The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop AD front clip alignment

I'm in the process of mounting the grill, splash pan and bumper on my '54 Chevy. The PO had removed and discarded all the spacers and bolts from under the radiator support (ithe front clip was was just sitting on the crossmember with no bolts). I don't know how many spacers had been there origninally. The Factory Assembly Manual states "shim as required". I bought bolts and rubber pads from Classic Parts and installed them. Things are not coming together right, there is insufficient space between the bottom of the grill and the splash pan. It looks like I will need a half inch or more of additional spacers under the rad support, that seems like a lot to me. Not sure what to do next. Anyone have some good ideas? Don

Put the hood on first. Then you will know how much shims will be necessary to get good lines all around the hood and as you stated at the splash pan and bottom of the grille. 1/2" of shims might be required in your case, although usually 1/4" to 3/8" is what works. Check out the search feature for front clip alignment. You'll find several posts there.

This part of the project is a little daunghting. The factory must have had some kind of fixture for throwing all this sheetmetal together and then just bolted it to the cab ? ? ?

Thanks, Don

I doubt it ,because the front sheet metal never really lined up that great from the factory. The intent of these trucks was utilitarian use.

I now have one half inch total including pads and shims. Looks like it going match up ok now. thanks, Don