Fitting grille surround to front shroud - BJ7 - any advice?

[blueskies]

The previous owner of this project hired someone to weld on a new lower front section to the shroud. The shroud needed more welding and straightening, which I did, and it now is in primer. The new one-piece grille surround from Moss also arrived.

Partly because I recall hearing of others having problems installing the grille surround, I would like to at least test fit this to the shroud before painting the shroud. The shroud has six clips or mounts of several shapes and sizes that project out from the shroud and fasten to the shroud. However, without bending or cutting several of the clips, it seems next to impossible to fit the surround into the shroud. The clips are quite rigid, and I do not want to damage them or the spots where they mount to the surround by bending them.

Can anyone tell me how they managed to install the surround? Once installed, should it be left in place for the final painting? I doubt it, although that would minimize the risk of scratching the new paint by installing the shroud later on.

 

[BigGreen]

In the Moss picture there is only one clip, the rest is bolts and nuts

https://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=123722

The grill is attached in combination with the air deflectors (20)

https://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=28860

Splash panels (10) go in last

https://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=28952

 

[Keoke]

Once installed, should it be left in place for the final painting? --NO! Just be careful when reinstalling it.

 

[blueskies]

BigGreen, this is part #56 on that Moss diagram. It does have six mounting points. Six flanges (not sure of the right term) project backwards from the grille surround to attach to the mounting points on the shroud. Those six flanges interfere with the installation as the shroud will not fit through the opening in the shroud because of those flanges. I would rather not bend or cut those flanges and am wondering how to fit the grille in without doing so. Or is that necessary? What have others done?

 

[BigGreen]

In other words, the surround has six mountingpoints
Most of these mountingpoints have special bolts and nuts
Only one has a clip and a screw

The mountingpoints on the surround should align with the holes in the shroud
Edit (The surround) The grille must be put in its place from the inside at the sime time as the surround, (wheels up) with the deflectors and splash guards aside

Do the mountingpoints on the surround align to the lips on the grille ?
if you still have the original grille I would take that for refference

succes, Hans

 

[MCS]

The surround is fitted on the outside. It slides in and you want enough room for primer and paint. make sure you include the eyebrow. I suggest assembling all the grill pieces, it takes lots of time but you will thank me later. I spent days fitting the surround and grill but it made final assembling easy, no marks on the paint. Please do not skip this step, somebody in your local club should have either a BJ7 or Bj8 you can go look at. You really need to see an assembled car, pictures are tough to figure out how it sits. Anybody that I know, has a surround on hand before doing any metal/ body work on the shroud grill area, I hope you got it close. Hope this helps.

 

[BigGreen]

The surround is fitted on the outside. ...

Ouch, you are so right !

 

[blueskies]

OK, MCS and Big Green - thanks for clarifying that one fits it in from the outside. I will give this another go soon. Last time I tried to fit it in there, the six mounting flanges appeared to be in the way. Several of them not only project out from the surround but also have 90 degree bends in them that further interfere with the installations. If one can only get those six flanges through the opening, all at once, the rest should be easy. Any further tips on how to do this?

 

[blueskies]

Finally figured this out. Again, I will try to blame this on the fact that I did not take this car apart - either this BJ7 or the BN4 also undergoing reconstruction. A light came on when I finally realized that the bottom three tabs on the grille surround fit inside the shroud and the top three tabs go outside the shroud. I was very carefully trying to fit all six inside, which really is impossible to do without destroying the grille surround or the shroud. The grille surround and the cowl that fits above it are now bolted in place, temporarily. Before final painting, a little cutting and filling is required, which is not a surprise. I also probably should check whether the grille will fit before going farther with this.

 

[British_Recovery]

The top chrome part fits inside the front lip of the oval, not over the top of it.
Bob

 

[blueskies]

The top chrome part fits inside the front lip of the oval, not over the top of it.
Bob

Thanks, I will have a better look at that.

 

[blueskies]

Back at the grille/shroud fitting today, and a question came up. The grille surround and the vertical grille both have six attachment points, three at the top and three at the bottom. The shroud has a new bottom piece welded in; that bottom piece only has two attachment points and none in the middle.

Can anyone describe (or provide a picture of) that middle bottom attachment piece on the shroud?

 

[Healey Nut]

First pic , eyebrow to oval detail it clips in behind the oval .
2nd pic lower centre grill mount inside shroud .
3rd pic passenger side lower grill mount inside shroud .

 

[blueskies]

Thank you, Healey Nut. That is helpful.

It seems to me that I have seen the eyebrow installed over top of the oval (extending out over the oval with the top edge of the oval fitted into the curved front of the eyebrow) instead of having the front edge of the eyebrow tucked in behind the oval. I'm guessing that is always wrong - that no Healeys came from the factory that way???

 

[Healey Nut]

Yes the eyebrow snaps in behind the front lip of the oval . It's kinda hard to get it to snap into place . You need to persuade it gently but it will go and it will snap in . You don't need to beat on it or use any tools but a third hand is useful . Once it snaps in you know . It just looks right .

 

[Healey Nut]

I'm going to be finishing off the fitting of my grill etc this weekend . When I took it apart it was just an assortment of nuts and bolts . I see there is a grill fitting kit with some studs in .
Does anyone have details of which fastener goes where . There are four studs in the kit so is it two top and bottom on the grille?
I can just make some with threaded rod and nuts etc .......Shhhhhhh I can almost hear the heart palpitations now from the concourse crowd !!!!!!

 

[blueskies]

Healey Nut, I just went through this the other day. An article that I found somewhere, authored by Rich Chrysler and someone else whose name escapes me now, recommended using 1 1/2" long 1/4" fine thread rod for the two outer upper spots. So I did that. For the middle top, I used a 1/4" fine thread bolt, about 1" long. The eyebrow piece should have captive nuts in the three spots. For the two bottom outer spots, I used those studs that you describe, with the nuts affixed half way along the length. In retrospect, those same studs also should work fine for the two upper outer spots. The nuts do space the vertical slatted grille out from the surround by the thickness of the nuts, but that may be a good thing.

I am still not sure what to do with the bottom middle location. I did make a piece to rivet to the shroud, as depicted in one of your images above and used that to fasten the surround to the shroud. But it likely will be necessary to make another piece to join the vertical slatted grille to the rest of the assembly in the middle bottom position. A picture of that area would be helpful.

A word of caution: When fitting the eyebrow piece into the oval, check the top edge of the groove in the oval for roughness. The new surround that I bought had a rough weld half way along, covered over with chrome plating. That rough weld scratched the chrome on the eyebrow piece. When installed, the eyebrow piece does not fit all that deeply into the oval, and a bit of the scratch shows. Can't say that I'm happy about that. Still looking for a solution.

 

[Healey Nut]

Tks for the advice re fastners . As far as chrome is concerned I'm good . All mine is original rechrome and hand polished . I would much rather use original and rechrome than buy repro junk even if it costs double or more . Just as a comparison I got my bumpers down for a look see to check fit etc before I decide wether to use them or not . The front was original the rear was a repro . The repro is made from coke can I'm sure it's literally 1/2 the weight and really thin so that ones getting junked . I'm not spending good money on rechroming coke cans . I have some other bumpers off my project tri-carb which I may use as the tri-carb is going bumper less when it gets done .

 

[blueskies]

Here is the link to the Rich Chrysler info on grille installation. Frankly, I found much of the information there confusing, but some of it was helpful.

https://www.healey6.com/Technical/Grill installation synopsis.pdf

 

[Healey Nut]

Got er' dun