ALL STOP!! I feel the need to bang the lectern, stomp my foot, shoot a pistol into the ceiling ... whatever.
Quit chasing your tails for a moment and re-read what Carl posted above.
The number one thing to understand is that the hood adjustment comes first. That procedure has nothing to do with adjusting the fenders.
You set the hood up in perfect alignment with the cowl, and never touch it again. I cannot stress that enough.
You then adjust the fenders until they align with the hood.
Having lived this dream on two ADs, I can't stress enough what Carl says. It's a bottom line, end of discussion point. But to back it up, when I restored a '49 4400, I got fixated on the fender support rods and the radiator support ... trying different amount of washers, adjusting the fender supports ... back and forth, over and over. It drove me bat guano crazy and frustrated to the point I'd throw a wrench, turn out the lights, slam the garage door and quit for the day.
Since then, I have had the front clip on and off, and apart, twice now on the '49 1-ton -- including removing the hood both times. Everything went right back together like it came from the factory. In *perfect* alignment. Why? BECAUSE I DIDN'T TOUCH THE HINGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Carl says, they were adjusted *to the cowl* properly at the factory so I didn't need to mess with them. Because of that, everything went back together easy peasy chicken squeezy. Not once, but twice now.
So .... Here it is again:
The number one thing to understand is that the hood adjustment comes first. That procedure has nothing to do with adjusting the fenders.
You set the hood up in perfect alignment with the cowl, and never touch it again. I cannot stress that enough.
You then adjust the fenders until they align with the hood.

John