Technical 37 Ford grille rib repair

Has anyone repaired bends, and broken ribs on a 37 Ford grille?? Also. If I could find a old book on how they did it back in the 30's maybe I might be able to see how they did it. Thanks

 

This could be helpful. I've got one that needs a little TLC.
You got pics of your project?

 

When I get home early from work today. I will take a couple..

 

If it is cast you can use Muggy welding rod.

 

Nope. Metal.. They both might be fake..

 

Pics. Not sure if either one is real..

 

Essentially it is/was a tedious sheet metal straightening job. I doubt that body men in the day spent much time repairing them when new replacements were available.
You will have do devise special hand tools to do it and it can be done.

 

Today, work is expensive and new parts are often cheap. I believe it was the other way around in the late 30s, and I'm guessing the supply of new grilles dried up during the war. After the war the car was eight years old, maybe not worth buying new parts for cosmetic damages...
I have no real idea because I wasn't around, but I think more grilles were repaired than replaced if the damage was repairable.

 

Still though with my grilles. Should I try to fix them?? or look for an original?? With a original.. How do I know that it isn't a fake one?? I must have 40 or 50 emails sent all over the USA looking for an original grille that won't cost me $1200. I would like to pay maybe $250-$300 for a old rusty original.

 

I wish you luck but I think that an old rusty original that is not also bent or broken is likely a pipe dream. Beyond price, what is wrong with a repop?

 

Instead of talking about it, why don't you have a go at fixing one and see what happens? You may surprise yourself.
If it's a complete failure, you'll just have to suck it up and pay what the market says.

 

Here are some pics of the chrome one..

 

What the heck. I will try myself. I will make a tool on the grinder, and start heating the ribs up, and tap them back into shape.

 

Subbed

 

You won't need heat!! The ribs are thin gauge steel and will straighten easily if pushed carefully in the right direction just far enough.
You will get frustrated. You will learn what works and what doesn't as you progress. There are no secrets. The people in the back rooms of plating companies would struggle as well.
Luck.

 

I will give them both a try. Maybe the chrome one first. Has nut on the inside that are metric.

 

NealinCA did a miraculous restoration of some mangled 32 grille bars a few years ago, and posted all his process. I sent him the pile of wet noodles, and he posted the teasing pics of a perfect grille after his work. Here it is: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-salvaging-a-32-grille-insert.297188/

If it can be done on bars that are supposed to be absolutely straight, making your curved ones look good should be easier, right?

 

Make some dies male and female with matching radius that fit snug to on the bars when the 2 are put together, the longer the tooling the straighter your bars ,to save time start with longer runs then cut your dies to fit as you work your way down

 

At work now, and thinking. Is there anything etched in stone that says it has to be square.. I was thinking of rigid brake lines of the same size. Easier to tack I place, and when it is the right shape. Cap one end. Fill it with sand. Cap the other end, and tack it in place.

 

I fixed up a 40 deluxe grill recently. I straightened the pot metal bars on the inside, and the steel bars on the out side. I took a cheap lineman pliers and ground the jaws down so it was a thin duck bill, and used that for most of the straightening. I ground the tips of some broken off screw drivers to tap dents out from the back in tight spots. I sanded down a thin stick to slid between bars for light tweaking and for checking gaps. Its not 100% perfect, but I didn't spend a great deal of time on it either, and it looks much better, and was a fraction of the price of a nice original.

 

I started taking the dents out of the rusty grill. There are a few spots that need to be tacked back down again though, and I have one whole rib to replace. I will also take the dents out of the other shiny one. Both are fake though I have to decide which one will work out the best.

 

I will be watching also, I am currently waiting on the super alloy 1 from muggy weld to repair a broken center piece on a 40 deluxe grille. Hope it goes well....


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If you had a perfect grille, you could make a jig/fixture that you could use to straighten your grille to. Otherwise you are just guessing. Then you could straighten your fenders to fit the grille.

 

I made a little jig on the table saw, and bought a piece of 22 gauge sheet metal. I have a steel ruler that I am going to use to drive it into the slot I cut in a oak board. It should work. Still don't know if I should try to tack it with a wire feed, or solder them into place.

 

Rib is made. Worked just like I did when I made the new floor pan sections. The lowest setting on my wire feed is 16-18 Ga. I have 22 Gauge, and I'm not sure how thick the grille metal is. I am afraid of burn out from the wire feed, and with the solder. Will it be strong enough to hold up from vibration..