Scratch built grill shell

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cornfield customs

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,027
Location
Loveland OH
so i felt the need to do a metal working project, and i have seen people make custom grill shells, but i have never seen a home made 28-29 model A shell. so thats what i did, a custom model A grill shell, i made it a little thinner than factory and left the center in ( i am going to dimple die some 2 in. holes at a later date). as for now it is going to hang on the wall for decoration, maybe put it on a car some day. took about 4 hours.

to start i took an original model A grill shell and made a poster board template of the inner and outer shape of the face (dont have a pic lol). then i traced it out on some 18 gauge steel sheet and cut it out. got out the bead roller and used my step dies and used it to recess the center of the grill shell ( you can see this in all pics, sorry got carried away and forgot to take pics at first).
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cut a strip of 18 gauge steel to wrap around the edge. i used a mig to tack it all up, then cleaned it with a wire brush, and used the tig to weld it up. took my time, welding no more than 1/2in at a time to minimize warping.
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once it was all welded up, i used a 36 soft grinding, pad to knock the welds down, then weld to 80 grit, to 180 grit on the grinder, then hit it with a DA with 180. then put it back in the bead roller to put the step down around the back edge to sit behind the hood and hood sides
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then did some hammer and dollie work around the bottom to give it a rolled edge similar to the original.
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You need to stop by the house and show me how you do that and bring that roller thingy.LOL Very nice work!
 
Hey Cornfield Customs.

That is some amazing workmanship for sure. If you ever wanna build a second one I would love to buy one. (can you cut out the grille part tho??)I would be really bad. I would get it home and let it sit outside and rust for a while. Then bring it in and hang it on the wall. Shoot then I would have find car to put behind the grill....hmmmm...life is tough you know...I bet Henry would be jealous.

MikeC
 
thanks for the compliments guys, as i always say its not to bad for a punk ass 24 year old lol.

i might make another steel one, but it is a lot of work considering that you can buy an new re pop one from speedway for under $100. i really want to finish the aluminum one started and never finished lol. i can cut the center out no problem,i left the center in on this one sine i want to dimple die some holes and not have to weld or rivet the insert in. i think i might mess with some people
 
24 year old

Nothing bad about being a 24 year old punk ass.
We all were on once:D
There is a lot of 24 year old punk asses making it safe for us to sleep at night.
Keep on trucking some day you will be a old fart like me.

have fun
Tom
 
thanks for the compliments guys, as i always say its not to bad for a punk ass 24 year old lol.

i might make another steel one, but it is a lot of work considering that you can buy an new re pop one from speedway for under $100. i really want to finish the aluminum one started and never finished lol. i can cut the center out no problem,i left the center in on this one sine i want to dimple die some holes and not have to weld or rivet the insert in. i think i might mess with some people
With some of us, it's not about the money, it's about being unique. You would be surprised at the one off things I've made for other people. With me it's custom one off LED lights. It's always a losing proposition.....at least for the labor, it's about knowing that you made it and most likely no one else is going to try even if they could..........[cl
 

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