YellowRose Front End Body Work

[YellowRose]

A lot of progress was made yesterday and today on pulling out those caved in panels on Rose's front end. She is starting to look good again. Here is the link to the pictures I took of the initial damage and what they have accomplished so far.

http://thunderbirds.fortunecity.com/My59TbirdFrontEndRepairs.htm

Does anyone know what material the grill in the front bumper is made of? Is it pot metal? I have been thinking of having it chromed also if it can be. I think it would really improve the looks of the front end of Rose if it were also chromed. Is there any reason why it should not be?

[byersmtrco]

Lookin good Ray.

You'll have her back all nice n' perrty (after her nose job is
complete)

I still think we need to throw the moron who did that a nice
blanket party.

[Penelope]

It is certainly starting to take shape again Ray. Hope the rest of it goes as smoothly for you.

[scumdog]

Magic, Ray, it's coming together quite well, nice to see a bit of proper body-work and not just a 'slide-hammer and bondo' job.

One of my best buddys is a panel-beater (NZ name for it) and he is absolutely brilliant, I marvel at what he can do, it's a shame he now lives 450+ miles away instead of right here.

[partsetal]

Grille material

Ray,
The 59 Grille is made up of Anodized Aluminum. It is soft and can be polished to a high luster AFTER removing the anodizing (a simple electrolic process). It can be plated as well, but the detail work involved could turn out to be expensive.
Carl

[bird 60]

Good to see the Facelift is coming along Ray.
Hope everything is complete for the June events.

Chris....From the Land of OZ.

[ncbird]

grill

Ray, I am in the same quandry with the grill. I have buffed it and it looks real good but not great in my mind. I am considering having it reanodized. They can put a high gloss back on it that way. I have not pursued it any further. Grant

[Yellowbird]

Don't forget

Ray,
Make sure they install new rubber seals between the bumper and fender on each side. The work is really looking good!

Leonard

[YellowRose]

YellowRose Front End Body Work

Thanks for the information. I see that Carl said the grill is made of anodized aluminum. Does anyone have any idea what kind of company can clean our grills and re-anodize them? I thought I had seen a post by one of our members in the past that he had his grill chromed. If that is the case, how did that come out? I think that is what I would like to do. I just talked with Florencio of SW Chrome. He said they can chrome aluminum and to bring the grill with me when I take him the bumper for re-chroming and he will give me a quote on it. He said it is not like pot metal that can warp on you during the chroming process.

BTW, the body shop just said they have the front completely pulled out and it looks good. That allowed them to open the hood fully (which has been re-aligned properly again) and look for damage under the hood. It appears that when Rose hit the back of that F250, it caused the right side of the radiator to be pushed back into the fan blades and punctured the radiator. I am getting my radiator redone at their expense. The body shop will be pulling the radiator and the auto shop will send it out to be fixed.

[JohnG]

You might get another fan while you're in the process. If the fan got hit then it may well be out of balance, something you don't want at 2000+ RPM.

If you don't have a 6 blade fan, use it as an excuse to get one.

[tbird430]

WOW Ray!!

I'm very impressed as to how well the "nose" job is going on your '59. I really thought after those initial pics there would be some cutting & sectioning going on!!


-Jon in TX.

[YellowRose]

YellowRose Front End Body Work

There are some more pix posted that I took yesterday of the work. You cant tell much difference, but all the pulling is done. Now they will work on smoothing everything out. Jon, I also thought I was looking at panel replacements, and had them all lined up at Bird Nest if we needed them. But they say no, and they say it will look like it was never hit when they get done with it. We popped the hood and can see where a fan blade(s) hit the very top center of the radiator, gashing it and causing it to weep. It is not flowing out, just seeping out. It comes off and it will be checked out, tested and, if necessary, recored and sealed.

I have a fan shroud on Rose. It was suggested that I might want to take the opportunity to replace that 5 bladed fan with a new one in case it was knocked out of balance. It was also suggested that I put a 6 bladed fan on. Your thinking about this please. Do you think that with a fan shroud in place, I need to put a 6 bladed fan on? Here is the web page link again.

http://thunderbirds.fortunecity.com/My59TbirdFrontEndRepairs.htm

[Guest]

Ray

Your poor baby looks like she is in pain,but it looks like you are getting her back in shape

[dgs]

In college I had an '80 Monza. Freshman year I had an unfortunate encounter with the back of a Chevy pickup truck. Bumpers missed and the whole nose of the Monza was cleared out.

I put the car back together and left the fan with it's slightly bent blade. Months later I was driving and heard a loud THUNK! and the car started shaking severely. I pulled over and found the bent fan blade had let go and was now embedded in the battery. A new fan and new battery fixed it, but it was pretty scary. Could have went through the hood or hurt someone.

If it's bent at all, replace it.

[simplyconnected]

My '90 Mustang (351W, AOD w/shift kit and a stall, 430 gear) twisted the water pump shaft clean half-in-two. I was racing, winding it up, and that Art Carr shift kit slammed into second...
BAM!
Water was going everywhere and my composite hood was trashed. The fan went through the hood, came back down, and juggled around the radiator many times (it was going 6,000 rpm).

When it shifted, the crankshaft slowed down so fast, the stock fan acted like a flywheel (and actually drove the crank through the belt). I had been doing it so many times, I had no idea the water pump shaft could break. I learned my lesson and went to an electric fan, after buying a new radiator, water pump, and another $600 hood. - Dave