I have a grill for 1941 Willys sedan, it has several of the bars that are bent inward, is there a way to straighten them without breaking them? Any replies appreciated.
You will typically see pot metal in 41 but you may also find lead later in the yr and in 42 . If it is lead it should have a stamp on the back side. Apparently pot metal can be warmed up and straightened but I haven't done it . Be careful not to warm it too much cuz it goes from a solid to a liquid in the blink of an eye !
Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure it's a pot metal one, not great shape, but would like to use in my g***er.
Thre only method I've had sucess with: Make a series of horizontal cuts on the back of the grill bars. Don't cut through the face- don't cut into the face! Use a block of hardwood shaped like the inside of the bar. Rest the outside on a smooth surface and GENTLY tap the bars back into the original curved shaped. Then come the fun part. Welding up the cuts. Use an old chunk of pot metal that is clean- media blasted- and gently heat up the the s**** until it melts- this'll give you and idea of what it look like when it's hot enough to fuse. Then, use the s**** to weld up the cuts. A real small gas tip needs to be used- say a 0000, and low pressure. You want to just barely hot enough to fuse. Once finished, die grinder and file. Other method of filling the cuts: Use a product called "Lord Fusor". Look it up. They make many varitaions of products, use the one for joining metals. It's two part epoxy, very strong. They also sell a kind of reinforceing cloth similar to fiberglas cloth, only tighter weave. It can be shaped with a sanding roll on a die grinder. Have fun!
I've straightened '40 Ford pot metal bars using a heat gun, it took a long time, then I used wooden tools to manipulate bars when hot. I went VERY SLOWLY. It took probably an hour to do a couple of bars.
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