Re: Grill issues, I think its time to follow the street rod crowd and use billet.

[route66rambler@xxxxxxxxx]

On March 27, 2006 hal lynch wrote:

> I have been tip toe-ing around my 70 AMX front end for 20+ years in mortal
> fear of leaning on the grill and cracking it.  Our brethren in the street
> crowd have addressed this issue many years ago with the creation of billet
> aluminum grilles, why not us AMC'ers?
> 

--------> Why not, indeed? Self-sufficiency is freedom.


> Taking a closer look at my 70 AMX grill I think that it could be re-created
> in billet and think I might just start out the long process of figuring out
> how.  A couple questions for you experts.

----------> Not sure if I'm an expert, but I've cut one hell of a lot of billet in my time, from Harleys to the International Space Station.  The shapes of most of these grilles don't lend themselves well to precision machining, i.e. many rows of blade-like constructions, mounting bosses in awkward areas, etc. You're going to get different results than you will with a finned valve cover, and it does a different type of job after all. I think a more practical approach is to learn to cast them from potmetal or aluminum, if you must have metal.  Many universities have equipment for foundry work(sculpture and bells, for instance), and may accept some sort of proposal. They don't necessarily have to turn a profit on things sometimes. J.C. Whitney still sells those tubular grilles for vans. Run some 3/32 aluminum sheet into a loop around the outside, drill for the tubes, polish everything, and you've got basically what Barris was doing in the 60's. Even ceramic is a possibility(th!
 e kind of bisque stuff you see in old gas heaters). I'm trying to develop a process using an arbor press and fixtures to reproduce parts from fiberglass using molds under pressure. This would allow me to make one-offs economically for the purposes of restoring or mocking-up("cloning") rare pieces or whole cars and clips, quarters etc. for the museum. After all, I'll probably never be able to afford one of the "holy trinity" collector cars(AMX, S/CRambler, Machine). This would also eliminate the huge development costs and necessary resulting huge production runs, which is most of what disqualifies AMC enthusiasts from the real goodies. Other pieces I've considered are the center piece and the dashboard for Hornet/Gremlin, and interior plastic pieces like at the rear and corners of hatchbacks and Pacer/Eagle/Gremlin models. Ford truck restorers have a wide selection of "fake" plastic reproductons of interior door panels as well as dash pad covers. These trucks are regularly s!
 hown and win with these pieces in place. Comment is openly invited on 
this particular subject, especially from others with manufacturing or fabricating experience. Anyone who wishes may e-mail me or call at (602) 380-6552.
 mike

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