Hood alignment

[jeffs51chevy]

Alrighty guys. I need help with final fiment on the driver's side hood. I've got a little less than a quarter inch gap on the front lip. All other gaps are good. Here's a pic:

I've gone through the shop manual and exhausted all of my own ideas. Maybe you guys can help.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

[63 & 64 Bowties]

This will probably end up being the hardest part of your project. I know when I did my 54 it was a royal pain to get the hood/fenders aligned.
Most of the time it turns out to be the fenders are not at the correct angle. Do you have any wiggle room on the fenders to move them up or down? Basically to move them up or down at the front?

[hotrod 80]

Yep , worst part of the project was/is the hood gaps front , side & rear .

[kalirodding]

A BIG pry bar will fix it.

[51chevytruck]

Found this on the Stovebolt forum check it out, hope it helps.

http://stovebolt.com/techtips/bodywo...alignment.html


Tom

[51chevytruck]

There are approximately 20 bolts (all adjustable!) holding the fenders and hood to the front of an Advance Design truck -- and they all need to be just right or the front sheet metal won't fit together properly and the hood won't function properly. Yikes! How do you sort that out? The good news is that Mac has already figured it out for you and will walk you through...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proper Advance Design Hood Alignment
By Mac Kinghorn
Eastern Manitoba, Canada
I have a 1952 Chev 1300, Canadian version of a 3100. The truck runs a 216. However, the rearend has been upgraded to a 1967 Chev 1/2-ton. Power disk brakes have been added to the front. I am also working on a 1961 Chev short box Fleetside pickup that will run an upgraded engine/transmission for comfortable cruising. February 2009

Nothing fits!

The following procedure may be used to correct improperly fitted hoods. Use all or any part of this procedure as necessary to obtain proper appearance and operation.

Step 1 -- Loosen fender and skirt attaching bolts to body. Loosen radiator support bolts. Push fenders down to provide clearance for hood adjustment. Remove the hood lock-plate (on the horizontal panel in front of the radiator).

Step 2 -- Check and adjust fender skirt to dash brace rods. Measurements should be taken from center of bolt head to edge or brackets: Left side 27 1/4 inches. The right side should be 27 inches.

Step 3 -- Loosen outer hood-hinge bolts completely, both sides.

Step 4 -- Disconnect hood supports from hood and swing hood supports down out of the way. Loosen the bolts attaching the hood supports to body, both sides. This will permit vertical adjustment of hood supports after hood alignment is completed.

Step 5 -- Loosen two inner-hood hinge bolts, both sides. Leave these bolts just snug so that the hinge can just be moved by jarring or exerting pressure on the hood.

Step 6 -- Adjust hood fore and aft to obtain an 1/8" to 1/4" gap between rear edge of hood and cowl ledge.

Note: If the gap is not even, tight at sides and open at top center or vice versa, add or remove shims between the radiator support and frame cross member as necessary to obtain even hood gap at hood ledge, both at center and sides, and tighten radiator support bolts to 5 ft. lbs.

Step 7 -- Lift front of hood and place 4" block under hood nose to hold it up.

Step 8 -- Force rear end of hood down tightly on hood anti-squeak. Hood should be down very tight against the cowl-to-hood-anti-squeak to compensate for upward push of hood supports after they are connected. Supports will push the hood up as far as the play in the hinge rivets will allow. Center hood as necessary, without disturbing fore and aft position, and tighten two inner hood hinge bolts on each side while hood is held own.

Note: If the hood hinges bottom out unevenly on the step at the cowl sides before hood is down to the position described above, it may be necessary to remove the hinges and smooth or hammer the step to remove the bumps to permit lowering of the hinges. If the hood is still not down far enough, it may be necessary to enlarge and elongate the holes in the cowl with a rat tail file. This will permit the hinge attaching-bolts to rotate in the slotted holes in the cowl when the hood is pushed down. This may also allow additional downward movement of the hood due to the position of the hinge arms on the hinges.

Step 9 -- Remove the 4" block that is under the hood nose. Lower hood and check hood the fit at the cowl. The hood should be very tight against the anti-squeak across top of cowl. If the hood touches the anti-squeak tightly at the sides but bows up in the center, adjust as follows:

Remove two outer screws on each side holding center bracket to hood reinforcement at rear of hood.
Loosen two inner screw in bracket.
Pry outer ends of bracket away from reinforcement and place flat washers as necessary between outer ends of bracket and reinforcement on both sides.
Reinstall outer screws through the flat washers and tighten all brackets to reinforcement attaching screws securely.
This will bring center of hood down and reduce the possibility of flutter at the center of hood. If hood still does not touch anti-squeak tightly after the above operations, it will be necessary to shim under anti-squeak to prevent hood flutter, as it is not possible to lower hood further.

Step 10 -- Tighten outer hood hinge bolts, both sides.

Mac's 1952 Candian-built Chevy

Step 11 -- Reassemble hood supports to hood, both sides. With hood in raised position and resting on hood supports, tighten bolts attaching hood supports to dash, both sides. These were originally loosened at the dash to permit vertical adjustment of the hood support after the hood had been adjusted to its new position. This re-adjustment is necessary to prevent the possibility of one hood support being fully locked in the open position and the other being partially open.

Step 12 -- Replace hood lock plate, tightening plate attaching screws just snug, and push hood lock plate to the rear as far as the clearance in the screw holes will allow. Drop hood to closed position and lock, this will center hood lock plate. Then raise hood, move lock plate forward 1/32" and tighten lock plate screws.

Step 13 -- Adjust lock stud to proper length as necessary to hold the hood closed. The lock stud may appear to be too short to get proper adjustment. This will usually be due to bent hood lock plate or bent upper catch plate, these plates being bent by slamming the hood shut while improperly adjusted. It will be necessary to straighten the bent plates if this condition exists, to bring the lock stud to proper position to hold hood closed.

Step 14 -- Lower the hood to locked position and raise rear end of fenders to fit lower edge of hood and tighten fender and skirt to body attaching parts.

[nickp51chevy]

Hey Jeff, have you tried pushing your fender up (and forward if you can) some yet? I have the same issue, and that's what I'm planning on doing to rectify the situation.

Let me know if it works.

[mylow53]

i'm thinking of cutting the hinge arms to help mine fit... i've tried all of the above to no avail. mind you not every body will notice the hood missalignment
Good luck
GT

[jeffs51chevy]

Thank you guys for the helpful responses. I've got the gap down to an 1/8 or so with some good old a$$ pressure. I think I'm close. Keep the info coming - someone out there will need it.

Thanks again,
Jeff

[solidaxel]

On another note for hoods!!

Where can I find the spring that hold the safety catch in the closed position, and new safety catch ?

[texas56]

I agree, was hardest part for us so far, and that was at mock up. Im not lookin foward to it with paint lol

[nebdrummer]

yeah, its been about 6 years having mine driving... wasnt ever to get the rear of the hood to sit flush with the cowl. but the sides and front fit perfect.. so i left it. STILL havent messed with it. ill probably accually attempt this next round if i go through the body again. :[

[fist5366]

to Mac 51 chevy truck guy I cant tell you how much I appreciate the 14 step hood alignment processes you posted. I have been fighting my hood for a while now, and just takin my time and going through the steps it turned out great so much obliged

[T Hilde]

I followed these instructions and couldn't get it. Then, I took my ratchet straps and hooked at the front of the hood and at the door hinge. A little tension and she popped backed. Tightened it all down and looked very presentable.

[solidaxel]

ON my 53 when we put the hood on we ended up shiming the front of the cab up 1/4"

[mr48chev]

Subscribed.
I'll add from experience:
If the original crossmember that goes under the bellhousing has been cut away as it often is in V8 swaps the weight of the cab will cause the frame rails to twist and let the cab sag.
I've seen this in at least ten trucks and it can usually be spotted from the side as the cab-hood-fender assembly will look slightly bent in the middle at the gap between the top of the hood and cab. They sag until the cab sets on the frame rails and that is as far as they go.

I've seen I don't know how many trucks that have the support rods between the cowl and fenders removed. As in Matt Kinghorn's piece they are extremely important in keeping things right an keeping the squeaks down.

Having all cab mounts and bushings in good shape to start. This is where a lot of us have issues as worn cab mounts won't keep the alignment correct.

[tobins 52 gmc]

how do you get the back down flush ,tried everything .its like the spring is to heavy and poushing up to far

[fist5366]

There are three bolts on each side of the catches. Dont know what they are actually called but the part thats not the spring that attaches the hood. Two of them you have to losen from in the cab and the other on is on the out side. What i did was losen all of 6 of them 3 on each side and had some push down on the back of the hood and hold it down where it was flush with the cab. Then tighened them back down and the hood stayed in place. I did both sides at the same time to get them close then one side at a time to finish it up. Good luck. Let me know how it turns out .

[lower50's]

Great instructions

[mr48chev]

The factory instructions are in the factory service manuals that the dealers used and that each of us should have in our AD truck library no matter if every thing thing on the truck is changed or modified. I though I had posted it previously but it isn't in my post from 4 years ago.

Here: You will probably have to save the pages and expand them on your computer to read them easily.















Hopefully those are in order as they aren't in my photobucket album

Info for leveling the cab before attacking the nose