'70-'72 Duster grill repair tips

I just done some repairs to my grill and thought that I would share. It was fairly easy, and relatively inexpensive. I did three separate "repairs" that I think are common to our grills.
The first repair is the upper mounting tabs that broke off. You can see that it was repaired before, and that was fine until I needed to remove the grill for a/c install. The mounting tabs broke off again.View attachment DSC01431.jpg


For this repair I went to Lowes and picked up a piece of .093 Lexan plexiglass. I choose this as it seemed to be more flexible than the standard plexi. I think the 8X10 piece was around $4 or $5.View attachment DSC01432.jpg


I wanted to fit this plexi into the groove on the top of the grill, it required a couple minutes of sanding with 80 grit to get a nice snug fit.View attachment DSC01433.jpg
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The mounting tab that is broken off only has a partial groove. I notched the plexi so that the tab fit snuggly on the end. When cutting plexiglass, I use my scroll saw on a very slow speed. If you cut too fast the plexi heats up and melts back together right behind the blade. By using a very slow blade speed and feed as fast as possible I get a good clean cut that cleans up with just a couple swipes of the sanding block.
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After notching the plexi for the tab, mock up the fit and trace the outline of the pattern. Drill the holes first while you have a large piece of plexi and use a round file to do clean up. I clamped the plexi in a vice close to the holes. Then it was back to the scroll saw to cut it out.
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Hit the edges with the sanding block, mount the U nut and check the fit:
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TO BE CONTINUED...