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Why didn't you paint the hood while it was off?

Phil, neat trick on holding the windshield center bar in place. I had to enlist my wife's help with that and also had trouble getting all the screws started. What I wound up doing was grinding a tapered point on at least one screw that was giving me fits. That took care of getting it threaded in.

I completely understand why it looks a bit unusual to leave it unpainted while it was off the truck.

Since I operate as a one-man band, handling and mounting large panels like the hood and fenders by myself always carries a high risk of accidental chips or scratches during installation.

My game plan is to spray all the critical edges first, mount the hood and fenders carefully while they are still in primer, and then spray the entire front end as one cohesive unit. This approach gives me a much better chance of protecting the fresh paint and ensures a nice finish without any installation damage.

That makes sense.

I know from experience that chips can occur. Painting the whole front clip at the same time also helps the paint look the same. My fenders which I painted before anything else, look a bit different than the hood which I painted later, and the paint came out of the same can. Your plan is sound, Phil.

I struggled with the windshield center bar as well. I ended up installing a longer bolts in 2 of the holes to draw the bar closer to allow the correct screws to engage. It was still a struggle but I did get it done. I was dreading the subsequent installation of the rear view mirror that required the top screw to be removed but it didn't end up being a problem.

I have handled my hood installation as a one man band and it can be challenging. I was able to use blankets to protect the fenders and cowl when laying the hood on the fenders, then rotating the hood front up and proping it up with a board from the floor before positioning the rear corners to get the hinge bolts in place.

8/14/26: Since my last update, I’ve prepped and painted the front clip components. I pre-fit the inner fenders, scuffed the parts with a Scotch-Brite pad, and shot them with Rust-Oleum semi-gloss paint. I also sanded and painted all the edges of the fenders so they're completely ready to be mounted and sprayed right on the truck.

I also sprayed the last of the frame that I wasn’t able to reach before I removed the front clip.

I’m waiting on a bolt kit I ordered from Classic Parts, that includes all of the fasteners for the front clip. Since the entire front clip was a mismatch of fasteners with a good portion of them missing, I figured this was the easiest route to take.

I’m getting excited, things are really coming together!

Great progress. Getting the front clip all in place and bolted together is a major milestone and doesn't come easy so try not to get too frustrated if it takes some time and multiple tries to get it together the way you want (there's a reason people want to keep the front clip together once its been done).

I got the front clip assembled and installed today!

I ran into a minor speed bump right out of the gate—I installed the inner fenders, fender supports, and the radiator splash pan before realizing the outer fenders actually needed to go on at the exact same time as the inner fenders. Fortunately, I caught my mistake early enough that I didn't waste too much time backtracking. On the bright side, since I used all new fasteners from Classic Parts, I didn't have to wrestle with any old, rusty bolts.

Once I got back on the right track, the rest of the assembly went pretty well. After getting the latch panel in place, I couldn't resist lowering the hood just to check the gaps and see how far off the alignment was. Turns out, the whole clip needs to go back at least a quarter inch.

I'm going to be using 52Carl’s “AD Front Clip Alignment Procedure to get everything squared away properly. Hopefully, everything goes well!

Looking good Phil, can’t wait to see your clip squirted to match everything else. That blue really looks good.

52Carl's procedure will yield good results. I found it difficult to move the clip rearward to improve my hood to clip alignment but hopefully you have better luck.

I agree the color looks great, can't wait to see the finished version once the front clip is in place and final paint job is completed.

The Old Truck didn't look that good when it was new. Do you hire out??

Very nice looking. Patience and the hood will go. Keep up the good work. Looks very nice.

8/25/26: After two days of struggling to get the front clip aligned, I finally got it to the point where the hood closes (and opens), gaps are OK, but could be better. The drivers side fender needs to go back a touch but I can’t seem to get it to move. I even removed the fender and inner fender a filed the holes to allow more movement but I didn’t gain much. It seems that the fender support rods set at the recommended length are restricting the movement. I tried shortening the drivers side but it just caused the front of the fender to hit the hood when it closed.

I’m not going to mess with it any longer, until I get my new chrome grill to see what it hides and how it fits.

I had a similar experience and in the end just let it be. Installing the new grille will be another challenge but one you can handle.

Not an experience I’m looking forward to, but it must be done before I paint. If I have to move things around to get it aligned, I won’t be scratching paint.

I wanted to share a quick update on the truck project.

I received my new chrome grille and it looks awesome! I did a dry fit in the opening and found it was really tight, but after loosening the fender-to-radiator splash panel, I was able to pull things out just enough to get the grille into place.

Unfortunately, the new grille didn't magically hide the ill-fitting fender-to-hood gap, so it was back to aligning the front clip. I sent a PM to 52Carl, our Stovebolt expert, asking about the fender-to-cowl support rod measurements. The manual calls for setting the driver's side at 27-1/4” and the passenger's side at 27”. With those exact settings, however, I couldn’t get the fenders back far enough to align them properly with the hood.

My question to Carl was whether I could shorten them to get the fenders to move toward the rear of the truck. He let me know that those measurements were just a starting point, and if I needed to shorten them to get proper alignment, to go ahead and do it.

Armed with that info, I finally found success! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Next up is the final wet sanding on the fenders and hood in preparation for paint. However, I need to rethink painting the hood while it's still on the truck. Once I started wet sanding the fenders, I realized that it would be really difficult block sanding the middle near the cowl, not to mention being able to reach it to paint it successfully. I’ve decided I'll remove it and reinstall it using my engine lift instead.

Great! Glad you were able to get it aligned where you are happy with it.

Yes, preping and painting the middle of the hood near the cowl is a challenge. I ended up with a short scaffold setup to be able to reach but it was still a challenge to avoid feeling off balance and wanting to put my hand on the fender for balance/support.

Looking GOOD! 👀