55.2-59 Fenders and hood install

[popeyestruck]

Got my 59 running nice leak free and all wiring debugged. All thats left is the front fenders , grill and grill support and the hood. I have the inner fenders on already and plan on fenders next the grill support then finally the hood. Is this the correct sequence or should I bolt up the grill support first? Any tips on aligning everything would be helpful. Have hurricane milton about to go right over my house so I'm just planning it out for today

[dsraven]

there is a great youtube on this subject. look up
old man fixing stuff
and see if you can find his site. it goes through a pretty comprehensive "how to" on the 55-59 trucks

maybe this will work
https://youtu.be/RgUwd9PdWiA?si=nKUXNxh2v-3ZD-k7

remember the rear of the cab sits on rubber. the front of the cab sits on the frame and becomes the fulcrum-sort of, and can be shimmed as needed, and the rad support sits on rubber and is also normally shimmed. get the cab parallel to the frame for starters, the assembly manual has a dimension for the frame to floor, then work forward from there. if it isn't parallel to start with then it all gets skewed. also understand that the cab can be squared up on the frame as required, the driver's side front cab mount becomes the hinge point. I find that using a small tab of masking tape on the body line at the front and rear of each panel, and marking the high point of the body line at each point, helps. use a magnet to hold a string at the front of the fender and the rear of the cab so you can line up the body lines. space the string off the body a little using an office eraser as this won't scratch the body. the door gets fit to the cab first, then the fender gets fit to the door. it's best to leave the fender off so you don't try to fudge it when fitting the door to the cab. a wooden paint stir stick is a pretty good gap guage for between panels as they don't scratch either. it is not uncommon to have to add or subtract metal from an edge to get the gaps looking good.
guzzi fabrcation has some good how to videos on the gap subject when you get that far or if you just wanna zone out on the couch for a minute and watch a bit. he shows how to get perfect gaps by cutting panels and adding metal to edges.

[dsraven]

guzzi page. there are several good videos he has on bodyworking gaps etc

https://youtu.be/E3TuQtApG68?si=3GcZgM5UrtPvQixh

[mr48chev]

Well shoot, I was looking for the Service manual and got the assembly manual pfd
Here you go TF folk.
https://www.trifive.com/d1/55-59Assy.pdf

55 second series service manual https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.co...uck2/index.htm

[dsraven]

fender also gets shimmed at the cowl upper mount bolt point, to help with body line alignment, as well as the lower rear mount point, to help with alignment with door

[popeyestruck]

Should I install the grill support before the fenders?

[dsraven]

Whe I assemble I usually start with the truck
In the shop, put it on stands, level the frame fore to aft and side to side. Check that the cab is also level and do what it takes to get that done. I like to start with new rubber mounts so I'm not working with pounded out stuff. Then I install the rad support, then hang the inner and outer fenders and do some rough levelling before tightening the bolts down. Then the string comes out to check body lines and possibly shuffle and shim. The the hood and possibly some more shuffling and shimming etc. That's just me though. Some guys assemble the whole front clip before putting it on the truck. I work alone so that doesn't work for me.
Post up a few pics as you go.

[popeyestruck]

Yeah I'm alone too. Front clip aint gonna happen