Projects Enough monkeying around: let's build a 5w, or another 4dr bites the big one.

WOW! I sure do love a good build thread. MAN YOU ARE FAST!

 

I'd like to see your grille bar straightening fixture... That seems to be the way to go! Keep up the good work!

 

I got the rockers installed but I forgot to take my camera out and was too lazy to go back out and photograph last night... coming soon.

uh, yea... they usually release COLD-ass, wet air!

It's nothing fancy, just a curved slot routed in a narrow piece of hardwood and an arched metal die that chucks into my drill press. I use that and a combination of Vise-grip seaming pliers, and a rounded narrow chisel. I'll put some pics up when I get to straightening that thing out.

 

Love what you are doing so far. I would love to build a real hotrod some day.
Good luck with the rest of it.
Mark.

 

Thanks for the info, I need to reskin my 5w's lid and I just happen to have a 40 sedan top. Now I just need to find the skills to do it,

 

If I can figure out how to post a pic, I'll show a pic of the car this grille came off. I was going to gas up day before the
Bristol, in. rod run last fall and some girl stopped right in the middle of the road, threw her car in reverse and backed right into me. Of course, she had no insurance. Hagertys stepped up and paid my claim using the parts list and prices I gave them, they were great with the labor times, also. First time I ever got paid for working on my own car. I got a new grille and walker, had a Corvette guy fix the fenders. I painted them 3 weeks after the wreck and had the car back together in 5 weeks. As usual, it took me a week or better to get the front end fitted up right. This is the 2nd 34 I've built, starting in 1976, so I have had to hang the front end on a 34 Ford 6-8 times. It's still not easy! Might be the old twisted frames I have, but after a lot of pulling and tugging, they finally line up ok! I was glad somebody could use/fix this grille. Fixing this takes the kind of skill I am short on!! I'll post this and then try to post a pic of the car in anotehr post. I still have the wrecked Walker radiator, too, but the side panels are slightly bowed out and some of the fins are mashed.

 

pix of the wreck

 

can't figure out how to post a pic, maybe I'll try later, here's alink to photobucket that might work

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee27/matts65/34 Ford wreck/?action=view&current=CIMG1202.jpg

 

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee27/matts65/34%20Ford%20wreck/?action=view&current=CIMG1202.jpg
\
fixed!

 

I'll help ya out! The grille looks worse in your pics! Sucks your car got damaged, but at least you got it fixed quick.

 

Subscribed the first day....... nice work, as usual.

 

Go Andy go!!!

More more more!!!

 

You're welcome. Also, Don tells me that the front half of that roof has the correct contour for use as a roof insert filler panel (I wrapping mine with the original style vinyl insert material, which will yield a stock look without all the issues of an original insert).

 

OUch, Matt, that looks terrible! Thanks again for the grille, Now maybe this will ease the pain of looking at that pic for everyone,

same grille after about 1.5hrs of massaging tonight after dinner...

 

Nice....you da man!

 

Andy, you are channeling the spirt of the original hot rodders, long before the aftermarket allowed us to build a complete car from a catalog. I admire your work and ingenuity, you are a real hot rodder. Subscribed.

 

That grille looks great. So, you are using your drill press as a means to "press" the die and subject bar into the routed slot?

 

Here's my "fixture" for straightening grille bars...

 

Yep, however, this one I found it easier to hammer it back into shape on the bench. Here's a quickie tutorial of the method I used to straighten this thing out. BTW, I should mention that I'm not quite done with it yet, it needs a few more tweaks and a little work on the outer edges.

The first thing to keep in mind when doing one of these is not to try and straighten each bar all the way at once... that's a recipe for frustration. Part of the reason why the bars want to stay bowed and bent is that the other bars all around them are bowed and bent.


Here's what we're starting with...


I like to start in the areas that are less damaged and work my way toward the worst. This releases stress around the worst areas and helps them fall back into place better.

First, I heat the offending bar up a bit, not a lot, probably a few hundered degrees, just enough to let the molecules "slip" a bit...

I lay a bar into the notch, centering the area to be straightened in it. Lay the arbor in place and smack it a few times. Then you'll likely be left with this... Yes, it's going to get worse before it gets better. I imagine that tthis is the point where most people who have attempted a repair like this without success probably threw in the towel but press on, it'll be worth it!


I use some seaming pliers to straighten the bar back out. Then move on to the next bar.

 

I would have never thought that grille was fixable

 

Work your way across the grille pressing, smacking, and restraightening the bars in order. After 5 or six passes, (hopefully!)you'll notice things are starting to look a little better! We're basically doing a shrinking operation here, so for a while it will feel like you're just pushing them back and forth but if you follow these steps you will eventually work them back into place.


I switch to an old putty knife that I've rounded the edge on to tidy up the small bends that are left.


At this point you'll undoubtedly notice some bars have been bent a bit too far in the opposite direction. Flip the sucker over and tap them back into place using the hammer against the handle of the putty knife...


Repeat as necessary until the whole thing is straight again... this is after about an hour of work... You can see the center bars still need some work at this point, just keep bouncing around and push them back where they belong.


A little more shoving and we're almost there... no expensive tools, no fancy fixtures, no secret metalshaping mysteries, just a little push and shove.

 

WOW! I have an original '34 grille that looks almost identical to the way that one did. That really gives me hope, good work for sure.

 

Thanks for the tutorial Andy. Very, very cool.

 

I used this same method to straighten a 34 grill that was also pushed in about the same way. Worked out well, just be patient and take your time.

 

That is super Andy. I knew there was somebody around with the talent to fix that thing. I figured it would take a lot of heat and cooliing to shrink the grille bars. I assumed they were all stretched. I'm glad we could help out each other.

 

Son of a bitch Andy that thing is nicer then the one I have for my car!!!! You've made me feel numb and dumb once again.

 

Excellent work on the grille!

 

Wow, I think my grill is fixable after seeing this!
thanks

 

Andy thats great work to salvage that grille, most folk would have given up, just goes to show there are ways to do stuff if you want to do it. Great post