32 grill on 31 victoria - headlight bar clearance

Making some modifications to the front end of a 31 Victoria. 32 grill shell and hood which was bought new with and is 4 inches longer. I need to gain 11/2 - 2 inches between my headlight bar/grill shell/insert clearance. Have a 32 headlight bar with the cast iron bases and stainless center rod. I can heat the cast and bend it forward but this will most likely screw up my headlight bases. Any suggestions gaining the clearance or is there an after market bar. Don't plan on a dropped headlight bar but could if necessary. Any comments would be appreciated. Jim
<!-- / message -->

 

Since the new hood is 4" longer and the 32 shell/grille is also deeper than the Model A shell wouldn't that make a much bigger difference than needing 1 1/2-2"?
Is this Vic sitting on a 32 frame? The additional wheelbase would then allow the 32 hood/shell to sit in the same place as stock.

 

Speedway sells a dropped headlight bar for a Model A with a Deuce shell, I'm sure there are other vendors out there too.

 

That's not going to solve the problem,,how long is the hood? HRP

 

You already have to tweak the headlight bar with just a 32 shell, having 4 extra inches is really going to throw things out of wack.

I'm planning on running a 32 shell with a stock length hood on mine with full fenders and figure I'll have to tweak the headlight bar some to do that.

 

In the old days, the bar was modded with a new center section made from solid round stock, then plated.

The new center part had four 90 degee bends to bump just the center out away from the grille.

Here is my first hotrod that I bought over 40 years ago, and it was done in the 50s. Poor pic of an old Poloroid, but you can almost see the bend on the driver side. The bar came out almost as far as the faces of the sealed beams.

 

Yup had to do that to the stock A headlight bar on the coupe in my avatar.

 

Thanks for the feedback. It is a new Brookville frame extended four inches, new 32 cowl, splash aprons have been extended four inches, new running boars lengthened four inches, new rootlieb hood lengthened four inches, stock 31 fenders bolt right on, new radiator and with the 32 head lamp bar bolted to the fenders, I have about a 1 inch clearance between the radiator and headlight bar. I can send pics if you have some tricks to help me out! Easy to understand my problem with the pics. jdurnil@aol.com Thanks, Jim