The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Hood/fender fit 1951 3100

have new fenders and new hood that does not have center mold...new inner fenders and original core support. alignment/gap seems good up and until the hood contacts frt of each fender where fenders turn down at the frt. All mounting holes line up from back at cowl to the core support and gap looks good. When I measure at the curve down spot on the hood and fenders that distance across is off to 1/2 inch in other words the hood over laps the top of the fenders. Hood does not fit down in the gap. When you look at the taper of the metal from the stamping of the metal it looks excessive but the space across from side to side on the hood is control and set by a reinforcement at the frt of the hood, the stamping of the metal fits the reinforcement. Hard to envision the hood being off that much. It comes back to the fenders being shaped/stamped wrong at the point of the curve down at the frt. They fit good everywhere but there. Anyone been down this road before on new fenders? Open for suggestions???

Pictures would help a lot. Do you have the original parts to take measurements from and compare?

Hard to envision the hood being off that much.

It is? Considering all this stuff is made in China or some other third world nation, it's actually surprising that the parts fit as well as they do.

No, all that beyond available, but it sure is hard to imagine...back firs pretty good each side gap wise. As it moves toward the front it closes up and at that spot the hood is way too big for the gap and won't go down. You can push each side down separately and it goes down and seems to fit but the other side just jumps up more. I've tried to spread the fender with a Porto power but there is no place for it to go. When you measure the frt of the hood and the bottom corners of the fender at the grille opening the space is good, there is room for the hood to fit down at that point. Move up to the curve where the fender starts down foward to the grille opening there is no room for the hood to fit in.

I think you're going to have to compare the new hood and fenders to the original parts to determine which, if any, is made incorrectly.

If there isn't a problem with the parts, then the issue is with the frame/crossmember/ etc.

What company did the hood and fenders come from?

NPD not unusual to twik the parts but this far more than adjustment...I can cut and remake the corners but at 600 each I sure don't want to do it...lol

Here are pics that I couldn't attach in the PM.

As you can see, this truck shouldn't be used as the "standard" for any sort of panel fitment. It might help you determine how far off your parts are, though.

The distance between the fenders, measured flat against the firewall is 56 15/16".

Across front in the location pictured, the measurement is 30.5".

The 30.5 is about correct on mine...those two bolts on the core support up from the frt edge is where my problem is...that is where my hood overlaps the fenders. When I look at the fender on your pic there I can see a difference in the stamping on my fenders and the way the fender fits down toward the core support where the 2 bolts are. I'll try pics from my phone but last time I tried the format of my phone pics were not accepted. Thks!

Where the hood and fenders come to the front is a little funky with OEM fenders and hood.

Do you have the new hood fitted to the cab, specifically the top cowl with the cowl seal in place? The rear of the hood needs to have an even gap of between 1/8" and 3/16" all the way across with the hood latched and the fenders lowered as far down as possible in the rear.
Once you have the hood adjusted as described, you are done with adjusting the hood. Don't do anything else to the hood.
Now you need to move the fenders up in the back until the rubber bumpers on the underside of the hood are contacted.
If the the front points of the fenders are not even with the front of the hood, you will need to adjust the threaded rods which go between the fenders and the cowl until the fenders and hood matches up evenly. This should miraculously result in alignment of the funky curves of the top of the fenders and the bottom of the hood to match up. That is, if your aftermarket parts are made correctly.
You need to try this first before you get frustrated thinking about that aspect.
I can take a perfectly fitting original hood and fenders off, and try to put them back on and wonder if someone snuck in and did something to my parts before I finally get them back on right.

I can see that...and to be honest I didn't put those rods on from the firewall out to the fenders and that might very well provide the push to spread those things out to let the hood drop in. This is my first 3100 truck so it is a learning experience for sure. Thanks for everyone's help!!

These are pic's of fender/hood and gaps. Frt ii close but adjustment of cowl to fender rods are about max. The rod pressure tends to distort cowl panel.

It looks like there's a bit too much arch in your hood. That can be adjusted at the rear hood brace. It entails adding washers under the screws at the center piece, which draws the hood down at the center strip. The procedure is in the shop manual. Bottom of page 11-5, starting at item 10. [on edit] I see you have a repop one-piece hood. Maybe it doesn't have the adjustment capability of the OEM hood.

Strange that the fender rods distort the cowl panel. They attach pretty far down on the firewall at a pretty stiff spot. I would think that the rods would bow first.

Otherwise, it looks like you're there.

Tighten the rods tend to make the bow at the top of the cowl panel incease. The only way for that is if the cowl panel drops.??? Torque could pull it down as the rod pushes the fender connection forward that could force the back of the rod back toward the rear sucking that part of the cowl down. Repo metal is as heavy gauge as original and this cowl panel is repo part. .Just have to keep trying it.

Have you looked at the hood adjustment I mentioned? If it's available on your repop hood, I would give that a try.

I can't tell very well if your hood is adjusted to the cowl properly from your pics. An overhead view of the entire rear edge of the hood where it meets the cowl would help quite a bit. The gap must be the parallel from one side to the other (1/8 to 3/16") and the hood should be tight against the cowl seal. Until you have that, any adjustment to the fenders to try to mate them up with the underside of the hood will be futile.

I'll add pic's of hood to cowl from an overview. It appears even gap across the rear. The passenger side is higher up than the driver's side which appears to fit well. From center over to the rh side of the hood drifts up but the bottom at the fender and cowl clearance seems good. Question: the ends of the hinge arms seem to be more periductular to the flat area of the hood and would work better if the end of the arms laid flat to the hood mtg. Half of the rounded shoulder of the bolt sticks out once tightened up. Is the correct?

Take some pics of the hinge bolts while you're at it.

pics attached.

Go to the Paint and Body Shop first page and click on Tech Tips--Paint and Body at the top of the page.
At the top of that page is the tech tip for AD Front Clip Alignment Procedure.
Follow the hood alignment procedures to a T.
The back of your hood is not down against the rubber rear hood seal.The Procedure walks you through making that happen.

Carl, what should be a good height of the crossmember off the frame? That could have something that might help. I'm setting on the rubber pads no metal spacers...how nigh should it set up off the frame crossmember?

Which crossmember are you referring to?

I was referring to the one the core support sets on but I just finished reading your outline directions to frt metal/hood alignment and caught the remark about changing the shims on the core support which answers my question. The assembly manual shows a variety rubber and shims and suppliers just show bolts and a rubber pad. I understand no set mount kit I will adjust as needed. Thanks!

Start with reproduction radiator support mounting pads. They are approximately .250" thick.

Anyone found a workable way to do a frt replacement with stock type parts and delete the brace rods? My rods seem to be necessary for fender /hood gap at the frt.

You definitely need the brace rods in my opinion.

I think to drop the rods will mean a change of the inner structure to the company someone here used sometime back. Replace core support with one that attaches to the top of the frame rails, inner skirts are made different allowing the gap to be set entirely by the location of the fender without rods. The under hood looks much neater and no interference with v8 FI fuel systems. Just thoughts right now but seriously thinking about the change. If I do I have some new oem style parts to get rid of...lol