The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Fender to cowl gap question

I've spent the better part of the last two days trying to bolt on my running boards and front fenders on my 38. Nothing seems to line up properly but I think it's pretty close now. Sure hope the hood lines up okay. Anyway, my question is, how much of a gap should there be between the cowl and the aft end of the front fender? When I push the running boards all the way inboard I still have a gap of about 3/8". Is this normal, and is there supposed to be a seal or something in the gap? Thanks for any help, Happy Thanksgiving to all, Don

Sorry for the delay...

Until someone comes along who really knows the answer, I'll take a stab at it based on my experience with my '39 ground up resto... Did you use welting (seals) on your fenders? If not, using them might take up the slack. If you are using them, then monkeying around with all the parts migyht also do it.

ON my truck, reassembling the front end seemed fairly idiot proof, so if you are having alignment troubles, it may be something fairly simple (hopefully). Remember, though, I'm basing this gained in restoring ONE truck (um, 12 years ago...)

Anyone else?

Thanks,
JOhn

Hi John, thanks for the reply. I did use fender welting around the area between the fender and the front shroud where the fender bolts directly to the shroud. In the area between the cowl and the fender the gap is too great for welting, it's actually about 1/2" on both sides. Oh how I wish I could see a picture or a real completed truck so I could have a better idea of what to expect.

Thanks again, Don

Raised the tarp on my 38 1 1/2 ton. the welting is still in place on the front of the fenders but missing on on the rear. the bottom of the rear of the fender is tight to the cab at the top it is about a 1/4 inch out. I just figured that was from wear and tear during it's life as a farm truck .The farmer apparently wasn't real careful with the fenders. Thanks to mother nature dumping more rain last night truck is now in a puddle or I'd crawl under and see if any welting was visible on the underside of the fenders

Have you tried loosening the front fender supports that bolt to the radiator frame ? Just a thought.

Thanks to all that replyed to my question. The front fender bolts are loose, will tighten them after rear of fender is tightened. I guess there is supposed to be some gap at the rear so I will live with that. May put in a bulb rear seal to fill it in a little. Patience, patience, patience, wish I had more of it!

Thanks again, Don

I checked my '38 this evening (it has fiberglass front fenders for now) and it has a good 1/4" - 3/8" gap between the fenders and the cab cowl yet the fenders are fastened correctly to the running boards. There are no rub marks on the cowl to indicate they have ever touched since they were installed.