Projects DIY Low budget Homeade Grill....Not too shabby!

So I've decided to create my own Grill for my 49 Intl. KB-1 since the center section of the original looked like it was ran over- a few times. Here's what I did,, Whatcha think?

First off, I took three 24" nail plates and drilled 1/2" holes in identical locations in all three......

 

next, I centered that and notched the plate in the top part of the grill.....

 

I welded up the other two plates on either side of the center section......

 

I then took 1/2" OD soft copper tubing (from work) and created 30 identical shaped U bends...nailed nails onto a piece of plywood and bent the tubing around them. Then started to slide them into the plate holes....

 

another better view....

 

Very cool!!!

I want to see more!

 

one at a time.. crimping each on in the back with visegrips which ovaled the tube not letting it slip out....

 

This kind of stuff is my favorite part about the HAMB. I can tell you that I have definitely taken on projects that I wouldn't have before seeing some of the stuff done here. Thanks!

 

almost done..... I filled in the bottom two sections where the bumper brackets come through.. not sure what Im going to do for a bumper yet.

 

pretty neat, are you planning to solder this all together?

 

Filled in all the molding holes.. tack welded flat washers to the front edge of the center place and ran a straight piece of "D" molding down them to finish it off.. Put the lights back in and gave it a spray... thanks for looking.

 

I wasn't too sure at first but I should have known better.....

That's pretty cool.

 

Turned out great! Great simple tech!

 

Sweet.

 

Actually, crimping the backs as close to the plates as possible was the best... they dont rattle or move at ALL... I tied the bottom three all together with 1x1 sq steel tubing for bracing. The entire grill is extremely stout, suprisignly.

 

Now that is a neat idea.There is a number of ideas that I get from a tech like this.Too cool.thanks

 

Good job! It looks really good. How did you make the D moulding for the centerbar?

 

It was a 3ft. straight piece that I had in the rafters in my Pile-O-stainless trim from previous cars.... mightve been from my old 51 chevy.

 

Pretty cool, painted like that it looks like it could be factory made.

If you connected all the tubes, it could have been be an auxiliary fluid cooler for oil or trans.

 

Excellence work !

 

How cool is that? Thanks for sharing this tech!

 

Yea no problemo, thanks for the feedback.. I wasnt sure if it was going to pan out or end up in the scrap corner of the garage. I like the idea of connecting each row with a couple of 90deg copper elbows and see if that will actually cool tranny fluid....hmmm, guess I have to tear it all apart and redo it to see

 

How bout some pics of the pickup to go with the cool grill?? I'm diggin the avatar!!

 

Soon,, real soon.. I'm getting all the metal/hammering work close to "Hamb-worthy" then I will post a yet another chop thread.... Thanks.

 

Maybe not so cool if he's deleting the bumper tho...!

 

What rear fenders do you have on that KB1? They look a little big to be Internationals. I now know what to do for my KB1s grill, thanks for the info.
By the way I have a couple of grills if interested.

 

All the sheet metal is original 1949 KB-1.. I do know that the bed was built by KNOX box company... International farmed the bed out to this Co.when they couldnt keep up with production... Not sure if that Co. Manfgt. the rear fenders differently then other Intl KB-1.

 

Thanks for the step by step instructions. With this type of ingenuity, everyone can get their creative juices flowing. Thanks and great job!!!!

 

Great work! I personally feel copper is one of the best materials do the sort of improvising you just shared wuth us thank you for that,thanks again.

 

I would of painted the sheet metal part first and left the copper natural but still looks killer!