aftermarket hood/fender issues, anyone else?

[GreyHoundSteve]

Well after eight months of work on my 67 we finally got the front end back together and on the truck and when we did i have to admit that we are less than pleased with the fit. Heres what i got, 1 original passenger fender, an after market driver fender, and original hood and an original but modified grill. Heres the problem. Ive got almost a 1 inch gap at the front of the hood between the fender and hood. The grill has no gap at all between the fenders but the hood isnt even close to closing the gap between the fenders. Does anyone have a solution to this problem other than just splitting the difference of the gap between the fenders? Even if we did that the back of the fenders are shimmed out about as far as i can get them without them looking odd in proportion to the doors and there is only a minimum gap in between the back of the fenders and hood but the front has a huge gap. I thought about chopping some off the grill but that would be allot of work, any other solutions to this problem?

[GloryHound]

Something has to be bent! To me it sounds like the hood! What kind of gap do you have between the hood and the grille when the hood is closed? And is that gap even across the front of the truck? Might want to check your front end for square by measuring the engine compartment, corner to opposite corner like an X. The dimensions should be really close to the same less than 1/8" is great but Less than 1/4" should work!
The biggest problem I've had with after market fenders is getting the gap between the fender and door to the correct dimension. Normally you can fix this by jacking the truck up from the front to get the top gap to shrink or jacking it up on the frame right behind the door to get the top gap to get larger.

[chickenwing]

Maybe post some pics so it is easier to visualize. Complete side view of fenders also.

[Richard Dobson]

Had a similar problem but about half as bad, I was using a aftermarket rad. support but found a orginal one and the fit was much better. What rad support bushings are u using also, There is a difference in them according to the LMC catalog.

[GreyHoundSteve]

I'll try and get some pics of the problem this weekend. The hood rests on the grill even across and looks good. I havent had a chance to latch it yet because i have to trim my latch to fit with the ac condensor i added but when i press it down it looks okay. The rad support is the original one and was on the truck before without any issues so i think im okay there. The bushings i ordered from GMC Paul in a complete truck rubber kit so i assume they are correct as well. I also got the rep driver fender from him. The other fender was original and just got a little reworking. The hood was replaced because the old one was bowed and rested on the supports. I got the new one from a guy who said it was an original off his 67. I will measure the engine bay to see if its square, good idea there. One thing i hadnt thought about until just now is that i am missing the passenger side rad support to fender traingle brase which i ordered today so hopefully that may help when i add it too. I'll get some pictured this weekend and post them monday so you guys can better help me troubloe shoot. Thanks for the advice though because its given me some ideas.

[screamin_c102]

When I built Screamin' I bought an aftermarket driverside fender. Beings my engine comp is painted body color we jammed the fender and welded up the badge holes. We went to test fit the front clip and had the same problem you are describing. The area on the fender were the support bolts to them was about 3/4" out of wack and the manufacturer had welded them up wrong, the fenders inner structure was not welded to the skin right. Bolted to the core support and both fenders pinched in as far as possible still left a 3/4" gap at the hood on the drivers side and the grille surround was too narrow to fit correctly. We ordered 2 more of them and they were the same way, apparently the tooling had gotten outa wack at the manufacturer. I happened upon a 72 gmc that had a perfect original front fender, so needless to say the aftermarket crap went back to the supplier.

The pic shows the passenger fender but you'll get the idea. the outer skin folds over and down and then welds to the inner structure. Compare your factory fender to the aftermarket and check for issues there.

Hope this helps.

[Green Machine]

You can read of some of my troubles here: I ended up fixing the old fenders (cost me $250) and they fit much better. Don't know if it will help, but I do feel your pain ........
Maybe your grill is tweaked too wide, my '68 measures 65 5/8, also measure from frame to lower cup to make sure it is centered, Mine measured about 20 7/8 from inside rail of frame to outer cup, IIRC, might have been 20 15/16, trial fit and check bumper alignment, before you get to far also. I had to shim 1 side of rad support 1 additional 1/4 washer higher so bumper would look straight with grill.

See attached pics:

Place a stright edge like square or level from bottom cup up to the top. That should be a straight line. My after market fenders tipped out about 1/2 inch, away from the center, on the truck,even though pushed in as far as rad support would allow, that still didnt fix the slanting out at top. You can see in the pics that someone had a bad day at the factory.

I'm going to have to contact the vendor, he is a popular member here and don't want to mention names if he will resolve it somehow for me.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php3?t=157945

[72MARIO]

The repos I got I had no gap between the fender and the hood Original grill and rad support. It was a pain to fix but it's amazing what a couple hunderd hours will do.

[GreyHoundSteve]

Thanks for your responses guys. It looks like its an aftermarket fender issue then. No easy way to fix it i guess. I guess i'll keep my eye out for an original drivers fender then.
Thanks

[StingRay]

What brand of fender did you get? Most people have had great luck with the Tri-Plus stuff. The good mark fenders are supposed to be Tri-plus.

[GreyHoundSteve]

Originally Posted by StingRay

What brand of fender did you get? Most people have had great luck with the Tri-Plus stuff. The good mark fenders are supposed to be Tri-plus.

I got it from GMC Paul.

[StingRay]

Then it should be the tri-plus. GMC Paul is pretty good about standing behind his stuff. Ask him what he can do for you. Chances are if it's a fender then a replacement from Paul would fix it right up.

[arkracing]

Most Likely an Aftermarket issue as most have already stated. I have an Aftermarket Radiator Support "Goodmark" or Tri-Plus (same thing) and 2 Original Fenders. Couldn't get the hood to line up with the fender to save my life. Now the fenders don't line up with the rest of the cab to my satisfaction. I spent about 3 weekends trying to get them to fit right and have them close now but am still not happy with the end result.

I had to modify the support and "extend" some holes for the "triangle" fender braces that you ar talking about.

I also had fitment issues with the Rockers, Cab Corners, Floors, KickPanels, Floor Supports.
The inner fenders fit ok but i still had to bend/ tweak them a little bit to get them to fit


Enough Time, Cutting, and Welding and everything is pretty good now. But I think that If i ever do another truck i'll be looking for good used parts.

[GreyHoundSteve]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Then it should be the tri-plus. GMC Paul is pretty good about standing behind his stuff. Ask him what he can do for you. Chances are if it's a fender then a replacement from Paul would fix it right up.

I dont think its an issue with gmc paul but rather the product. It sounds like others have had similar issues with aftermarket fenders. We should have done a test fir ahead of time before painting but the way everyones schecule was we had to paint when we did so i dont think there is much he can do for me at this point. I have a wtb posted on the parts board and im going to just replace it with a factory fender instead. Thanks for the help though.

[StingRay]

I believe Paul guarantees his parts for fit. Ask him what he can do.