TECH:Save youself a couple thousand dollars, '34 ford grille repair...

Yea... so I cheated a bit. This is an excerpt from my current build thread but I think it's a nice little tech piece that can hopefully save a few grilles that have been relegated to "wall-hanger" status.

I bought this grille off ebay for a song, it was only a little bent up... the seller, as it turns out, is a hamb member so at least it stayed in the family. Unfortunately, someone backed into his parked car...


First we need a fixture to straighten the bars. Grab some scrap wood and an old bolt and a piece of 1/8" plate. Cut the plate to a similar shape and shapen the curved edge a bit, not SHARP sharp, just beveled. Weld the bolt to the opposing edge. Screw the two pieces of wood together, and carve a long divot in the upright piece as shown. You want the channel to have a curved bottom, deeper in the middle than on the ends.

 

I have chucked this bolt/plate tool into my drill press and pushed grille bars flat before, this one I found it easier to hammer it back into shape on the bench.

The first thing to keep in mind when doing one of these is not to try and straighten each bar all the way at once... that's a recipe for frustration. Part of the reason why the bars want to stay bowed and bent is that the other bars all around them are bowed and bent.

Here's what we're starting with...


I like to start in the areas that are less damaged and work my way toward the worst. This releases stress around the worst areas and helps them fall back into place better.

First, I heat the offending bar up a bit, not a lot, probably a few hundered degrees, just enough to let the molecules "slip" a bit... I use a handheld map-gas torch, easy to handle, shut on and off, and the heat range works well for this type of work.

I lay a bar into the notch, centering the area to be straightened in it. Lay the arbor in place and smack it a few times. Then you'll likely be left with this... Yes, it's going to get worse before it gets better. I imagine that this is the point where most people who have attempted a repair like this without success probably threw in the towel but press on, it'll be worth it!


I use some seaming pliers to straighten the bar back out. Then move on to the next bar.

 

Work your way across the grille pressing, smacking, and restraightening the bars in order. After 5 or six passes, (hopefully!)you'll notice things are starting to look a little better! We're basically doing a shrinking operation here, so for a while it will feel like you're just pushing them back and forth but if you follow these steps you will eventually work them back into place.


I switch to an old putty knife that I've rounded the edge on to tidy up the small bends that are left.


At this point you'll undoubtedly notice some bars have been bent a bit too far in the opposite direction. Flip the sucker over and tap them back into place using the hammer against the handle of the putty knife...


Repeat as necessary until the whole thing is straight again... this is after about an hour of work... You can see the center bars still need some work at this point, just keep bouncing around and push them back where they belong.

A little more shoving and we're almost there... no expensive tools, no fancy fixtures, no secret metalshaping mysteries, just a little push and shove. I've used this same technique on many different early ford grilles, jrblack30 has one on his '34 that I "lined up" for him, maybe he'll chime in with a pic?

 

and a lot of patience..
dam that looks good

 

Thanks Rigg, it really doesn't take that long, I have about 2 hrs total in the project.

 

Nice save!

 

Good stuff Andy! Thanks for the in-depth. I will be using this one fo sho'!

 

awesome tech. when I was making the bars for my grill, which still needs finished. I used a tinning/slapping spoon. I think that the correct name. The really thin spoon used for bodywork not the eating type. I stood it up and put the nose of it in the bar and just tapped on the handle. it worked ok but they werent that mangled.

 

This one gets my vote!

 

That is IMPRESSIVE.

 

NICE Work! Stop teasing us and show us the rest of the car the grill shell is mounted to! I'm completely digging the hard chop that it has.

 

Great tech! This could really come in handy.

 

Once again Andy, you make me feel like a total hack. Great tech man!


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That grill looks great! Could you show how you fixed the grill surround?

 

Double -Dipper!!

 

Excellent.

 

Nice job Andy.

 

Thats slick.

 

The grille surround really wasn't that bad, there were two areas where it creased a *little* bit, I just lightly tapped them out from behind with a small flat hammer and dolly held on the face until they were smooth and straight.

 

nice save !

 

Nice work, ive never tried it wtih the heat, ill try it next time.

JEFF

 

Never ceases to amaze me. I'd have thought that grille was junk.

 

...can we see a 3/4 view of your coupe?

 

impressive!

 

Thanks guys!

the only one I have right now is prior to the chop...

 

So Rad, Andy! Excellent work.

 

Great save and great job!!!

 

I live under the notion that you never sleep and just work in the garage the whole time. Need to get off my butt and finish getting my frame together. Coupe looks awesome I expect nothing less though.

 

If I could only find a way to NOT sleep that didn't involve meth, then I'd really have it made, Kev! Thanks buddy!