When installing the grille oval in my '57 and snugging the clamp nuts, the clamp plates seem to cause ripples in the fiberglass around the oval. Should there be a metal reinforcement around the grille opening? This car only has the bare unsupported glass surrounding the opening. Am I missing some hardware here or simply applying too much torque? Thanx!,,,Terry Plata
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
At each corner there are curved reinforcement plates having two holes and the logo III. I tighten all the plate at the top first, then bottom, then the ends. Being care full not to tighten them to much. -
Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Hi Roy, you have been helpful in the past, thanks for the response. I do have short (2 inches or so) curved plates for each end with two holes corresponding to 1/4-20 studs in the grille oval. the other straight (?) plates for the rest of the grille were missing so I fabricated them out of 1/8th by 1/2 inch wide steel stock. If I am reeeeeeaal gentle with the wrench I can actually install the oval without distorting the fiberglass, but then I worry about the heavy grille assembly moving around and chafing the paint later. Old question... is there supposed to be a metal reinforcement in the grille opening area, or just glass?? Thanks...Terry Plata,,aka "Tex"Comment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Some Corvettes have a reinforcement of fiber-glass around the grill opening back side and some don't . The repro fronts I'v seen don't. But with all the backing plates used to hold the grill , I never have worried about it and have driven my 55 for many years with no movement.Your doing it right ! that's how I do it.Comment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Tery: there were NO fiberglass bonding strips( or thickened areas) behind the grill openings of any of the 53 to 57 vets ORIGINALLY{If your vet has such, its after-production}. the grill was supported by the fiberglass of the top surround only. the metal brackets were used to distribute the stresses of the grill's weight around the 360 degrees of the grill opening in the top surround.Tighten nuts just enough to seat grill but not distress fiberglass coated paint--- stress it too much and the paint will crack first. regards, mikeComment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Mike & Roy,
I respectfully disagree with you to a certain extent. Mid to late 57's had a "bead" of bonding adhesive across upper top only of the grille opening (on the inside of course). I believe this was probably squeezed out of a cone as it has more of a roundness to it than flat like with a putty knife.
If you are careful you can get down on the ground under the car's front end and see this while looking at the inside of the nose below the front emblem mounting holes.
I have a picture of this somewhere but unfortunately I didn't bring them to the U.K. with me. I can tell you that 2 57's I owned #2920 & 3781 had this.
Get under 1 of your cars and look Mike, you will see what I mean. I do agree with you that 56's never had this reinforement/bonding adhesive bead applied.
Save the Wave!
Jimmy BlakelyComment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Jimmy: vin 1093 didn't have bead of resin on its backside. Vin 4450 didn't have its orig. top surround when i got it in '68. Will be on the lookout for bonding adds at future judgings. regards, mikeComment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
Jimmy and all, Thanks for the note on the bonding adhesive in the opening area. My car is an early 57 or possibly late 56 manufacture so no adhesive in the indicated area. (it lacks the fuel tank vent hose in the filler area) I will try to tighten the grille oval gingerly but the bonding adhesive would be easy to add at this point. The body is off the chassis on a roll around body dolly.
Regards....Terry PlataComment
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Re: 57 grill oval mounting
terry: by all means, since the body is apart, go ahead and add bonding adhesive. use it sparingly and try to keep the width of finished product about 1/2inch consistently. doubt the judges will ever notice and if they do, deduct, if any will be minimal. Much better than having the paint around the grill opening crack once you start driving it and the weight of the grill stresses the fiberglass/paint more than you are doing as you tighten it down in a static position. good luck, mikeComment
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Thanks to all
10-4 Mike, bonding adhesive going on in the morning. I may even add some short sections of fiberglass to close up and reinforce the clearance notches in the grille mounting area. I have a door from a wreck that I use to make patches. Wish me luck. After messing with steel cars all my life this fiberglass creation has been quite an education. I can block a panel to perfection one day only to return the next day to see waves!!!!! arrrrghhhh! Apparently I have to learn not to be such a perfectonist on Corvettes.....Thanks to all...TerryComment
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Re: Thanks to all terry
Look and you will see that the long supporting bars are sloted. SO you can spread the grill open that much to help close the lower cut outs.Comment
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Spread 'em
Hi Roy,
Good tip. As it turns out I had to weld a 1/2" extension to the center grille spreader to effectively close the gaps. No problem it looks OK. I had better stop revealing all my problems on line, when everyone sees this car for the first time they will be saying " oh yeah, the grill LOOKS like it fits OK, but he had to spread the grille oval to make it work". Perhaps I can blame that other "Terry" that responds to these threads??? ha ha! ....Terry Plata.Comment
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Re: Spread 'em
Many 53 to 57 owners don't realize that's the reason the supports are elongated and they think the body or grill is some how bad. So lets keep this secret between just you and me. If you need other advice on body fit, we will keep that a secret too. Glad I could help.Comment
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