TECH: Chop, Peak, and Crank a '32 Grille Shell

The thing the HAMB needs is more tech that people can do with basic tools. Or at least the bare mininum needed for certain projects.

In this case, I thought I would show how I chopped, peaked, and added crank and drain holes to my reproduction 1932 Ford Grille shell.

I started with an after-marked "filled", un-chopped, 1932 Ford Grille shell made by Vintiques. I chose this grille shell over the others because I felt it most resembled a stock grille shell. Here's the shell right out of the bubble wrap.



Really nice shell! Even has all the holes for the stock type hood welting. It appears to be made of 20 gage steel. Sturdy enough to do some real damage to!

The one thing that the reproduction grilles seem to lack is shape, in what would have been the filler cap area. To me, it's sort of plain and could use some more definition.





The thing that is obvious here is the the crank and drain holes. Personally, I like the crank hole. So, I'm going to address that as well.




Some of the tools you will need are the following:

* Cut-off wheel and/or hack saw to make the cuts needed
* Blue masking tape (1" should be okay for this)
* Can of cheap spray paint (pretty much any color will do)
* A good selection of hammer and dollies (Good quality hammers are preferred, but some decent forged hammers and dollies will work as well. Harbor Freight has a cheap-o set that will work with a little clean up if you don't have the means for a set of Martin hammers, or similar)
* decent measuring devices
* a welder (TIG is always best, but some practice with a MIG will get you similar results. MIG was used for this feature)
* Panel clamps of some sort, or your favorite tools for butting two panels together
* Drill and bits
* paper suitable for making templates
* a sqaure or something with a perfect 90* angle
* jig saw
* auto center punch
* sharpee
* razor blade or cutting utensile
* half round and flat bastard files (course and fine would be helful)
* your favorite abrasives for knocking down welds and blending

So let's get started!

First thing is first! You have to determine how much chop you need for your shell so it brings your car back into proportion. I determined that 3-inches was just about perfect for my project. So 3-inches is what it'll get!

If you stare at your grille shell for awhile, you'll notice that it's not perfectly straight up and down. It has some taper to it as well as some curve. Depending on the chop size, you will want to figure out the best place to make the cuts so when the material is removed you will be able to align the panels without making verticle pie cuts. For an extreme chop you will probably be forced to make a pie cut though.

I determined that the lower most cut could be made at approximately 6-inches above where the sides end at the bottom.

The black paint was stripped in the areas where the cuts were to be made and the tape is used to mask off the area so good clean cut lines could be made.



Black spray paint was used to make the lines and the tape was removed after the paint had a chance to dry.



You'll also notice in the above picture that a piece of angle steel was added. The scrap piece of metal is tacked into place approximately 1" above the TOP cut line. This will help keep the cut ends in their correct location and also help with clamping.

Now for the scary part!! CUT IT!!!! Cut to the inside of your painted lines. If you use a cut-off wheel, take into account the thickness of the wheel/blade and stay to the INSIDE of your line, or the area that will be removed. GO SLOW!! TAKE YOUR TIME!!! This is not a race. It's super important to have a nice square cut so you can have an even gap to weld.

Now that you have two scary looking pieces, and you're praying they will go back together right, time to get them aligned and ready for welding. To do this, you will use panel clamps. They are available from Eastwood and a bunch of other companies. OR! You can make your own. (I am not going to cover that in this thread. There is a few tech threads on this already)

Line the two pieces up and clamp it!







The clamps will give you a nice gap for the butt welding of the two panels. Once you know they are right where you want them, go ahead and lay a few tacks. Then you can carefully start removing clamps. Place a tack every 3/4" or so, making sure your seams stay aligned as you go. Watch how much heat you put into the panel. Last thing you want is to warp it.



Now you have something that resembles a completed grille shell!

In my case, I still had a little bit of mis-alignment in the sides. The bottom side dimension is wider than the top side dimension when the front is lined up.



There are a couple ways this can be handled. Pie cuts could be strategically placed, OR... the metal can be stretched a tad so the material dimension catch up to the other.

Using a hammer and dolly, cafully planish the shorter side. It won't take much. You would be surprised how much that metal will stretch when it's smashed between two rigid objects. From the seam and up to about 4-inches toward the top portion of the shell, I will stretch until things are in line again.



The same process can be used on the inside edge of the shell as well as the welting bed that forms the back edge of the shell.

At this point, you can go ahead and finish your weld along the seams. Hammer welding will help if you're TIG welding. It can still be done with MIG welding, but not as easily and could crack your welds if care is not taken. Again, take your time so you don't introduce too much heat into the panel. Practice welding on some scrap if you've never welded sheet metal before. Thin metal is much more difficult to weld than thick metal. Sucks when you blow holes in your panel and have to come up with a creative way to fill them! GAH!

With the welds complete you have something that is really taking shape now.



I won't spend a lot of time going into detail about how to blend welds, but with some time and patience you can finish off those welds just dandy! There is a bunch of different methods. I'll come back to touch on my process in a little bit.



The next big thing is, adding that crank hole!! The Vintique shell doesn't come with one. I like the look of it. I think it makes it look more genuine with the holes in place. Here's a comparison with a real '32 shell.



The idea is to make a template of the cut-outs and transfer it over to the new shell. You'll need to borrow a shell or measure one if you don't have one.

First thing is to find a common reference point that exists on both shells. Because there is so many curves on this shell it is best to use the one and only straight and flat line on the shell... The line at the top of the apron/lower panel. Mark the center of both and mark the paper to indicate where that center point is. Lay out the template paper on the back of the apron and trace the cut-outs making sure the edges are aligned on the apron.



Use a razor blade or exact-o knife to cut out the shapes. Compare the holes as you go to make sure they stay the same. It will be extremely difficult to get the exact shape on the first go around because of the compound curve of the panel, but this will give you a starting point.



Place the template on the back of the shell being cut and transfer the cut-outs using a sharpie.



Cutting the shapes must be done with care. I found it best to drill holes at each change in direction, big enough to put a jigsaw/recipricating saw in and SLOWLY cut out each shape. For the straight cuts I used a cut-off wheel. All shapes were fine-tuned using hand files! It's the best way.

This is how it looks after all is said and done.




MORE COMING! Hold on!!

 

Alright... One last task! THE PEAK!! I decided the top needed more difinition. Some change of direction, but only a LITTLE BIT! Not a big heavy rib, like the fender of a British motorcycle, but just something slight to change how the light bounces off the top and give it something to lead into the grille insert itself.

There is probably a ton of different ways to do this. You could cut it, weld it, weld a rod on the top, do some serious molding with filler, whatever. I decided to just beat a peak into it.

First thing is first! FIND THE CENTER! Strip all the paint off and work in a well lit area. Take your time, find the center. I just stared and drew lines until it looked right. Get a second or third eye to check your work. You only get to do it once!





This will tell you where the peak will be. But the line is on the WRONG SIDE, right? The line will have to be transferred to the inside of the shell. To do this, you will use a center punch. An auto punch is preferred. Punch a mark every inch (or more) on the line. These marks will help you draw the line on the BACK side of the shell so you know where to hammer.



Trace your line to the inside using your new marks.





Now here's where it gets interesting. How does one go about beating a peak into such a tricky area? A beater bag could be used, a wood form could be made, lots of different ways. Here's how I did it.

I wanted to stretch the peak to it's furthest point first and then stretch the metal around it so it could catch up to the peak. To do this I decided to make a form that would give a place for the metal to go, yet support the metal around it as it's being beat into shape.

I started with 1/4" round bar about 12 inches long and welded a couple pieces of scrap to keep them evenly spaced at approximately 1/8". The gap was fined tuned with a screwdriver.





Next I used a standard bench vise to shape the form to the shape of the shell where the peak was going to be.





Then I clamped the form using a couple small c-clamps.



I adjusted the width as desired. The further apart they are, the taller the peak will be. You just have to be careful not to peak it so much that the metal tares. Then you have a whole new set of issues.



Since there is no such hammer that can get in there and make the shape I made a "peaking tool". It's made of an 1-1/2" x 1/8" thick piece of flat stock. I used a bench grinder to get the initial shape and then fine-tuned it with the grinder. It's important to get rid of ALL sharp edges here. Any sharp edges on the surface will transfer right into the peak when the hammering begins.





OKAY! Let 'er rip!! Support the grille shell and put the form flat on the floor or work bench so it doesn't move. Roll along the form so that the bench/floor is directly opposit the peaking tool when hammering. This will give the maximum stretching.



Now you are left with a REAL ugly line of bumps!!





Don't worry yet!! Keep going until you have more consistancy in your peak.



Once you've got the height that you want (in this case it was about 3/16"), the rest of the metal will need to be stretched so it can catch up with the peak. The other option would be to leave the peak as it is if you want a real agressive looking line and just continue to work all the ripples out of it. I wanted something more subtle, so I planished with hammers and dollies until it was less of a rib and more of a change in direction.

Taking shape. A flat file or solid sanding block with 200 grit can really aide in finding low spots here.

 

I used various shapes of dollies and my hammers to stretch and plannish as well as this big thick steel plate. Not required, but it sure came in handy since I wanted just a change in direction and not a drastic swoop out to the peak. The flat surface helped find the low spots visually.



After a ton of hammer and dolly work this is the result!



Stripped the rest of the paint to check out all the lines and see what's left to straighten out. Little more work to be perfect, but it's really solid looking now.




This is a time consuming project. Took me quite awhile to get everything straight. If I can do this YOU guys can do this!! I just used what I had around the shop to make it happen and TOOK MY TIME!

Here's some tools I used along the way. You don't HAVE to use this stuff, but I had them and wanted more practice so I used them.



The shrinking disc is a great thing to have. But again, not something you have to own to do this project.

The panel clamps were made from 1" square tubing, some 10-32 screws and wing nuts, sum small nails that I cut the heads off of, and some 22 gage sheet metal scraps I had. I think I have $5 wrapped up in these clamps. They are the best thing to use to gap your seams.



Flat files also REALLY help for taking down welds carefully. Slow process, but will leave you with less of a mess in the end.




Okay! I hope that helps someone with the personality of their '32 grille shell! If it helps even ONE person, it has been worth it.

Please let me know if you have questions! I'll be glad to explain more.

Thanks for reading my messy post!

 

Great tech!!

 

Thanks Scott! That looks really incredible dude. Why don't you throw a tech article on how to paint your chassis too.....oh wait....never mind.

 

OUCH! That was... well... nice... and mean of you. Deserved though.

 

Ladies & Gentlemen, this is why the HAMB is spectacular!! Thank you, scootermcrad.

B.M.

 

Ahhhh you'll wow us next week or so when you post that frame after you shoot it with some shiny black paint. For right now though, it's viva la grille shell!!!!

I think you should market that product and start peaking grille shells for people. Shit I would get one!

 

I thought this was pretty clever. Great write up!

Slim

 

Great tech Scooter. I was wondering how you transferred the line for your peak to the underside. Very ingenious!

 

Well done Scott! Very nicely presented and explained and cool idea on the peaking jig.

Maybe if you win you can see if Shane will throw in a pair of new gloves or a roll of tape to finish fixing up the ones you have now.

 

I might start a Scooter Tech Social Club where I can gather all this cool shit you report on in one place. Like the Drilling your Axle thread or this Peaking the '32 Grille Shell thread. It will be for all the cool tech you contribute to this site and for those of us that do not have every tool under the sun to build a cool hot rod but instead find ways to do it with the average guys tool box.

I will use the ScooterMcRad picture that I posted for GNRS as the avatar. That's cool right??

 

very nice tech indeed! thanks. i like that you made that seam at the top, certainly gives it definition

 

Nice work scooter.

 

Thanks guys! Just hope it was clear enough. I think I fixed at least 479 spelling errors after posting it too. I'm sure there's more I haven't fixed. D'OH!

Also, I could go more into how I took down the welds if needed. I just thought the process of this was the most important part. Everyone seems to have their own way of blending welds in panel seams.

Jeffy... Frame will be the same color as the body. Only the suspension and drive train will be black. WISH it was going to be over that soon! HA!

 

Can you do this with a fiberglass shell also?


Just kidding, really slick tech, presentation, idea and design. Very damn cool!

 

awesome post. very inspiring!

 

Same color huh? Alrighty Scooter!!!! No wonders you haven't shot it with single stage black already. This thing is taking a whole new direction for me. I am seeing it in different lights now!

 

Even worse... I still haven't bought paint supplies. Just been hammerin' metal and finishing up this and that.

Thanks again guys!

 

This is a great tech for two reasons, it's a great project, but also addresses the horrible terrible no-good issue of metal finishing on curves. Which I would love to see more of. I wish we could have got a glimpse of your hammerin' dollyin' technique on the peak.

 

You win. I always suspected you played with Dollies.

 

Great post. Good pics are always better than just a detailed explanation. Thanks.

 

nice work !

 

Nice work mate! The peaking tool with the round rod trick is brilliant! You've got my vote fo sho!

 

WOW! Love the peaking technique!

 

Okay, let me give a quick diagram of what's going on with the metal during the peaking process.

The first figure shows the metal (the black line) after the peak has been roughly in place. The dolly (red line) will be placed as shown in the diagram and the backside/inside of the shell will be struck in the spots shown.

The blue 'X' dimension shows the height after the peak was hammered in place. This dimension will change as the metal is stretched. The metal was already somewhat stretched as the peak was formed, and will actually shrink a little as the hammer hamer essentially jams the metal in on itself. However, it eventually stretches so that the 'X' dimension increase as more stretching takes place. So the overall peak itself will be slightly taller by the time it's all said and done. Any over stretching of the hammered/planished areas can be pulled back in shape by shrinking with a shrinking disk or heating and rapid cooling.

Using a straight edge, flat file, or flat sanding block to keep an eye on the metal will help keep things under control if you take your time.

Make sense, or did I just complicate things? Just wanted to sort of show the basic process of how the metal was brought out to meet the peak.

 

nice!!

 

More five star stuff from Scootermcrad. The guy is amazing.

 

Another great Tech Article, Scott! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!!



Malcolm

 

Hey Scoot,

'looks like ya showed us there's more than one way to push tin around!

I like doing this type of swage on a small Ewheel, even the small bench type . You can grind a simple one time, one shot anvil from hard plastic or hardwood. This ain't an option for a guy without a wheel, and ya can't swing this with a bead roller, so your method trumphs all, cool!



'' Beware The Irrational However Seductive "