or not.

I would guess that the std. grill and Mach 1 are the same, see pics. If you buy a new grill Carpenter got the original tooling but sent to China or Taiwan to run it. The evidently polished it so finish is not right now too shiny. You can blast with walnut shells to dull it down. Some people paint but that is a pain with all the honeycomb shape.

Here are pics of 73 that I just polished the trim and put new grill on. Yes a Mach 1 grill came in a vert if it had Decor Group. One pic has the trim off you can see where the clips go. I would push the clips off from the back side of the grill.

If you buff the trim and not experienced you can ruin it in a split second. Easy to catch an edge if you do not know how to buff.

 

[rjpohl]

Here's pictures of the push pins that are holding trim on now (they did fit very snug, not sure how they will be when re-used).  

I noticed in your pictures that the parking light bodies are grey (not black light the rest of the grille).

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Someone has just made do with the christmas tree push pins. That is not what was in there. Yes the parking light housings are Argent and the grill is black not gray. The 71 72 has some metallic gray but not 73 it is just molded black ABS plastic.

All of the grills are made by Daniel Carpenter. If you order from NPD or Ohiio Mustang will have a DC tag on it but he does not sell direct. If you can find one on ebay that was a Ford service part it will be like the one in my yellow vert. The tooling got polished when it went to China and now the grills do not look right. I would try blasting with walnut shells if you get a new one.

This Mach 1 is my original I ordered new you can see the Argent parking light housings.

NPD should also have the correct clips for the trim but you might have to squeeze the trim a little to get them to hold.

 

[Hemikiller]

Here's the correct nylon clips for the 71-73 grilles.

https://www.npdlink.com/product/mounting-kit-grille-molding-concours-improved-design-using/106357?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3D6418-8ak%26top_parent%3D0%26year%3D

 

[jowens1126]

I used the grill you get from NPD, though I got it from OMS.   Its the same part.

Fit was perfect!  Don Made sure I had all the parts I needed to make it work, including the tiny parts I DIdnt see in the box till I tried to put it on and realized something was missing.  I believe it was some kind of nut thread insert somewhere.  It was in the box with all the paper.  I missed it.

If your converting from the Non-Mach 1 Grill, you will need this style late 71-72/73 center support.  Not reproduced.  Original was expensive but not terrible.





I also got the reproduction lights.  They are Grey.  I got the Connectors from Napa thanks to another member telling me the part number, which escapes me at the moment.  He also told me which bulb to get.



Connector from Napa, only 2 of the 3 leads get connected.  I wired them in with the side marker lights.





you can see the grey housing for the lights here.



To Install, Start by removing the lower Valence.  Then I had to Unbolt the bumper brackets on the frame rails.  Remove the front bolts, loosen the rear bolts but dont remove. The bumper will then hang down out of the way.  Then you can unbolt the the center supports for the old grill.  Then remove the headlight trim rings.  There are 3 screws around the headlight bucket that hold the grill on each side.

Then there were some minor details I dont quite remember.  It took MUCH test fitting, removing, test fitting to figure out how to get it in place.  I think I had a harder time because I think the front corner of one side got hit at some point and my front clip is tweaked a bit, which caused much grief installing the grill.  I literally had to bolt one side, and compress and bend it out at the center to get the other side to line up one screw at a time till I got it on.  It was a major pain, but only because I think the front frame is tweaked a bit.

 

[vintageman]

Here's the correct nylon clips for the 71-73 grilles.

https://www.npdlink.com/product/mounting-kit-grille-molding-concours-improved-design-using/106357?backurl=search%2Fproducts%3Fsearch_terms%3D6418-8ak%26top_parent%3D0%26year%3D

Thanks for the link Hemikiller, I am now to the point of working on my grill area and I have a total of 3 usable clips on the grill molding. 

Thanks

Tom

 

[mustang7173]

All,

The trick to inserting the correct plastic clips into the grill without breaking them is to let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes in boiled water. This will soften them up to be able to insert them. This technique will also work on the rear plastic plate of the speed-o-meter and Tach-o-meter to remove the blue diffusers! Worked for me!