| westgateblvd | -- 06-16-2018 @ 12:05 PM |
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Hi. I just bought a 1937 Ford Car Grille. There is a few dents, and a weird bend to it. How would I go about straightening this Grille out?? Thanks
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| TomO | -- 06-16-2018 @ 8:09 PM |
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That is not a 1937 Ford car grill. Click on Galleries on the left sidebar to see what a 1937 car grill looks like. Tom
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-17-2018 @ 5:14 AM |
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I beg to differ. I have a 1937 Ford Tudor Sedan Model 78 sitting in my garage right now. What you are looking at is the lower part of that Grille by the crank hole. That shows the major bend I have in it that I have to straighten, and was looking for some tips from you people that must have gone through this before.
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-17-2018 @ 5:24 AM |
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Better??
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| TomO | -- 06-17-2018 @ 6:43 AM |
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Thank you for correcting me. Just seeing the bottom of the grill threw me off. Tom
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-17-2018 @ 12:22 PM |
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What I am thinking is. I have a Friend in Ca. that has a partial Grille. If I cut mine off above the second hole from the crank hole, and the same with the other. Then welded the two together. It turn into a nice Original 1937 Ford Grille. Both are plain steel, so I would have to paint it the color the car will be..
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| fordv8j | -- 06-17-2018 @ 3:16 PM |
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that is a 1938 ford deluxe grill, notice it has the slots near the bottom for the stainless trim...I have 2 38 dlxs
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-17-2018 @ 6:01 PM |
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No. Those are tears from the grill hitting the ground. From all of the pics I have gotten of it. It is a 37. I have two fake ones that look just like that..
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| juergen | -- 06-20-2018 @ 5:44 AM |
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I have straightened out several 37 grilles like yours but it takes a lot of time, particularly with your "bent nose". If there were only one or two bent teeth, it is relatively easy to use a flat (say 3 inch) vice grip attached to the upper or lower part of the teeth to straighten out the curved section. You can also pry with a screw driver on the bent section while holding the straight part in place with the vice grip. If the tooth is bent in or out, you can modify the curve by keeping the teeth straight with the vice grip and banging on the tooth itself with a hammer to get the proper shape. Place the vice grip so that the middle of the grip is where the bend needs to be corrected. However if you have a group of misaligned teeth, you can't easily just straighten out one at a time as the adjacent bent teeth will not let one tooth be corrected at a time. I typically then cut one end of the tooth on all the offending nearby teeth and straighten them out one at a time. Then gas weld the teeth to the side; Do not braze as it is not strong enough and once the brass is in place, the impurity will make welding nearly impossible. But your bent nose is a real problem as not only are the teeth bent, but the center and side structures are also. If this were a car body, one would bolt the good part to the floor and use a come a long to pull the offending part back to where it should be. I never found a way to do this. Instead I cut one side of the teeth on both the right and left frame halves, then individually "straightened" each side piece and the center, and then fixed each tooth as mentioned above. It is good to have a good grille as a reference to what is correct or to bolt the grille sides to a car to make sure the sides and center are correct before welding in the teeth. Patience is the key
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-20-2018 @ 3:43 PM |
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I do have a portion coming from another grille. All of the bent grille could be cut off, and welded back together. Would that also work?? I have this solder stuff that I bought. You heat the metal on both sides of your cut. Add the flux, and use this solder stuff. I know it held my other fake grille and some other metal pieces good and strong. If I were to cut out the bad part down. The donor Grille is coming. It is cut from just above the second hole above the crank hole. From there down it is near perfect. Al This message was edited by westgateblvd on 6-20-18 @ 3:44 PM
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-20-2018 @ 3:49 PM |
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Donor Grille..
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| juergen | -- 06-22-2018 @ 7:25 PM |
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You can't solder a crack and expect it to take much tension. Also true with brazing Solder works in joining similar metals on top of one another. For instance if you have a hole, you can solder a patch over the hole. Just filling the hole with solder is iffy as it is not made for filling. I would definitely either weld it or get it aligned and take it to a welder.
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-26-2018 @ 3:38 PM |
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I have a wire feed. I will just set it low, to help prevent burning holes.
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| 42oink | -- 06-27-2018 @ 4:32 AM |
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Well WG, looks like you have your work cut out for you. But from what I can see, that center vertical nose section is going to be a real problem. First, I would separate the two halves and straighten the verticals. then clamp the straight side to pull the sides into place. Put them back together and straighten from there. Having said all that, it almost looks like the donor grille may be the one to consider fixing up. Let us see how you make out. And good luck. 42oink.
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| westgateblvd | -- 06-27-2018 @ 5:51 PM |
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I started working on it today. My main dent is almost gone. I used a cold chissel on each side. Back and forth. The hammering is working. It is also pulling on the bent ribs. I am straightening the bends a little. Then back to the hammering. It seems to be working. Still have a little twist in it, but when I bolt it to the fenders it should pull it back into place. Question: I have the Grille, but no bolts. What size bolts were used on that Grille?? I went out and got 8 1/4 x 20 about 3/4" long.
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