51 chevy truck hood alignment

[garyt]

i need some pics of your hood where it meets the truck cab cowl panels and also where it meets the fenders, anyone that can send me pics i would greatly appreciate it, i have worked on the hood for hours and only seem to get farther and farther away, i am at a loss and i think looking at someone elses project may help me some, any pics you have would be greatly appreciated

[mr48chev]

This should help a bit.

[Atommik]

Try this site. I got some help from it.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/bo...alignment.html

[garyt]

thanks, would still like to see what everybody elses hood looks like to compare to mine. anyone got some pics of their hood a side shot and or front shot would be nice HELP

[Atommik]

Take a look at my build thread...Entries # 397,415,466,482, all have pics of my hood installed. If you need more I'll take some more and post them here.

[parkwood]

Originally Posted by garyt

i need some pics of your hood where it meets the truck cab cowl panels and also where it meets the fenders, anyone that can send me pics i would greatly appreciate it, i have worked on the hood for hours and only seem to get farther and farther away, i am at a loss and i think looking at someone elses project may help me some, any pics you have would be greatly appreciated

garyt, what is the problem? cowl, or where the hood meets the front by the grill, or along the fenders? Might help a little to know want you're fighting and we can help..

[garyt]

i have about a half inch gap where the hood meets the fenders and about a half inch gap where it meets the cowl, to me the hood needs to move toward the back of the truck, but it is tight at the center on top where it meets the cab, i am really baffled, i can see what needs to happen but it looks mathematically impossible.

[mr48chev]

Ok, I don't know much about your truck and what's been done to it so I have a few questions.

1. has it been subframed or has it had a frame swap?

2. Has the crossmember under the bellhousing been cut out? Cutting that crossmember out without otherwise reinforcing the frame almost always allows the weight of the cab to push the cab mount brackets on the frame down twisting the frame rails and lettng the front of the cab sag so that the hood and front sheet metal are near impossible to align.

This truck has a stock frame with an I beam and runs a 250

[OrrieG]

Look at the stovebolts link that was posted. It sounds like your cab may be tilted forward, (middle hits, sides gapped). Cliff notes version: you need to have the cab level and doors adjusted to the cab, then adjust the hood to the cowl and grille by adjusting the radiator brace, finally adjust the fenders to the hood and door.

[mr48chev]

OOps I spent too long looking for a photo in post 8 and the board timed out on me.

Here are photos of a truck with near perfect gaps and one that appears to have the front of the cab sagging a bit but not a lot yet.
This is Cole Foster's old truck and you can see that the hood aligns about as perfectly as you can get.


When you look at this one in comparison you can see the gap at the back of the hood while you see that the hood fits fairly well at the front. That is most likely because the frame has sagged a bit over the years. It appears that the front of the cab is closer to the running board than the back of the cab too.


I couldn't find the example I wanted and probably have a snapshot of my truck from the late 70's somewhere that shows the results of the cab sagging after I put an automatic in it and cut that crossmember out.

What I would do is raise the truck up and check the clearance between the bottom of the cab floor and the frame to see if it has sagged.
Here is how to measure it:

[OrrieG]

I just realized i had TF on the brain. Ignore the comments about the doors, on AD they are independent of the fenders. I think 48 and i are on the right track with cab sag.

[mr48chev]

Mine sagged until the cross bar under the floor was laying on the frame.

I was thinking this afternoon that one fix might be to put a mount like a tri-5 Chevy motor mount biscuit between the frame rail and the crossbar and then use body washers to get the clearance you need. That is along with using the stock cab mount setup with proper spacers.

[garyt]

ok thanks i have some direction on what to do, i am goin under the cab today and look at the clearance, that seems so logical that may be where my problem is, again thanks

[garyt]

i do have the original frame, but a camaro front clip, the crossmember is still there, i am looking at the dimension of cab to frame and see if thats the problem, thanks to the both of you guys for pointing this out to me.

[mr48chev]

If the front of the subframe is a bit high you might have to shim the front of the cab up a bit to compensate. Or if the spacers that were used between the subframe and the core support are too thick you might be able to get some adjustment there by going to a thinner spacer. I had pads cut from sidewalls of tires under mine for spacers when I had the subframe under it.

[garyt]

workin on core support now thanks

[OrrieG]

If you have to tilt the cab, keep in mind that could also affect the bed and step alignment as well. I have seen clipped truck where it looks like the frame is bent in the middle with the cab and bed out of plane.