home made tube grills, ideas or picstures

I want to make a tube grill for my 56 olds.I'm not planning on using the bumper.What is a commom tube size? Anyone have any picstures or ideas? I also want to have it chromed. Do I need to stay away from conduit?
Thanks
Charlie

 

you mean like electrical conduit?

ummm, yeah i think you should avoid it.
it's not strong stuff and a lot of it is galvanized. i don't know if you can even chrome it. i sure wouldn't use it.

 

Nobody else?

 

Conduit and black pipe both **** to work with. Its awful to TIG due to the low quality of the metal, it tends to pop and look ****ty. Just go to your local steel supplier or even s**** yard/recycler and look aroung for solid rod or high quality tubing. You and your polisher will be glad you did.

 

Thanks Truck Rat, Thats what I thought.Sure would like to see some pics.

 

Copper tubing works great, and makes for easy chroming. Conduit is ok to work with, but you need to take it to the chrome shop first and have the galvanizing stripped off.

 

If you are going to weld the bars to brackets to locate them it is a good idea to have the bars polished before final ***embly.
A better way is to use solid stock and drill and tap the back side for the brackets, that way the bars can be plated individually for a much better finish. Or you could use stainlesss tubing and simply polish it.
I have a shot of a 56 Ford from the HCP with a nice tube grille. I will try to post it later, short on time to reduce the image size right now.

Roo Man

 

stand back in the yard and dip in muriatic pool acid and the galv comes right off.
can just dip where the weld will be can clean with water works well. not sure it would be my choice though. I would like solid stainless. that would be nice and costly though ED ke6bnl

 

I take no credit for building this beauty, but I was at least thoutful enough to download its picture.

 

This pic was taken at the Flying Eyeball Reunion in Davenport in '05. The open-top roof also has a similar treatment. Not mine, but thought I'd share.
(P.S.-I wasn't able to determine if it was tubing or solid. I don't typically fondle other folk's rods/cars.)
Roger

 

Here's mine. I started with a tube grill originally made for a mid '80's chevy truck. It was made to cover the headlights on the truck, so it was plenty long. And we're talking J.C. Whitney tube grill here, so it won't cost much if you have to buy one. Mine was free.



Cut off the tubes I didn't need


Pie cut the tubes in the center (backside) to get the peak I wanted.


Just tacked em back together. I'll finish the welds out when I rechrome it someday, but the side you see still looks fine as is.


The tubes were a bit to spaced out so I cut the bracket off and respaced them.


Cut the ends to fit between my headlights


And added onto the brackets to bolt onto my car.


Don't mind the nasty paint, it's an old picture.

 

All I can offer here is that you want to pick some decent sized tubing. A 56 Olds is a big car. 2nd, if you use stainless tube, maybe .030 or .040 wall, you save on chroming. Not too hard to bend, polishes easy, should also match all the OEM bright trim on the rest of the car. Stainless can be brazed or soldered with low temp silver solder, and also easy enough to tig with stainless rod.

 

Here's one I built...in my bro's '64 Chevy SS...solid 3/8" rod...built brackets and welded it all together. It's 3 pieces, each side, covering the headlights is removable, the center is stationary.

Sorry it's not clearer...thot it was a better shot than this...

R-

 

this is a good thread, the folks at glory grills want 500 for theirs. and i think Nads has a near death story from trying to weld galvanized pipe once, stay away from that.

 

Chucky i miss you.....

hows the car coming????? get the mill swapped????

hugs n' kisses....on T-day

 

Thanks to everyone for replying. It helped alot.I'll post pics when I get it done.
Yes Jeff I have the 455 in the Olds, getting real close, cant wait to fire it up. Miss you too....Homo. See you In Milw soooon

 

Try some SS tube from a tubing supply house. Seamed-annealed tube is not very expensive and is easily bent with the right tube bender. Polish before bending, build grille, then touch up the polishing.

 

This isn't exactly info on creating your own grill, but I was looking through Craigslist in Austin, TX... Look at this cool Mercedes grill someone is selling for $100. I have no idea what the dimensions of this thing are, but looks like something that could easily be fitted onto a hotrod. Wouldn't be hard to be creative and cover up that %^&$ Mercedes emblem. Any thoughts? http://austin.craigslist.org/pts/239594528.html

 

MAN, THAT THING LOOKS F-ING GREAT!!!!!

 

you could always go the old kitchen cabinet knob technique

 

That's my friend Eli's .Beautiful car.He works for Lowrey in NH.

 

Thanks Lucifr,good idea. I gave that some thought also, but a little to custom for the look I want.I think I'll go with the stainles rout and polish before ***embly. I sure got some great ideas. Thanks again.