This is a quest for an educated second opinion. As you can see in the picture, the ends of my new stainless headlight bar is not a very good match for the curvature of the fenders. (same at both ends). I do not want to start tying to bend a polished stainless headlight bar, and I REALLY don't want to mess up the paint on the fenders. If these were metal fenders, I would just snug the bolts up untill everything "conformed", but thats not wise to do with fiberglass. My initial thoughts had been to make a tapered metal shim, but after thinking about it, I think this would be a good spot for some high build epoxy filler. If I can cover the fender with a layer of aluminum foil (plastic sheeting won't work, I had a horror story with that 2 years ago), trowel on some high build epoxy,---something like J B Weld. coat the headlight bar with a heavy layer of paste wax, and then bolt everything up "snug"---. My theory is that the high build epoxy will conform exactly to the gap. Then, after it hardens, I unbolt the headlight bar, and trim the squeezed out epoxy to be an exact match for the end of the headlight bar, and paint it either silver to match the headlight bar or black to look like a "gasket". Opinions please---Spring is coming, and I want to be ready.---Brian
why not get yourself an inner tube from a bike shop, and cut a couple layers of that to form a thicker gasket to wedge in the gap... might make you sleep better and, probly look a hell of a lot better in the long run than trying to paint grey jb weld to look black or silver
The gap is too big at the bottom to do that. By the time I got the bar tightened up enough to keep it from moving, the rubber gasket would be all squeezed out at the top and still loose at the bottom where the large gap is.
you asked for opinions, here is mine: i think regardless of what color you paint the spacer it will look like a half ass attempt to make up for a poorly fitting part. you would be better off making the part fit and then re-polish it. i know your car is very nicely done and it would be shame to have a crappy part on it is that a Gennie headlight bar? i have one on my `28 tudor and it fits great, maybe you have the wrong year bar?
Yes, it is a Gennie, and I was told that they were like panty hose---one size fits all. I was told they are the same for all years of model A Ford by the hotrod shop I bought it from. Yep---I just went on their website, and the V'd and dropped bar is the same for all model A's
I have a 2-part rubber resin material that I use to fabricate motor mounts, etc. It sets fairly hard but it does have some give...just like any motor mount does. If I were to fill this gap I would loosen the bar on each side, fabricate a simple mold around the gap, and fill it with the resin. Once set, remove the mold and trim/finish the new rubber "gapfillers". With this material you wouldn't even need the rubber gasket shown in the picture.
I say fit the part correctly. Heat and bend or cut and weld. The shim doesn't sound like any less work than doing it correct. And I feel like you kind of get a free pass with the stainless - you can heat, bend, or weld and just polish it out.
If 28/29 and 30/31 bars were the same then i wouldnt have a jig with different ends welded on it for dropping model a bars... Dave
that's weird...they show one part number for 28-29 , and then another part number for 30-31. that tells me that they ARE different . then if you want a V'd one it's one size fits all .i'd say the poor fit is Gennie's poor product i still say you would be better off modifying the bar to fit your car
I used a thick stranded f/g filler to build up the area to mount Chevy posts, with a slightly different contour, to f/g 27 body. Of course this was long before paint but it worked out fine. There was a lot of filing/sanding involved and I would think it would be very hard to preserve the paint in your situation. JMHO.
Looking from here, could it be bent? How does it compare to the other side far as angle of mounting plate vs bar goes? Isn't this the same side your tire rubs the fender on? Looks like if the bend - if there is one - was straightened it would bring the fender up a touch and maybe the rubbing would go away.
I asked the exact same question when I ordered the bar. I know it cost a shit load of money, (about $300), so I,m pretty shy about thrashing on it to modify it. If I bend the ends up more to make the mating ends fit the fenders, this effectively shortens the bar, which means it slides farther down into the valley between the two fenders, then the damn holes thru the fenders will be in the wrong place---Nah, I don't think I'm going to mess with the bar itself. I,m sure I will be successful with some type of filler peice, I just am trying to figure out what to use to get it to look "factory".
The worst part of using some kind of filler is that you point out to the observer that you knew about it and took the easy way out. At least that is what this observer would think. If it is stainless then it can be properly reshaped and polished at home and no one but you will know. Put a wedge under it and you'll be answering questions about it forever. You'll be much happier in the long run. It would grate on me every time that I washed the truck. I'd make my own before using that one as it is. JMO
That is essentially what I plan on doing, only the filler material will be on the end of the headlight bar itself, not the fender. The only triming required will be around the flange on the end of the headlight bar. Very little of this filler material will show when everything is bolted in place.
for $300 i'd send it back from what i can see from your posts you seam like a handy guy , why not try making your own dropped headlight bar? you could use stainless and polish it , or mild steel and send it out for chrome i built one for a `29 tudor back in the 80's and if i recall correctly it took only a few hours after i made a simple fixture. or you could even drop an original one
A further thought . . . if you straightened the bar or re-bent it and it did drop down into the 'valley' you could make a couple of aluminum spacers - polish em - to bring it up. They're not too obtrusive. I made a pair of angled aluminum washers, polished, that went under a pair of King Bees on a 1938 Morris 12. They look like an Anglia or Prefect. We had to do it so the headlights would come up enough to be actually useful.
Why not contact the manufacture they list two part numbers. I am sure they will make it right' How would that bar fit a stock model A?
Kevin---I didn't come on here to get into a pissing contest with you!!! I asked for opinions. I didn't see a fucking sign anywhere saying that I had to agree with all the opinions. I know what I'm good at, and I also know my limitations. If I had a mill and a tig, I would build up the ends of the bar and make them fit, but I don't. Don't rag my ass about not wanting to hear this way or that way God damn it. I wanted to take a concensus of all the ways. Ultimately, I will make my own decision based on what I think is the best, and what I am most capable of doing. All the opinions and suggestions put foreward will help me make up my mind.---Brian
Could you weld a a bead or multiple beads to build up the stainless on the base of the bar itself and then file the contour in to fit the fender? Then you could repolish and and it wouldn't even be noticeable.
I still love ya brian.. I remember buying a speedway dropped stainless bar for my 30 c dan when i built and it wasnt even close on length.. You have to remember that most model a's were hand fabbed while they were on the line on a lot of things. I got lucky I had some stainless rod at work for the stick welder and i made a piece to lengthen the bar and change the arc a bit then I had a guy at work that welds a little better than me weld it back together . then i polished starting with a file all the way to 1200 grit wet paper then some polishing shit (may have been wenol) and you couldnt tell it was welded and it fit perfect.. Good luck Dave
Like Tina Turner said "I don't want to fight no more". I will correct this mis matched fit, and if I can find this old post, I will post a picture. the good thing is, the area is not very visible at all unless you get down on your knees in front of the car, and the headlight bar came with a set of black neoprene gaskets with a raised "lip" around them, which will hile 80% of any filler peice, be it metal or epoxy. ----Brian
I just found some big rubber bottle stoppers at my local ACE hardware, you could break out the belt sander and carve out some shims out of one of them with no risk of burning the paint, or melting the fiberglass as the epoxy cures.
You asked for opinions - here's mine: The part appears off a "country mile" to me. Surely (I hope) they sent you the wrong one. If not, then it's a questionable quality item (although the price wouldn't suggest that). Given that I wouldn't hesitate to cut it. Like some of teh others have said - being stainless is nice - you can cut, weld, grind, bend and then just polish it back to "new". BTW stainless welds like butter. If it were me I think I'd try the "easy way" of bending it. Sure that will change the length slightly, but as far as I'm concerned I'd rather slot the fenders than stick a wedge shaped spacer in there. I think step one for me would be to call the vendor (better yet email him some pics) and go from there. If you're hesitant to bend it for fear it would change it's lenght too much you might consider a slight experiment - take a piece of electical conduit - bend it into the position you have now (mistake and all) and then "correct" it - you'll get a idea exaclty how much the holes will move - maybe they won't move as much as you fear they might. For 300 sheckles - I would expect to bolt that part on and nothing else, but it is what it is. Bottom line - so long as YOU'RE happy with the fix......
Hey, no pissing contest. I just thought it was funny that you completely ignored the three suggestions of actually making the light bar itself fit your fender. Sorry if you didn't see the humor. So chill out with your "fucking signs" and "god damn its". You obviously feel a little bit bad about making a shim out of epoxy or you wouldn't have flipped out on me so hard. Do whatever you want - I'm sure it will work.
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