'Bolters helping 'Bolters is a beautiful thing!

          There are approximately 20 bolts (all adjustable!) holding the fenders and hood to the front of an Advance Design truck -- and they all need to be just right or the front sheet metal won't fit together properly and the hood won't function properly. Yikes! How do you sort that out? The good news is that Mac has already figured it out for you and will walk you through...

Nothing fits!

The following procedure may be used to correct improperly fitted hoods. Use all or any part of this procedure as necessary to obtain proper appearance and operation.

Step 1 --  Loosen fender and skirt attaching bolts to body. Loosen radiator support bolts. Push fenders down to provide clearance for hood adjustment. Remove the hood lock-plate (on the horizontal panel in front of the radiator).

Step 2 --  Check and adjust fender skirt to dash brace rods. Measurements should be taken from center of bolt head to edge or brackets: Left side 27 1/4 inches. The right side should be 27 inches.

Step 3 --  Loosen outer hood-hinge bolts completely, both sides.

Step 4 --  Disconnect hood supports from hood and swing hood supports down out of the way. Loosen the bolts attaching the hood supports to body, both sides. This will permit vertical adjustment of hood supports after hood alignment is completed.

Step 5 --  Loosen two inner-hood hinge bolts, both sides. Leave these bolts just snug so that the hinge can just be moved by jarring or exerting pressure on the hood.

Step 6 --  Adjust hood fore and aft to obtain an 1/8" to 1/4" gap between rear edge of hood and cowl ledge.

Note: If the gap is not even, tight at sides and open at top center or vice versa, add or remove shims between the radiator support and frame cross member as necessary to obtain even hood gap at hood ledge, both at center and sides, and tighten radiator support bolts to 5 ft. lbs.

Step 7 --  Lift front of hood and place 4" block under hood nose to hold it up.

Step 8 --  Force rear end of hood down tightly on hood anti-squeak. Hood should be down very tight against the cowl-to-hood-anti-squeak to compensate for upward push of hood supports after they are connected. Supports will push the hood up as far as the play in the hinge rivets will allow. Center hood as necessary, without disturbing fore and aft position, and tighten two inner hood hinge bolts on each side while hood is held own.

Note: If the hood hinges bottom out unevenly on the step at the cowl sides before hood is down to the position described above, it may be necessary to remove the hinges and smooth or hammer the step to remove the bumps to permit lowering of the hinges. If the hood is still not down far enough, it may be necessary to enlarge and elongate the holes in the cowl with a rat tail file. This will permit the hinge attaching-bolts to rotate in the slotted holes in the cowl when the hood is pushed down. This may also allow additional downward movement of the hood due to the position of the hinge arms on the hinges.

Step 9 --  Remove the 4" block that is under the hood nose. Lower hood and check hood the fit at the cowl. The hood should be very tight against the anti-squeak across top of cowl. If the hood touches the anti-squeak tightly at the sides but bows up in the center, adjust as follows:

1. Remove two outer screws on each side holding center bracket to hood reinforcement at rear of hood.
2. Loosen two inner screw in bracket.
3. Pry outer ends of bracket away from reinforcement and place flat washers as necessary between outer ends of bracket and reinforcement on both sides.
4. Reinstall outer screws through the flat washers and tighten all brackets to reinforcement attaching screws securely.

This will bring center of hood down and reduce the possibility of flutter at the center of hood. If hood still does not touch anti-squeak tightly after the above operations, it will be necessary to shim under anti-squeak to prevent hood flutter, as it is not possible to lower hood further.

Step 10 --  Tighten outer hood hinge bolts, both sides.

Mac's 1952 Candian-built Chevy

Step 11 --  Reassemble hood supports to hood, both sides. With hood in raised position and resting on hood supports, tighten bolts attaching hood supports to dash, both sides. These were originally loosened at the dash to permit vertical adjustment of the hood support after the hood had been adjusted to its new position. This re-adjustment is necessary to prevent the possibility of one hood support being fully locked in the open position and the other being partially open.

Step 12 --  Replace hood lock plate, tightening plate attaching screws just snug, and push hood lock plate to the rear as far as the clearance in the screw holes will allow. Drop hood to closed position and lock, this will center hood lock plate. Then raise hood, move lock plate forward 1/32" and tighten lock plate screws.

Step 13 --  Adjust lock stud to proper length as necessary to hold the hood closed. The lock stud may appear to be too short to get proper adjustment. This will usually be due to bent hood lock plate or bent upper catch plate, these plates being bent by slamming the hood shut while improperly adjusted. It will be necessary to straighten the bent plates if this condition exists, to bring the lock stud to proper position to hold hood closed.

Step 14 --  Lower the hood to locked position and raise rear end of fenders to fit lower edge of hood and tighten fender and skirt to body attaching parts.

I prefer to do something two or even three times, as I learn more that way.
- Don "down2sea" McLendon