How to fix ribs??

slantback37

slantback37

Senior Member
Hi. When I do buy a 1937 Ford car Grille I can almost bet that there will be dents in the ribs, or down the center. How should I bend the ribs back into place?? Thanks
 
slantback37 said:
Hi. When I do buy a 1937 Ford car Grille I can almost bet that there will be dents in the ribs, or down the center. How should I bend the ribs back into place?? Thanks
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Talk about putting the cart before the horse :confused:
 
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Not really. I am looking at one right now that does have some bent ribs in it. I would just like to know how I go about fixing that kind of problem..
 
I suspect they are made from stainless (sorry not positive)

If so...

VERY SLOWLY take care to use minimal tools. It should be disassembled then face each subject ( rib ), addressed on a semi hard/soft surface like wood or thick leather. Select suitable picks and a lightweight hammer. Sculpt the vee shape carefully and chase the wrinkles from the sides of the channel. It's intense work. With patience and perseverance the metal ( if not destroyed to begin with ) will return to the state you desire.
 
I make a pattern out of wood of a good grill bar and use it to coerce the bent grill bars back straight, worked on my 41 truck grill
 

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That looks real nice. Though I have been told that ribs on the Right are the same as those on the Left. Every rib going from top to bottom is different. I will try that curve though in wood.
It works good on the grille being pushed in. How about with the grille being pushed out??
 
You need to experiment with sheet metal a while before you start on a project like that. The grills have small pieces. When you are shrinking steel, avoid using anything too cold to quench a hot spot until you have a good idea on how it's going to react to that. You can do more harm than good. A person really needs a feel for what the metal is going to do. I seldom quench a real hot spot with anything other than compressed air. Quenching with a wet rag can easily be too much on a red hot spot on a piece of sheet metal. It works OK when using a shrinking disk on a grinder and not heating it too hot. If a piece of steel is bent too far, a person can better off cutting it in the worst of the bend then straightening it & welding it back together or weld in a new piece.

If a part is stainless, it can be carefully body worked back to shape and even welded & ground down since your going to have to polish it anyway. It doesn't work the same way as regular steel does. It takes a while to learn welding on any thin stuff.
 
I have been using that welding rod that you use a propane torch to heat to red hot. Use the rod like solder, and it really holds well.

Been looking at the Grille on ebay, but it looks really hard to fix. Has a crank hole but that is off center as well..
 
The lady down the street buys a rack or two of ribs and puts them in the crock pot with a couple jars of strawberry preserves and cooks them all day. Is that what ya ment ??? rbg

BTW they are good ribs .......maybe add just a smidge of bar b que sause???
 
You can do a lot of it by making a pair of dies, positive and negative to coax the bars
Into shape. The majority of the bars can use the same dies. It's the best way to preserve the shape and repeatability of the bars.
 
Bubba, nice try but the best ribs are smoked first, slow and for at least 4 hours then basted in a nice mustard based sauce--going to have them for Father's Day--can't wait!!
On the grill bar I use the wood pattern for the inside of the bars and clamps to pull the bars into shape mine were bent out/in/up and they look pretty good, Really did not want them perfect-just to match the patina.
 

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Boil them first, then grill them unless you have a smoker.


Think you can get trim anvil and hammer kits from eastwood that can help in the process. Stainless repair. It's to me a tradesman deal, if you can find one.
 
SS is a different kettle of fish.

But with my jailbar, I opened the bars up a bit , so they would fit into a shrinker and shrunk the curve back in and then put the sides back in place .

I also used a wooden die cut out and a metal buck for hammering them a bit.

But these were steel and worked OK.
 
Maybe she should use a dry rub first.. If a smoker is going to be used. Hickory and oak at 225 for maybe 4-5 hrs. I like a good dry rub. Texas BBQ makes a good rub. I have a Big Green Egg, and a smaller Egg. Only thing I use now. Got rid of the Weber Grill. Jumbo lump is the only way to go. No fluid taste any more. For steaks.. Oak


As far as the bar ribs go. I will make some forms up after I see what is wrong with the bars. Then make up some molds that match the other side. Have to blunt out a chissel so I don't cut threw the metal.

I find steel Grills more than SS. The SS ones. I have two. Both are fake..
 
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BUBBAS IGNITION said:
The lady down the street buys a rack or two of ribs and puts them in the crock pot with a couple jars of strawberry preserves and cooks them all day. Is that what ya ment ??? rbg

BTW they are good ribs .......maybe add just a smidge of bar b que sause???
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You beat me to it Bubba !


Sal
 
I have a box full of old chisels with different sizes & shapes to form metal. I make my own chasing tools this way. I have a lot of different bucks too. A half inch steel plate table and a section of standard US gauge rail road rail are used a lot for this type of forming. An old tree stump can be shaped to use for forming. You can't have too many shaping tools if you like to do metal work.
 
I had the grill on my 32 pushed in. I took all the bars out and straightened them. I made a slightly curved bar that would go inside the bars and slowly taped on them with a piece of wood and a hammer. They came back without being deformed.
 
Seeing that those bars are all one piece. If I cut them out to fix them.. What is the best way to weld them back in?? Can I do it with a wire feed, or solder them back on??
 
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