Mold Your '57 Ford Headlights (Read - Bend Thick Tubing in Tight Radiuses)

This is a relatively easy tech, but it worked so nicely I felt it necessary to share.

On The Pearl Necklace, we were faced with the task of molding the hooded headlights. '57 Fords came with a bolt-on, pot metal trim piece to go around the hood and we wanted to replace that. After some head scratching and trips to Home Depot, we decided on 3/8" conduit, which has an OD of 1/2".

Our first methods of bending prooved fruitless, but being that a stick of conduit is only $1.29, we kept trying.

After a few tips from Chopolds and more brainstorming, we arrived with this method.

First we took a piece of a 2x12 plank and traced the inside shape of the pot metal piece. Then we cut it out with a jigsaw. We clamped it to a metal table and got out the torch. We chose the 2X12 as opposed to plywood, because we felt the plywood would go right up in flames and the 2x12 would have a more resistant edge.



(Sorry for the lack of pics during the process, but we were in a rush.)

We then capped off one side of the conduit and filled it with sand. The helps to keep the walls of the conduit from collapsing and kinking. Its important to pack the conduit tight, keep tapping it on the ground to ensure you fill as much as you can. Leave the conduit long, close to double the length you need, to give some extra leverage for bending.

We then placed the conduit in our jig and welded a stop to the table to keep the conduit tight in our jig. We heated the conduit and worked it around the jig slowly being sure to keep it hot at all times. We made a few to get the hang of it and pick the best ones.



We then cut them to length by laying the original piece on top.





That concludes the tech for bending thick tubing in tight radiuses. The rest is how we worked them onto The Pearl Necklace. The same would go for just about any car with hooded headlights or hooded anything.

The decision was made to slice the tubing in half to allow it to hug the fender. Of course we took into account the width of the cutoff wheel when making our cut.



After some t*******, we softened the bottom portions by hammering the 1/2 tubing flatter where it met the bodyline to keep a smooth transition. We hit the fender caps with weld-thru primer, and tacked the tubing on.







Next, we cut a small slice of sheet metal to fill the small gap and tacked that in place.



Weld, grind, weld, grind.



Bodywork, paint, and your done!

 

very cool. I wouldn't even know it was different unless it was parked next to a stocker.

 

I am impressed. When you finish the 57, pm me and I will give you instructions to my shop and 64 Falcon.
Nice work!!!

 

It is done! And I'll PM you directions to my shop.

 

That was the plan! Only a small handful of people have noticed it so far.

 

very interesting and cool

 

that has a nice finished look to it.

 

Sweet

 

Pretty cool! Did you grind off the galvanizing on the tube? I heard that it's pretty toxic to weld on zinc. Maybe someone will know about that will confirm that.

Not to sound too smart*** but I also heard that the sand should be very dry if you weld up the tube so it will not build up steam pressure. Just p***ing on some tips I heard.

That's a sweet ride!

 

Very good tips indeed. We didn't grind off the galvanizing which we should have because we were rushing, so it did stink a bit when we heated it. The sand we got fresh out of a bag from Home Depot so it was dry, but thats something to look out for.

 

We didn't grind off the galvanized coat for the heating and bending, but I went back with an afro-disc and stripped the galvanized coating off prior to welding. I think that might have been while Billy was off getting Dunkin Donuts for the shop! haha, just kiddin man!

It's a good place to weld to as there is a heavy seam and the metal of the fender cap and bucket overlap, so it's hard to warp it if you get a little too fast with the welder.

It's a very subtle modification that makes a BIG difference over the stock trim.

 

Hey, Just be sure to leave one end of the sand filled emt uncapped, that way steam pressure from the expanding heat won't build up.

Welding or heating the galvanized emt can cause Nickle Carvonal posioning! On the plus side, lead usually sticks well to the zinc contained in the galvanized coating

Nice Kustom!!

 

A medium latte with milk and a side of gay for you, and real coffee for me! Getting coffee, blocking the entire back half of the car... its all the same.

 

Good example of patience when repairing. I like it.