The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Another question about hood alignment

Have a '52 3100 with all original sheet metal, as far as I know. I have a minor hood-alignment issue and normal folks would let it go, but I don't like it. Here is my issue: The hood is about 1/2" too far toward the passenger side at the front. Of course, if I slam it down, that pulls it back over. But, even then, there are places where the passenger side of the hood rubs the inner lip of the fender...knocking off the paint which does not look real good.

So, I know I need to realign that hood. I've read all I could on this forum, the tech tips, and in the shop manual about the alignment procedure and I feel like I am about ready to tackle it. But, I have a question, and I'm sure those who have done this would call it a stupid question, but here goes anyway:

When loosening the bolts to push my fenders down, out of the way, which bolts do I loosen? I know there are a couple of bolts at the radiator support bracket. And, I know I have to loosen the skirt-dash brace rods. But, what other bolts hold that fender tight? I just don't want to loosen any thing that I don't have to and cause more problems than I solve. And, there are several bolts on the inside of that fender that I have no idea what they are for. So, I don't want to start loosening them unless I know it is required.

Those bolts at the inside rear of the fenders hold them to the cowl. Those probably need to be loosened as well.

Well, see that is my problem. There are lots of bolts at the inside rear of the fenders. I find it hard to determine which bolts hold the fender to the cowl, the fender to the inner fender, etc.. I didn't know if someone might have a diagram.

Before you loosen fenders, how is your hood to cowl gap, on the passenger side and the drivers? Even?

No it's not. There is a about 1/8" or more gap on the passenger side than on the drivers side. And, I know if I move the hood toward the driver's side that gap will only increase.

If you need to move things around, loosen all the bolts, including the fender to cowl panel (4 or 5 bolts along the curve of the fender), and the inner fender to floorboard bolts (3 on each side, with the driver's side bolted from underneath to the parking brake support, and the passenger side bolted from inside the cab to captive nuts on the inner fender). There's also a brace from the cowl to the lower rear of the wheel openings, but that's one of the 4 or 5 bolts between fender and cowl on the inboard end.

Loosen everything up except your fender to cowl rods. Tighten the passenger rod one or two turns, and loosen the drivers the same amount of turns. Lean against your drivers fender headlight area and give it a nudge towards the passenger side. Step back and have a look. Repeat until your grill center lines up with the hood center. At that point, it would probably be best to set the rear gap on your hood. Repeat process until the grill peak lines up with the hood center. Step back and check the center line from the grill, all the way up to the roof center. There is also the possibility that you would have to shim the radiator core support if it has a lean to one side or another. The point would be that it is a process that is done little by little. Take your time. I just tightened up my hood gaps by removing the drivers hinge and filing the hinge hole toward the rear of the vehicle by about a 1/16". That little bit made a big difference on my 1/4"-3/8" drivers side gap. Both sides on mine are at 3/16" gap or so and I can live with that. Brought the front of my hood over 3/4" to line up with my grill peak and made the sides sit a little happier.

Oh yeah, after your tighten everything up, have another look to see if anything moved. Your fenders will even have some up/down adjust-ability to close those side hood gaps even further.

Okay, now we are getting somewhere. I see a couple of bolts where the fender mounts to the top of the radiator support. So, the four or five bolts you refer to are behind the wheels, in the curve and attach the fender to the cowl? Additionally, there are three more on each side...on the parking brake support and I'm guessing behind the passenger kick plate? And, that should do it?

Not sure that's all, but it would include everything behind the wheels as far as fender fasteners.

Dont forget the two bolts under the radiator support that fastens the bottom of the radiator support to the frame, you will move nothing over unless they are loosened.

Update: Still haven't started the job yet. But, I like to know where I'm headed before I start.

I think I'm getting good advice, but it seems to me like most of it is discussing the complete alignment of grille, both fenders, and a new hood installation. I just need a slight adjustment.

I have checked the location of my grille and it is dead-on center.

Why would I loosen the radiator support to the frame? I understand loosening the where the fenders/skirts mount to the radiator support. Am I missing something here?

The front of the hood, when not latched is about 1/2" too far toward the passenger side. When I slam it, that pretty well centers it. When the hood is latched, the driver's edge of hood, near the front, actually hangs over the fender slightly, so I know that driver's-side fender needs to move outward just a touch.

The location of the fenders at the rear is okay. It's just that I need to push the driver's-side fender out just a little at the front and move the front of the hood over about the same amount.

The directions are confusing to me. Aren't the "hood supports" and "hood hinges" the same thing? If not, could someone point out what the hinge is and what the support is?

When referring to "outer" bolts and "inner" bolts on the hood adjustment...do they mean outer as in the farthest outboard (since four are farther outward than the other two), or do they mean as in the location where the bolt heads are (with inner being inside the cab and outer being under the hood)?

Sorry for all the questions, which probably seem to you guys as stupid. But, I just don't want to get in over my head and screw up a pretty good alignment by trying to make it perfect. The procedure in the shop manual says, "Use all or any part of this procedure as necessary..." I only want to do what is necessary.

Thanks for any help.

Think about it-- the front sheet metal is all bolted up to each other and the cab, it attaches to the frame only on the front at the bottom of the radiator support, if you need to shift the sheet metal unit over to one side at the front you must loosen these two bolts. Suggest you crawl under there and do a recon and it will become quite clear why.

Inner bolts are those accessed from the inside of the cab(kick panels), outer are those accessed on the outside of the cab (under hood) for the hinges.
Hinges are hinges, supports are the spring arms that keep the hood up when open.

So, when you do this action, you are actually twisting the hood. That's why you are having issues at your drivers fender to hood. Everything up front needs to be adjusted. Yeah, a lot of work. Yeah, more than it would seem necessary. But, once you get it all dialed in, you will be done and never have to do this work again. Your hood needs to be in a relaxed position, not twisted. Or you will always have alignment problems.

Okay, you are answering my questions and I appreciate it. It is all becoming clearer to me. I know if I ever saw the entire front clip off the truck that I would have a better idea. I just don't want to start loosening bolts that I don't need to and screw things up.

Well, I was trying to learn all I could before I tackled the job. Today, I opened my hood to investigate some more, and now it won't lock because it is so far out of whack. So, I guess I will be learning as I go. I sprayed all the hood hinge and support bolts with Kroil a bit ago. Looks like I will be making some adjustments tomorrow.

The best advice that I can give you at this point, and it is very important!
The front clip adjustment must be broken down into two separate procedures.

1) hood adjustment.
2) everything else adjustment.

Get the fenders down and out of the way so that they do not impede the hood from closing at the latch.
Adjust the hood so that the rear edge of the hood is parallel to the cowl with close to a 1/8" gap when hood is fully closed. The Factory Repair Manual will guide you through this procedure.

After the hood is perfect, all you have to do is maneuver the rest of the parts to fit the hood. This is the challenging part. Loosen ALL nuts and bolts. ALL of them.
PM me when you get stuck.
Carl

Well, I chickened out. I'm the kind of person who believes in doing things right. But, the more I looked at doing the complete alignment, the harder it got. Previous owner had applied some type of undercoating to the wheelwells. That is why I was trying to find out exactly what bolts/nuts must be loosened. If I had a diagram of exactly which bolts/nuts need to be loosened, then I would tackle the complete job. But, I don't want to loosen things that shouldn't be loosened. As it is, with that undercoating, you can't tell a bolthead from a gob of goop. So, moving those fenders down out of the way is going to be a major undertaking. So, I just loosened the hood attachment and got it much better than it has been since I've owned the truck. At least I can close it now. The gap is at the cowl is nowhere close to even, but at least I have a better understanding now of how everything goes together. Maybe I'll get bored one day and go searching for all those bolts and nuts.

My truck is as stock as the day it left the factory. I enter her in some small-time, local carshows. I display her with the hood open so everyone can look at that 216. So, fortunately, those gaps don't show with the hood open.

Thanks for the help!

With the undercoating issue that you mention, I wouldn't try to tackle it either. Leave it for when/if you ever restore it or let the next guy do it if you sell it.
The reason being, you need to loosen virtually everything and be able to slide sheet metal past sheet metal. Ain't gonna happen with what you have described.
Carl