The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop hood fit

yesterday I spent about 8 hrs fitting my hood onto my 54 3100. I'm real happy with the results of how the seams came out nice and tight and even all the way around and it closes properly. The one issue I'm having is the hood flares out drastically at the sides of the cowl (where the 3100 badge goes). Did my body guy warp it when he was welding in that area or is something in my adjustment still off? the hood is down tight to the hood to cowl gasket all along the top . Thanks

Got pictures?

Here is an idea for your consideration.

There is a place on these hoods where a hemmed over portion of sheet metal ends and the single thickness of the hood to cowl radius begins. I marked that #1 on the photo. hood Then I measured 1 inch forward from that mark (shown as #2) and measured across the hood side to side.

It is a little tough to measure since the tape had to be right up tight to the firewall. The measurement I got is 58 inches. Hope this helps.

Here is a photo of wes's hood fit

Nice looking paint job there. Did you put welt on all parts on the truck? It doesn't seem so. Why is this? I'm struggling in the idea of putting it on my truck, since it seems it protects form metal to metal contact but diminishes the clean look of the truck.

the bed is not on yet but I will put welt between the rear fenders. Not sure if I like it in the front yet. I may have to cut it back a little , looks like I went too far forward with it.

If I wound up with something like that I know what I'd do... I'd go to Home Depot, buy an extension cord and hang myself

Seriously, Shall we assume that the hood fit before it was welded? If so, then something terrible happened in the process and the hood was never test fitted before finish paint.

And you say that the contour of the trailing edge of the hood matches the contour of the top cowl?

I'll be VERY interested to hear how this gets resolved.

This is probably a long shot, but I had a similar problem when I was test fitting my hood. I forgot to put a washer or two on the hinge bolts so the threads bottomed out before tightening up properly. With the washers on there the hood pulled in toward the cowl a bit.

can't say for sure if it was like that when I got the truck a year ago. The body guy could not test fit any panels before paint. I just gave him the pieces. the cab and chassis was at my place while I worked on the engine and other mechanicals. It's really a shame because so far everything else fits good. I just hope there is some way he'll be able to bring that corner in tighter.worst case scenerio for me would be to have to take the hood off and have him re-shape that corner and repaint. Wow and after all the time I spent getting the other seams to fit. Oh well today I try to hang the doors. Should prove to be a good challenge.thanks

Not sure if this can help. Like yourself I had a similar problem at the back. Once I added the rubber and kept tinkering with the bolts on the inside of the cab, finally I got it to fit fairly good. Not a snug fit but looks ok.

Factory fit is pretty tight in that area it looks nothing like that. http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/bodywork/ad_hood_alignment.html

This old bodyman says those hoods have to be "bent" to fit. I'll bet it "tight" in the center of the cowl? There is some adjustment in the "plate" located at the center brace seam. Push comes to shove, take a strap side to side and pull the sides in, keeping it equal on both sides. Take it easy, go slow, may take two-three trys to get it. "Protect" your cowl & fender paint with tape/cardboard ect.

Not sure if this will help wes,on my 57',i couldnt get the hood seams even all the way around.I would adjust the hinge on one side and it would be perfect,but,the other side would be off.I happened to take my truck out to Bill's truck shop to stop and pick up some new springs for the hood.I told him what my problem was and he came out to have a look see.Well,it turns out the problem was in the hinge itself,the bushings were worn out,but you could'nt tell with the naked eye.Well,i bought two brand new hinges,and problem solved.The hood lined up all the way around and everything worked just fine.Just something to look into bud.
Good luck.

Roy

not sure of what rubber you are talking about. The hood to cowl seal rubber is new.

Just a guess, while closing the hood check to see if the hinge arm is hitting the bolt that comes from inside/under the dash? Let us know what you find out.