The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Trying to mock-up fenders and...

My driver's side fit pretty well but when I tried to fit up the passenger's side I found that the three main holes on the cowl are about 1/4" off and I can't seem to twist, raise, lower the fender to make it fit. I had the inner and outer replaced on both sides so I don't know the best way to solve the problem.

Clamp the fender into the postion you like, mark holes with a sharpie and drill new holes.

Yeah I'm with Wilbur, since you replaced sheetmetal an it is off ya may just have to drill some new holes.
Heck Big,I had a tough time gettin mine all lined up and I didnt replace any.
It is amazin how things can TWEAK an move on a 50+ yr. old vehicle once it is all apart an ya try to get it back together.
Tim

Should I do this: clamp the fender to the cowl in the place it seems to match up. Then finish the mock up loosely and then reset the fender to the cowl and drill the cowl to match the fenders?

exactly... Big Chevy, I replaced all the cowl and parts of the fenders. I had no holes at all that lined up. I bought a hand full of clamps and used a few sets of vise grips to hold the fender in place. Then I mocked up the whole front end tweakin, pushin and pullin until I was happy with the fit (hood and all to make sure it would open and close right. Once that was acheived I marked the fenders and cowls. I was able to dril at least one hole in each side with the fenders on. Then took it all apart and drilled the rest of the holes and put it back together.
The lines came out great.

Don't drill the holes too small you will need to have a little play
Rich

Thanks guys, I've been dreading this part of my project for this reason. I will take your advice and start busting knuckles.

I used one hole that was the closest and let the metal pivot on that. Having the hood in place helps in locating the front clip. Also the two firewall to fender rods can be used to pull the sheet metal into the correct position.

Great info buddy. I had thought about the rods but no one had mentioned it. It seems to fit pretty good on the drivers side but the other side has a 1" gap between fender and hood. I'll post some pics this evening. I don't know if the pivot principle will work for me. I'll give it a try tonight.

Just an idea,

I ran threaded rod between the radiator housing and the firewall so it would stay steady (and be adjustable) ,then put on hood and lined up with latch.
I checked for centrality and squareness after latch was centered.

Now I just need to try to put the fenders and inners together to match hood lines ( I hope)

BIG CHEVY 3600,

How goes the front fender alignment? I am finding it to be one of the most frustrating tasks I have done so far.

My latest attempt included shimming the center bracket to hood reinforcement at rear of hood. A few washers made a huge difference in the shape of the hood and consequently the fit of the fenders. Still a long way from being satisfactory though.

Best of luck.

I'm kinda in a stand-still as I have had to order new hood springs and they haven't come in yet. I need to bolt up the inner fenders and see how that brings the passenger side up. I have a one inch gap right now between the back of the hood and the fender. I would add a pic but I can't seem to upload pics to Webshots for some reason.