Can someone direct me to a good write of aligning sheet metal

[Squareforceone]

Just what he title says i'm trying to put my front clip back together and want to get it all aligned right where do i start. Do i put the rad support on first inner fenders what? Thank you.

[Squareforceone]

anyone?

[rollin thunder]

IMO I would say rad support on first it should give you a good basis on where the rest goes. then the inner and so on. and taking apart in reverse. as you might have seen in other photos around the sight when others put together or take part most of the time the rad support is all by its lonesome or that and inner. this is how we did my buddies 59 and got the fenders to line up correctly.

Taking the bumper off could not hurt at all either if its not already off.

or if your brave enough put it all together except hood on the ground and then put it all on the truck as one unit. i have done that before. I do not recommend it by yourself

[sdewolfe]

Search a phrase like "fender door hood alignment". There are many articles about it from Hot Rod, Car Craft, and others.

A lot of guys here have done it. I haven't, yet. I will on this truck sometime in the near future. I will be watching the responses to your question to see what I can learn before I get in to it. The article in the paint and body FAQ on the subject is mostly about correcting panel gaps if the door or jamb or fender line doesn't match; welding and grinding. Hopefully that won't be necessary for you or me.

[ironroad9c1]

make sure your door hinge bushings are good, then go from the doors forward.

[Squareforceone]

the gaps were fine factory gaps and i just took the front clip off to do a motor swap.... I just want half way decent gaps.

[Keith Seymore]

I watched my guys do one truck per minute for about 7 years.

Here's how the factory does it (two guys required, one at each end):

a) Make sure your doors are fit properly. Radiator support should be sitting on the frame, bolts installed loosely so that it can flop around.

b) Place a small spacer (1/4" or as desired) at the top of the door and at the bottom of the door. Ours were magnetized and looked like a little "iron" (for ironing clothes). You could use a yard stick, or a paint stirrer, or furring strips, or whatever. This is what is going to control your fender-to-door gap.

c) Hang the fender (with fender inner already installed), hold it rearward against the spacers. Shoot the top rear vertical bolt (with factory shims in place), and the bottom rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). You can use a big 4x4 or piece of wood to pry the bottom of the fender rearward against the spacer (we did).

d) Open the door and shoot the top rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). Close the door and back off the vertical bolt slightly, so that the front end can slide side for side.

e) Shoot all of the front fender anchor/nose bolts to the fender inner.

f) After both fenders are on, set the hood. Scoot the front end assembly side to side to equalize the gaps between the hood and fenders. Once satisfied, tighten everything down (including tightening the rad support bolts at this time).

g) Repeat.

We used pre-taped-up shim packs to align the fenders to the door (up/down, and in/out) - whether that particular truck needed it or not. You will have the luxury of trying different shims to iterate and get the fit where you want it. Don't be surprised if it needs a little different shim pattern going back together than it had when you took it apart.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I watched my guys do one truck per minute for about 7 years.

60 jobs/hour * 8 hours/day * 285 days/year * 7 years = 957,600 trucks.

No wonder I remember!

(lol)

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

e) Shoot all of the front fender anchor/nose bolts to the fender inner.

Just re-reading this and should probably clarify here:

This is supposed to tell you to install and tighten the bolts at the front of the fender to the rad support. I seem to recall there are two at on the forward side of the rad support at the fender nose, and then five or so on the backside of the rad support running vertically along the fender inner sidewall.

K

[Desert1957]

Great write up once again Keith.

Desert

[Squareforceone]

Where do the shims go i know at the top of the fender by cowl but where else might i put them?

[hlp-3]

Originally Posted by Squareforceone

Just what he title says i'm trying to put my front clip back together and want to get it all aligned right where do i start. Do i put the rad support on first inner fenders what? Thank you.

Keith's is your best bet for the squares, but the Autobody101.com forum is good too. Look in the Basics of Basics folder for body panel alignment of click the link here. http://www.autobody101.com/content/a...nel-alignment/

[K20chevy]

Thanks for the writup. I´ll be doing that soon and this helped!

[Squareforceone]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I watched my guys do one truck per minute for about 7 years.

Here's how the factory does it (two guys required, one at each end):

a) Make sure your doors are fit properly. Radiator support should be sitting on the frame, bolts installed loosely so that it can flop around.

b) Place a small spacer (1/4" or as desired) at the top of the door and at the bottom of the door. Ours were magnetized and looked like a little "iron" (for ironing clothes). You could use a yard stick, or a paint stirrer, or furring strips, or whatever. This is what is going to control your fender-to-door gap.

c) Hang the fender (with fender inner already installed), hold it rearward against the spacers. Shoot the top rear vertical bolt (with factory shims in place), and the bottom rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). You can use a big 4x4 or piece of wood to pry the bottom of the fender rearward against the spacer (we did).

d) Open the door and shoot the top rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). Close the door and back off the vertical bolt slightly, so that the front end can slide side for side.

e) Shoot all of the front fender anchor/nose bolts to the fender inner.

f) After both fenders are on, set the hood. Scoot the front end assembly side to side to equalize the gaps between the hood and fenders. Once satisfied, tighten everything down (including tightening the rad support bolts at this time).

g) Repeat.

We used pre-taped-up shim packs to align the fenders to the door (up/down, and in/out) - whether that particular truck needed it or not. You will have the luxury of trying different shims to iterate and get the fit where you want it. Don't be surprised if it needs a little different shim pattern going back together than it had when you took it apart.

K

question about part c you to use a piece of wood to pry fender rearward i don't quite understand? Also i didn't count my shims when i took it apart (they fell on the ground) Where might i put shims?

[Keith Seymore]

We used to pry pushing off the bottom of the tire and pushing rearward against the lowest part of the fender.

This helps make sure the fender is back against your spacer and is what sets the fender to door gap at the bottom.

Shims can go on the horizontal surface at the cowl, at the horizontal bolt (vertical surface) in the door pillar (inside the front of the door) or at the horizontal bolt at the rear of the fender. All of the rear attaching points of the fender can be shimmed.

K

[84chevyguyid]

Just rereading this thread as I am getting ready to mount my crew cab and front end back on the frame. Is there a way to check alignment of the cab itself to the frame before I tighten the cab mounts?

[SilverMiner]

Great thread - invaluable information. By any chance is there an exploded diagram showing the location of all the doghouse bolts and shims?