The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Installing front sheet metal

Been working for days trying to get the correct fit. Is there a certain sequence to assembling.
I know everything aligns to the hood but do you install the inner fenders to the cab first or to
the fenders and install these as a unit and then the radiator support?? Also can you get away with doing away with the hood supports and use a hoodprop.This would make life so much simpler

welcome to the shop Jerry, hope you'll be bringing some pics around sometime, we all like pictures

usually the best way to do it is to get everything together "loosely", so you can shift it around as necessary - everything aligns to everything ... hood on last, not first - you can put put the fenders and inners together first, or put the core support on, then mount the inners to that, then the fenders on, then the hood, or you can put everything together on the ground and lift it on as a unit, then the hood

a hood prop can be fine for trial fitting, but best to do it right in the end .... putting the front sheet metal together is never simple!

Bill

Welcome to the bolt.

Hood support springs can be done without in my opinion but hood props are problematic in themselves. Make sure your hood is adjusted correctly first. A searh in the general section for "hood alignment" will give you the info you need if you do not have it. I would keep the springs.

Inner fenders can be mounted either way. Fender to cowl braces are needed if you were thinking of doing without them.

If you have made any modifications to the front which could affect the orientation of the core support you may have complicated matters but it is nothing some additional shims cannot correct.

Bear in mind that few AD truck have show car hood or panel gaps. Close is good enough in some cases.

Wow!! Ipt this question in last night & already have answers. Been spending a lot of time on your site. Has a wealth of info.
My 54 has had many changes. I bought it several years ago and now that I am retired am putting
all my efforts into getting it back on the road.
It was a work in progress when I found it. It has a rear steer nova fronts clip w/11" discs,
hood has been made into one piece & louvered,
head lights tunneled w/75 Cordoba rings, elect.
doors (solenoid operated bear claw latches &
power windows). I have added a 69 corvette rear
end and done alot of panel replacing on the cab. The floor & toe boards, inner & outer cowl panels and that part that goes between them,
trans tunnel. With all these changes nothing has been easy in aligning the sheet metal.
I have wanted one of these trucks ever since
I saw one at the local chevy dealer new in 1954. I was 10 years old at the time. Love those bulges & curves. The 350 and 700r4 are rebuilt and ready to install but am trying to fit the
sheet metal prior to begining the body work.
I have been a car/truck nut all my life but this is the first time I have tried a project this
big. Frame off, boxing the frame, building cab
mounts etc. Its kind of scary but one step at a time. Finding this site has been a real help.
It is amazing to find that there are so many other twisted individuals like my self out there that are so into trucks. Sorry to be so wordy
but this site has really made me smile.
Thanks for the replies.

I've got a similar situation to jerry d. I am finally getting the body panels back from the body guy and am about to start installing.

My problem (one of many) is my first not-so-smart body guy decided to fill in the bolt holes in the side of the cab where the fenders bolt. Now I'm trying to locate those holes. I have a template made but that isn't totally helping because things may need to shift once all the parts are installed but I can't start installing parts until I locate these holes. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I tried to tell them not to fill the holes but they wouldn't listen....

On my truck everything more or less uses the radiator support for a benchmark.

Don

Thanks, Don. Luckily it was the body guy before Roberto that did that little customization for me. And he wonders why he didn't get the whole job. Roberto just forgot to drill them back out before he painted it.

So, how do you know if the radiator is lined up? I think mine had a shim in there before I took everything apart.

Thanks,
David

I ended up using a hood prop. It was such a nightmare lining up my front end. I could not for the life of me get my hood to line up. I should have done better test fitting before paint, but live and learn. Good luck and pictures are always welcome.

I too should have done more test fitting before I got everything painted but my painter is too far away to shuffle things back and forth more than once. I am also learning from this experience.

My other problem is I'm running out of storage space. I need to get some of this sheet metal hung before the rest of it comes back, but I'm missing crucial pieces, like the inner fenders and running boards. The next load from the painter will really fill the garage.

highwayman, check out my webshots page. I'll add more pictures of the test fit today. Thanks.