After lunch today I figured its not a hot rod with a stock headlight bar, so here is the damage report for my 29. So the before picture. Removed the bar, made two tabs to bolt to the ends, laid it on the welding table and tacked the brackets to the table. Marked the headlight mount centerlines on the table, and a line 4 inches below to aim for. Unbolt one side, and heat the bolted side with a rosebud, at the very base first. Slowly heat and bend, the goal is to make a 90 degree bend about 1 inch short of the scribed headlight centerline. Air cool the first bend, and heat and slowly bend it back to level with the line on the table. The goal here, is parallel to the line, and to have the headlight mount line up again. After an air cool, remove bolts, and bolt up the opposite side and repeat. On the final bend, you should be able to bolt the first side back into your tabs and let air cool. I gave a quick sand blast, spray paint and back on in less than 2 hours. No more bug eye headlights.
Great job, Eastwood has dropped a couple for me and yours looks very good. Sure makes your A Model look better!
Funny you mention Pete. He saw pics of my truck and told me in no uncertain terms it needed a dropped headlight bar. He had a pile of done bars he was delivering to guys at Pomona 2 weeks ago. I looked everywhere at Pomona for a spare bar to give him to drop for me, but no luck. So I did it myself.. It was fun. That stuff gets HOT though!
So you dropped your bar eh? Well, you could've just bought one...... But that would'nt have been half as cool at what you did Nice job, looks great.
Looks good with a style all your own. Lots of drop. Nice tech write up as well. Did one the same way a couple of years ago, only used a 30/31 bar mounted on 28/29 fenders. Canuck
If I had'nt read this thread I would of bought one. Thanks. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Digging up an old post here. As I build my '31 I'd like to drop the headlight bar. In case the original poster sees this, I want to say it was a good tutorial on the process. The tabs placed before doing anything would be critical to fitment after the bends are made. My question is two part...... 1) is this a "this looks about right" process subject to some trial and error? and closely related to the 1st question 2) one of the last steps is "On the final bend, you should be able to bolt the first side back into your tabs and let air cool" does that mean that the 4th and final bend is used to pull everything back to the proper position per the fixed tabs? Maybe I'm obsessing about this, but it seems that all 4 "heat and bend" operations might have to be tweaked with a re-heat and re-bend to get the whole headlight bar fit back between the two mounts with the headlights level and centered. An overbend here, and an under bend there and it seems it could end up being less than symmetrical. Please advise, and thanks, in advance. Lynn
Today I went to the welding supply store and bought a rosebud tip for my Oxy/Acetylene torch to take on dropping my Model A headlight bar. I had an extra one that I bought at a swap meet so used it and kept the one that was on the car in case I totally destroyed the "victim". Welded tabs onto a 6" X 1/2" piece of bar stock similar to what badshifter did in the original post. Made some reference lines for the centerline of the headlight mount holes and 1" increment marks for reference as to the amount of drop achieved. On the first side I ended up having to reheat and tweak the bends to get the headlight mount back on it's centerline (and one photo shows that), but the second side went much better. Although the two sides didn't turn out perfectly symmetrical someone would have to stand in front of the car and have an eagle eye and too much time on their hands to see the slight difference. Maybe the radius of my bends isn't as tight as badshifter's so I only ended up with about 2" of drop compared to his 4" drop, but perhaps it has something to do with his example being a '28-29 bar and mine is a '30-'31. In any case, I'm happy with how it turned out. Thanks to badshifter (providing he's still active here) for the tutorial. It gave me the confidence to give it a shot. Even with buying to new rosebud tip I'm still about $75+ to the good, compared to buying a bar that's already been dropped. While I have the jig set up I might just drop the other one too and use the one I like the best. I know, pictures, or it didn't happen....... Lynn
Nice job on lowered bar.. I did mine a little different to get them nice and low.. They're low but not as nice looking as yours.... **clic pic**
Nice work guys! Badshifter is still active. The truck got finished, headlight bar chromed. Liked the truck better when it was a little more rough..... Sold it.
Good to know you're here and I can say "Thanks" directly! The truck looks great either way but somehow I bet if was more "useable" when it wasn't all perfected? Lynn
Great job guys! I bought a second bar for our 29 and plan on giving it a try. I just read a post on a FAKEBOOK group page about this very thing, and they stated that a 28/29 bar is easier to drop than a 30/31 bar. The poster mentioned he only got 2 inches out of his 30/31 bar also.
FWIW....I dropped the other bar I had today and only got it down about 1 1/2" or so. I dropped it to to use the headlights I have that were on my Coupe and I don't think they're actually Model A, but that's a whole 'nuther story. Probably could have tightened up the bend radius a bit on the bars I dropped to get a tiny bit more drop but I didn't want them looking "kinked". I used a short length of 1 1/4" steel round bar against the headlight bar as a "bend mandrel". It's all an experiment anyway as I prove to myself I don't know what any number of seasoned hot-rodders already know. Lynn
This was done a few years ago. Headlight bar is 30-31, fender brackets are 28-29. Only got about a 1 1/2' drop trying to keep the curves smooth. About in line with where the bar attaches to the fender bracket. Headlights are BLC sealed beams, turn signals ended up from a HD and mounted under the headlight attachment bolt.
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