The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Raising the rad support - how high is too high?

I'm fitting the hood on my '53 AD. It seems like the more I raise the radiator support the better it fits. I'm up to about 1 1/4" between the support mounts and the crossmember. I've got good measurements on my cab mounts, as per the assembly manual. I can build a spacer for the rad support gap, thats no problem. Anybody (or everybody) go this high? Any other tricks?

Do you have the fenders loosely bolted up? Seems like something isn't right if it's that high.

I'm sure someone with more hood fitting experience will chime in.
Carl? How about it?

Whoops sorry. All front clip sheet metal is loose. Everything is an "old" part, no repos.

Do you have the felt spacers that go between the radiator support and the cross member?

Chris

No, some rubber ones were in there. Why do you ask this?

Here are some radiator core support parts :
Chevs of the 40s
Classic Parts

Do you happen to have a GMC frame and a Chevrolet radiator support? That would cause your exact issue.
I have that combination on the truck which I am building. The GMC crossmember sits 1 1/2" lower than the Chevrolet crossmember. I made a 1 1/2'" spacer to account for this.

I don't believe so...everything was good 12 years ago when I took it apart, all the same parts. Should I try dropping the rear of the fenders?

If you have all Chevrolet parts, you need to recheck the gaps at all four cab mounts. Make sure that you measured from the correct points. I little bit off on those areas creates a huge error at the radiator support.

I checked again and those measurements are quite near what they should be. The hood is stopped closing when the bottoms of the rear curve of the hood hits the cowl. I previously said that all parts were original GM, all except the lower cowl. Original was replaced with aftermarket due to rust. I'm thinking maybe the curve in the cowl for the hood is off. What is the next adjustment?

Do you have the Chevrolet Factory Repair Manual? It will guide you through the process.

I don't have a repair manual. Which process?

This is all that I could find in the Shop Manual - 1948-1951(, but probably good for radiator through 1953? It does not discuss/describe using shims (metal or "fabric). I have used such shims (and, used too many). Someday, I'll re-adjust the "front clip" (it sits too high on my Suburban).

The process boils down to this:
1) Adjust the cab to factory specs. Since you don't have a manual, you probably don't have the cab set to specs above the frame.
2) Adjust the back of the hood to the cowl so that you have a parallel gap the full length of 3/16" to 1/4". This is when you set the correct height of the radiator support. The gap won't be parallel if the radiator support is not spaced correctly.
There is a lot more in the manual, but this should get you headed in the right direction.
Your life will be much easier once you buy a manual.

Which manual? I have an assembly manual, it gives me measurements, etc. The cab is sitting as per that manual's floor/frame distances. How do you adjust the hood to cowl gap?

You need the Factory Shop Manual.

48-51 Chevy Truck Shop Manual
Reprints are also available if you want a hard copy.

If you need to raise the core support ( front of hood ) to align the hood to cab, why not raise the back of the cab slightly and core support slightly and meet in the middle? If it looks right, then start attaching other parts to see how they fit up. Lots of variables to deal with, even if the measurements are per manual, that doesn't mean there right for 60 year old parts.