Author Topic: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness  (Read 656 times)

Offline fjm

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65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« on: February 19, 2018, 06:07:23 PM »
My factory 65 grill is a mess, with some broken and distorted honeycomb I would fix if steel, but can't because it's aluminum. I found a lot of replacement grilles I can buy online and bought one from Mustangs Unlimited.  It's only half the thickness of the original stock and very flimsy and bends easily.  Does anyone know where I can get a replacement with an original stock thickness?

Offline CharlesTurner

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2018, 06:10:34 PM »
Your money was wasted on the repro.  Only way to go on this part is NOS or good used original.
Charles Turner - MCA/SAAC Judge
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Offline fjm

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2018, 06:32:32 PM »
Yeah.  I know.  Not the first I've wasted money on.
So far I haven't been able to find either, and it's hard to trust what you find online.  Will keep looking.

Offline evantugby

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2018, 07:04:02 PM »
Yeah.  I know.  Not the first I've wasted money on.
So far I haven't been able to find either, and it's hard to trust what you find online.  Will keep looking.

It shouldn't be hard to find an original grill from a parts car, craigslist, ebay or even find a NOS one from any one of the guys across the country that sell NOS items.  Fred Ballard in Canyon City California is a guy I use to buy NOS parts. 
1966 GT, 6T09K13, Born 23 Oct 1965

There is no statue of equality in liberty harbor, there is a statue of liberty.  We are different this way.  -CK

Offline carlite65

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2018, 07:05:56 PM »
be careful of some n.o.s. parts as i have seen them incorrectly finished. you may have to repaint what you find.
5F09C331248

Offline rrenz

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2018, 07:08:24 PM »
be careful of some n.o.s. parts as i have seen them incorrectly finished. you may have to repaint what you find.


+1.Having done a ton of research during the restoration of mine I've seen 66 NOS grilles without the center blackout ,unpainted rivets and even with more modern style rivets.
Ryan
1966 C Code NJ Springtime Yellow
C-4 Automatic
Build Date Jan 21st
2001 3.8 Mustang Convertible
2004 40th Anniversary

Offline CharlesTurner

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2018, 07:20:32 PM »
Ford serviced the '65 grille, later version, with incorrect style rivets.  It's a little work to make right, but way better than the repro.
Charles Turner - MCA/SAAC Judge
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Offline jwc66k

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2018, 07:22:23 PM »
My factory 65 grill is a mess, [and] it's aluminum. It's only half the thickness of the original stock and very flimsy and bends easily. 
Just out of curiosity, what was the thickness? I measured mine, it is aluminum too, and it's 0.053-0.055 inch thick on the upper horizontal edge to the left of the latch support bracket.
(As long as I was there, I measured the steel radiator support and it's also 0.053 inch thick.)
Jim
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Offline fjm

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Re: 65 Grille replacement stock thickness
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2018, 08:09:37 PM »
Using an old micrometer, my original grille thickness reads about 0.042... the repro is 0.023.  Not sure how accurate the micro is but even if it's off a bit the original thickness for sure measures about 2x the repro.  Pretty thin and easy to distort.  I'm still looking for a good original and will change out the repro if I find one.

As for rivets, I've seen pictures of solid rivet heads that are supposed to be original.  Looking again at my old grille, a couple original factory rivets still on brackets have a hole in the center of the head and look exactly like stock Surebonder aluminum pop rivets I picked up at Menards.  Side by side, can't tell them apart, though the bottom of the replacements bulge a bit more after install.

Sure learn a lot on this forum.  Fun, and aggravating at the same time.