The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk hood and fender alignment

I'm working on a friends 1950 panel and I can't get the hood aligned with the fenders. I ran out of my bag of tricks and was wondering if any of you guys found it difficult and how you fixed the alignment of the hood with the fenders. Thanks, Bert

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yeah I tried that and I just get threads of people saying it took forever to get it done but nothing on how they did it.

I did it by following the Tech Tip and by following the procedure in the Shop Manual .

I had a helper and were went through the procedures twice. It is still not perfect but it is now a lot better.

Good luck. Took a friend of mine and I two days of fussing and fuming before we got it close enough.

I'm still not real sure what we did that finally got it close either.

I think the thing that helped up was to loosen all the hood hinge bolts and push the hood down and place it like we wanted it. Once there it was held in place while the hinge bolts were tightened up. Then we brought the fenders up to meet the hood.

The tech tips helped get the front fenders squared up, but really didn't help much with the hood. That was more just trial and error and luck.

There had to be a faster way at the factory to do this. I guess with doing it every day on the assembly line you would find the tricks.

Good luck on your endeavors. I feel for you.

Do you have the proper radiator to frame mounting? There should be rubber mounts between the support and the frame. Does it mount flush without the hood hinges connected? Check the hinge pivots for wear.

I spoke to an old UAW worker about the this back in the 60's when I had my first 1951 AD and had done some body work requiring fenders and hood removal. He said workers installing front fenders had a pile of fenders to choose from and when they had a problem fitting one they just went to their "bone-pile" for another and another and another until one worked. I guess back then without computer design things weren't real perfect.

berts53, remember they were not fit perfect like sheet metal panels fit today...even from the factory. Don't mean to discourage you but mine fought me all the way. Fenders, hood, grille, you name it. It takes PATIENCE which I don't have alot of. After reading the tech tip here on the bolt about TEN times to really grasp what was being said I finally whipped it one day in about an hour!!!
A couple things are definite. I left the fender bolts loose enough to put a jack under the back of the fender and lift it up a bit if needed. Then as someone mentioned loosen the Hinge bolts and move the hood to the front, to the read. There is a LITTLE wiggle room. Once you get the hood to where the gap looks good across the good then tighten the one bolt from the inside on each hinge. This is with the hood down. When I closed mine I could hear it barely squeeze the cowl lacing just before being all the way down. Be sure to leave the Hood Springs Un-fastened till the last thing. Raise the hood and but the hood springs on then let the weight of the hood "settle" the hinge on each side. Yes one hinge may be a tat higher/lower where you fasten it to the firewall but let the hood weight determine that........this is a key point. Now you can put your front hood latch on the top panel and adjust it to where it latches good.

When I got my hood to close and latch good I did jack up the back of the fenders and it helped a little...but there seems to be a little "crack" between the hood and fender I don't like but it looks as good as some factory installed stuff I've seen in pics.
Whew, I hope this gives you new hope. It can be done but be patient. You CAN do it.

Thanks for all the information all of you have given me about this issue. I had enough and just opened up the rear fender holes so that I could adjust it forward. I also lowered the drivers side hinge a little. It got it very close. The front still did not want to come down so we realized we were missing the plate that the latch hooks onto and it sucked the hood down and she looks really good. This is not a finished car so I didn't have to worry about paint.Thanks again for the help.
Bert

I appreciate your comments on this one, Alvin. I have had a heck of a time getting the hood adjusted on the 51...I was not aware of the excellent Tech article in the Stovebolt Tech section until I read your comments about it.

Dave

I had not tried to adjust a hood until I read a "pep-post" on this topic several years ago by Alvin. He pointed out the Tech Tip that I had read many times and he pointed out the procedure in the Shop Manual, which I had read many times - I had ignored both because they looked complicated.

After following the procedure (with a friend to assist - I think an assistant is necessary for better results), the improvement in fit was substantial (but not perfect - perfection cannot be expected- these are fine-fit products). Eventually, we will try the procedure again, starting with loosening fender bolts and playing with radiator-mount shims.

I guess that I am posting this to thank Alvin and others who have offered advice and encouragement on this topic. Sometimes we need help and encouragement to give something a try; especially something that has frustrated us and will, in the end, just remind us that perfection is not attainable.

LOL, This is a classic example of why men won't ask directions. LOL

Nope. Not asking for directions is perhaps a macho thing (I do not know because I ask directions).

Not trying something that appears to be complicated is, in my case, a sign of laziness; for others, it might be fear of the unknown.

...guys, I may add that as I read the tech tip you have to be careful with the wording and don't get confused. I do not know how to improve the tech tip but it took me reading it about 10...or more times to grasp and understand what was being said because as you read its so easy, at least for my hard head, to get "springs" and the word "hinges" confused as you read and work.
..but the tips about the springs is a MUST. I was about to buy new latchs,springs ect ect until I dropped the springs and did it step by step.....and it does take time and running around and around the truck.

Bert, let us know how your coming along.

This would be a great subject for a video tech tip.

My hood fits like you know what. I fooled with it for days and then convinced myself that the way I had it was probably as good as it came out of the factory. Someone tell me exactly how you tighten the hinge bolts with the hood down/closed. You can't even see the bolts with the hood closed so how can you tighten them?

Weeds

Weeds, on my 52panel there is ONE bolt on my hinges that is tightened from the inside. When I get the hood sitting down across the cowling, and the same width accross it I tigtened the ONE bolt on each side from the inside and then raise the hood gently and tighten the ones on the outside. That makes a total of 3 bolts holding the hinge. Hope this helps.

Must be different from the 50 I just worked on. It had one bolt outside under the hood, the other two you tightened from inside.

Ditto.

I believe they all have at least one bolt inside for at purpose.