Grille Help
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Grille Help
Recently my plans to get my '53 F-250 running was expidited, quite a bit. My father told me to go no further with my mom's Crown Vic project because of gas prices sharply shooting up. So this leaves a little extra money for my '53. Basically I am going to do some repairs to it in order to get it running until I can build another garage and resto-rod the truck. I stripped the truck 14 years ago of most of the electrical work (lights, horn etc...) because I was going to do this before I graduated high school. Well, life caught up with me and the expenses of high school and later on both colleges scuttled that plan. The only thing that will be shiny on this truck now will be the new grille, bumpers, and the built 390FE. So, my question; will the grille of a '52 Ford F1 fit/bolt onto a '53? I have come to like this grille more than the '53 grille with teeth. Thanks in advance for any help you can shed on this subject
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Chickenbone
.Chickenbone
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Joined: Jul 2006
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From: La Mesa (East San Diego)
Hi Chickenbone,
Shoot there isn't anything that you can't make work if you have a big enough hammer, deluxe angle grinder and perhaps an acetylene cutting torch.
Here's a couple ideas and thoughts. Yep the 52 grille is a nice one. But it is more marrow that the 53-56 so the headlight buckets aren't going to sit right in the wind panels. Also, the parking lights were flatter on the 52 so those probably wont hook up right with the 52 grille (it will hav eto sit higher or you will have to put 52 parking lights on. But even more, the 52 lower valance is cut to accept the bottoms of the three "inverted bowling pin" grille teeth. For my 51 truck (same grille as 52) I wanted a 5 tooth grille instead of just the three tooth, But I didn't wan tto make any modifications that I couldn't return to stock fairly easily. So, I built up two grilles, a five tooth and a stock three tooth. I brazed the bolts into the holes on the headlight bucket holder so all I had to do is undo some wing nuts and th egrill drops off (using a trailer plug for the headlight and parking light wires). Then I connected the parking lights to the grille instead of the lower valance. So, it's all one assembly that I can unscrew the wing nuts, unplug, drop out and replace in five minutes. You might wan tto try and assembly like that. On the two extra teeth, I just carefully cut the bottoms off so they sit on top or the lower valance instead of indenting into it.
One last thing to look at befor eyou do anything. I'm almost certain that the 51/52 grille setup has headlight buckets that protrude out the back of the bucket housing and th ewind breaks on the 51/52 have an indent to accomodate this. So, you may have to indent your wind breaks, or cut a small hole in them so the grille will go on all the way.
Shoot there isn't anything that you can't make work if you have a big enough hammer, deluxe angle grinder and perhaps an acetylene cutting torch.
Here's a couple ideas and thoughts. Yep the 52 grille is a nice one. But it is more marrow that the 53-56 so the headlight buckets aren't going to sit right in the wind panels. Also, the parking lights were flatter on the 52 so those probably wont hook up right with the 52 grille (it will hav eto sit higher or you will have to put 52 parking lights on. But even more, the 52 lower valance is cut to accept the bottoms of the three "inverted bowling pin" grille teeth. For my 51 truck (same grille as 52) I wanted a 5 tooth grille instead of just the three tooth, But I didn't wan tto make any modifications that I couldn't return to stock fairly easily. So, I built up two grilles, a five tooth and a stock three tooth. I brazed the bolts into the holes on the headlight bucket holder so all I had to do is undo some wing nuts and th egrill drops off (using a trailer plug for the headlight and parking light wires). Then I connected the parking lights to the grille instead of the lower valance. So, it's all one assembly that I can unscrew the wing nuts, unplug, drop out and replace in five minutes. You might wan tto try and assembly like that. On the two extra teeth, I just carefully cut the bottoms off so they sit on top or the lower valance instead of indenting into it.
One last thing to look at befor eyou do anything. I'm almost certain that the 51/52 grille setup has headlight buckets that protrude out the back of the bucket housing and th ewind breaks on the 51/52 have an indent to accomodate this. So, you may have to indent your wind breaks, or cut a small hole in them so the grille will go on all the way.
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Thanks for the quick responses guys and sorry for the late reply! We got all of the tools to do some serious mods, but I guess I will make do with the '53 grille that I have, perhaps I'll get the chrome grille and fit it on there for laughs and giggles. I have seen people do the Merc grilles, but that looks like it is a lot of work as well, and I like still like the '52 grille better anyways. At this point I am just going to get this truck on the road for some weekend fun. It is still going to wear the rattle can paint job that my father sprayed on it almost thirty years ago. For the bed floor, I will go with plywood for now. I think my 390FE might still be in running condition despite sitting in the garage for three years. If not, I'll set it up with the three speed (sticking with that because I like the column shift) and make all the necessary measurements for reinstallation before the rebuild. My father just bought a 2002 F-250 and I plan on getting my mom's Crown Vic painted this summer, so I need to have at least one vehicle that is not-so shiny (for now). Thanks for the advice Sandidande, perhaps when I take the truck apart for the resto-rod process, I'll be able to spend some time massaging the '52 grille to fit on the '53.
Chickenbone
Chickenbone
