The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk giving up on my front end

After endless shiming, hammering, and twisting, I am giving up on trying to align my front sheetmetal. It just will not happen, and as much as it kills me to have spent all of '08 redoing nearly everything on the truck (as hack though the work maybe) then reassemble it and have nothing line up, I can not justify holding up completion of the project, which I define as a drivable vehicle, any longer because of it. I've learned a lot in the course of this project, but I can't help but think of how for all I've spent on my garage rental and parts I can't use, I could have had someone who actually knew what they were doing do the work. Oh well, its all about the love isn't it?

Is this a question?

Funny thing... I had my cab over at the body shop last summer and the body man (an immigrant from Mexico and trained there) had bolted on the doors and they fit perfectly. I haven't begun to fit the front sheetmetal but I may have him come by here and help.
It's hard to beat pro help. You miss the personal satisfaction of DIY but you get to ride much quicker.
Good Luck!

I'd say more General Truck Talk than question.

It is a little pile of gun powder waiting for a spark that will ignite a needed conversation on the subject of sheetmetal puzzles. Probably should be in paint and body.

What year is your truck?

Looking at his profile I'm guessing that it is the '49 GMC.

If there was a more detailed description of what doesn't fit, maybe we could help. Are we talking about the cab, doors, front fenders, hood or what?

I've been envolved in autobody repair for a long time and know from experience that if something has been bent/altered, nothing is going to go togeather easly. We know most of these old trucks saw some rough use or were just worn out. How "rough" was your truck was when you started out? Starting with the cab, is it sitting on the frame "square & level", do your doors fit? If so then line up the hood with the cowl. Setup the radiator support, make sure its "square & level", if not better check your frame. The fenders and aprons can be a bear if they've been wrecked. Ask a buddy to help push & pry while you start some bolts, leave everything loose so you can move things around. I'm not familar with the GMC grille, but can't see it being any tougher than a chevy grille! Sometimes theres little tricks that bodymen know, and we are softies when someone asks for help. Sometimes you just have to make "bodyparts" fit. I know some of the aftermarket stuff fits likes socks on a rooster. Consider this a Pep talk, hope it helps.

Show us some pictures.

Like Yakima says... If the cab is good (doors close, pedals don't rub, steering column in center of hole) and sitting properly on an unbent frame, it all starts with the hood to cowl gap. Get that even and go from there.

If you did major surgery without checking the fit of related parts you can get in trouble very quickly, especially when one mistake feeds another. That type of "accumulative error" is the cause of many abandoned projects.

But anything can be fixed so don't despair.

Lining the hood up to the cowl does not seem to be much of a problem, but from there it is down hill big time. I had actually posted looking for some suggestions a time ago. The hood, fenders, and grill surround were pretty cracked out to begin with. I was hoping that with a little TLC and a lot of hammering I'd be able to get something close to right. I've shimmed, filed, hammered but can't seem to get the right formula. I think at this point what is required is some cutting, welding, and redrilling. As I said, with the truck being so close to running, I think the best course of action is to throw it together so I can get rid of my current garage, then look for something less expensive. Maybe someone walking the line of forecloser who would be willing to rent their garage out cheap.

I remember reading somewhere that you start with the two front cab mounts. Get that square, then align the hood. Once the hood is aligned, then you move to the inner fenders, radiator support, outer fenders and grill. Someone please confirm or deny my memory.

As has been suggested, the paint and body forum is where the specifics of lining up the parts should be discussed. I seem to recall someone has already posted a how to there. Or maybe it is in Tech tips. Anyway, since this post is more about the frustration we all go through trying to rebuild an old truck, I'm leaving this post here. Why don't you search paint and body and see what turns up?

You're getting soft Cletis!

hammer to fit, weld to stick and paint to match.

maybe this will be useful

http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/AD_hood_alignment.htm

the doors, then the hood, then bend the rest to fit

I'm wondering how perfect a fit you are expecting. These things were made to work with and they weren't fit anything like a car of the same year when they left the factory.

Crenwelge, I'm not so sure about the cars either! Mid 40's,early 50's F*rds were horrendous!

Bear in mind these trucks were built as a commercial vehicle in the '50s. Unless you want to spend a whole lot of time and $$$$$,you need to make allowances.
If you want perfect panel fit with credit card gaps,you'll need to get into Aston Martins or Rolls Royces (BIG $$$$$$$!)

The top radius on the door of my A.D looks more like the edge of a hexagon than a curve!

just depends on what you want....my body guy had to practically make the grooves/spaces on one of the front doors and one of the back ones had to almost be cut into to get it match up.
Remember these trucks were twisted, turned, overloaded and no one really cared as long as the cargo got delivered.

That said I'm glad that in the deal with the body man he is to hang/fit the doors...and whatever it took to get them to look right. So far he is earning his money and I think we both made a fair deal.