Alignment hell!!!

[oldman3]

Now looking from the front you can see the drivers side is tight at the hood and fender. I'll show how I corrected this later.

[oldman3]

I still had a large gap between hood and cowl (body). I chose to weld metal to the cowl to make my gap. I used a wooden paint stick to set the gap and filled up with different thickness of metal to get what I wanted. These three pics show how this was done.

[oldman3]

Here is how it looked after filler and primer.

[oldman3]

Earlier I said I would correct hood and front fender problem. What I did was cut about a 1/8" wide strip up the fender. Took body hammer to the lip, hammered back toward fender. Once gap was what I wanted I welded up fender and metal finished.

[PROB]

Very nice, that was the type of info i'm looking for. My hood to cowl gap is really good, I just cant live with the hood to fender gap. Thanks for the pics and info.

[oldman3]

Once everything is to your liking, I go and drill a couple 1/8" holes thru fender and body (were bolts go to cowl) and put a 1/8" rivet in hole for alignment. Do the same up front (fender to radiator support). Now you can take apart many times and put back together in the same spot by using the 1/8" rivet to align.

During all of my adjustment I had removed the hood springs. I only used the hood hinges to open and close the hood. If I remember correctly the hinge has 3 bolts, 2 inside the cab and 1 outside the cab. This will allow adjustment of the hood back and forth and up and down. Once happy with the hinge setup I drilled 2 1/8" alignment holes to use later after paint.

This is how the hood front looked after paint,etc.

[oldman3]

I don't have anything closer, but you can see the nice gap, in front, along fender and the cowl.

Since you have a stub on the front, and can't start with factory stuff, it may be a little harder to align, but I hope this helps...Jim

[Highsider]

Oldman, that rig is soooo sweet!

[Iceburgh]

Crazy question but.... you are using the fender braces that attach to the firewall correct?
These will pull the fenders in and help with alignment

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Iceburgh

Crazy question but.... you are using the fender braces that attach to the firewall correct?
These will pull the fenders in and help with alignment

Good call Iceburgh, I forgot to mention that. Some people leave them off, I think they are needed and help a great deal in alignment. I used mine...Jim

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Highsider

Oldman, that rig is soooo sweet!

Highsider thank you...Jim

[Old Crow]

Man, Jim, I'm going to have to make arrangements to see that truck in person sometime. You aren't but about 90 miles from my shop.
I used to go up to West Plains all the time before my grandson moved down to Mountain View(AR).
What frame did you adapt for the top? Or did you just fab one up?

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Old Crow

Man, Jim, I'm going to have to make arrangements to see that truck in person sometime. You aren't but about 90 miles from my shop.
I used to go up to West Plains all the time before my grandson moved down to Mountain View(AR).
What frame did you adapt for the top? Or did you just fab one up?

Would be great to meet up and talk. Made my own top, used aluminum tubing and sheets, then covered with material...Jim

[oldman3]

Sorry PROB, didn't mean to steal your thread...Jim

[mr48chev]

Oldman hit on one thing that we missed before and that is that having the fender braces on and adjusted correctly is a must do on these trucks if you want the fender gaps right. A lot of guys do leave them off because of clearance problems or they just don't like the looks of them but they do pull the fenders in place and they help cut down on squeaks and rattles in the front end.