This is what happens with a word-a-day app.
Genioplasty (n) – plastic surgery
of the chin.
Redivivus (adj) – come back to
life; reborn.
I’m admittedly straining my medical
analogies; first oncology then dentistry now plastic surgery…
So Alphie is getting a chin
lift. Victoria British LTD’s catalog
listed a complete valance with upper and lower sections, but now that Moss Motoring bought them out, the
valance is no longer listed. (Or at least,
I can’t find it anywhere on the Moss website.
They may have it when they get the whole Victoria British line up and
running, but times a'burnin.) I had resigned myself to scrounging
a good used one somewhere or rehabbing the valance and “chin” from the Organ
Donor, but it was swiss cheesy and the chin had taken some hefty shot during
its time on the road, many a crumple.
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| The old and the new upper valance pieces |
Luckily, while clicking on eBay
for Sunbeam stuff, I happened upon Steve Alcala Automotive Restorations eBay
site (his eBay name is steven6243 in case you’re interested) where he sells the
upper valance without the chin. It’s a solid
bit of fabrication. Even without the
chin, it gets me much farther down the road.
Alphie’s rumbled chin is, with creative MIGging, some tissue grafts and
a touch of hammer and dolly, salvageable.
The valance, made with 40
thousands thick steel, does not include the radiator support nor have any of
the holes for the grill bar trim pieces.
First step, Vice-Grip the old valance top piece to the new one and mark for
drilling the holes. The “holes” are
actually slots, so I drilled two holes and Dremel-ed and filed out the slots.
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| Holes marked |
With the slots and holes drilled,
I cut the radiator support from the old piece and started its rehab. The support had a couple of rust throughs and
some thin areas. After a blast of glass
beads, it was all clean metal, but the rust throughs were easier to see and
worse. I could MIG a few of the holes,
but one corner needed a tissue graft. I drew
and cut a file folder template, traced it on some 16-gauge, cut it out, filed
it to fit and MIGed it in place. Since
it will be largely out of view, I only smoothed out the welds a little, enough
to keep from trapping water and rusting.
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| Holes drilled and the radiator support in (the wrong) place |
Next step, a more difficult one. In fine Bonehead Wrenching style, I drilled some holes for MIG fill welds and merrily (and cluelessly) welded the radiator support to the new valance top. Fortunately, after only completing three of the fill-welds, it occurred to me to check the alignment with the rest of Alphie’s snoz… It was shifted about ¾ of inch to the left, or was it the right?
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| Radiator support corner graft |
Carefully I ground out the fill-welds and straighten everything, again. I am becoming quite adept at undoing welds, a
valuable skill in the restoration hobby.
Here’s the catch: if the valance is off, the fender edges below and
outside of the headlights will not match up, which in turn makes the edges of
the chin not match the edges of the fenders or the fender lips. In short, a mistake here will cascade. So how can I be sure it’s all lined up?
Vice-Grip the old valance top to
the new and align the radiator support with the old piece and clamp it to the
new piece. Ta da, the same alignment of
the original piece. I was quite proud
and smug. Eventually, I will learn that proud
and smug is a warning…
With the radiator support clamped in
“perfect alignment” (more later), I happily welded it in place. And welded it I did. I got it too hot and warped it. I stretched and banged it back into shape,
but it was work that could have been prevented, and it didn’t help with the
alignment situation. After a quick etch
primer spray, I gathered all my open-jawed Vice-Grips and set to clamping. A bend here and there and the valance top
piece seemed to fit nicely.
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| All clamped up but about 3/4 inch off |
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| Upper valance clamped in |
Next day, genioplasty. The chin suffers rust-through with dents and abrasions from some rough moments. Start by repairing the tears around the crank-start hole. (One of the cool things about Alpines is that you can start it like a Model T with a crank. Someday, in a crowded parking lot, I’m going to crank-start it just for the reaction.) The plan is to fix the rips and worry about pounding on the dents when it’s back on Alphie’s face.
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| Chin clamped to the upper valance |
The metal is thin, so I lowered the voltage on the MIG and used short bursts. I spotted the end of the cracks to prevent further cracking, then stitched up the remainder of the cracks. I also found cracks around the license plate captured nuts and along the lower edges. The drivers side edge, just below the fender opening was rusted through and didn’t complete the line of the chin. It needed a graft. Per SOP, I cut out the rusty stuff, and using the passenger’s side as a guide, made a file folder template that replaced the rusty chunk and regained the original line of the chin edge. The pictures will help you see what I’m talking about.
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| Chin and valance, driver's side |
With welding there is
grinding. I used the flap disk to not
remove too much metal and because I was just taking off the sharp edges and
looking for holes in the welds. I will smooth
everything to a factory finish during the body work stage once everything is in
place.
Soooo I clamped everything, valance
top and chin, to Alphie’s snoz to check the alignment. The whole kit is about ¾ inches off on each
side. The radiator support is skewed to
one side by ¾ of an inch!
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| Driver's side sticks out about a smidge! |
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| Passenger side, inset about a smidge |
Next page: Mating the Organ Donor's rehabilitated snoz onto Alphie's front end. Lots of fiddling to come!
Some Update Pics
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| The Valance and Chin have become one! HF 240 volt Spot Welder! |
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| Driver's side - the fit is better but not there yet. |
