55.2-59 Hood wont close

[dsraven]

yup, I'm with you on that one martinsr. loosen the fasteners so stuff can move a bit and then just try lifting the front under the rad support slowly as you check the gaps, fitment and body line. i might leave the top rear bolt alone and use it as a pivot point so the sheet metal doesn't slide back and bottom on the door. then slip a few shims under the rad support and set it down on the mounts again as you recheck fitment. you may have to do this a few times to get things right, depending on the squish factor of the rad support mounting rubber. I would also say the door could possibly be moved back just a touch at the bottom edge. on my 57 the door lower edge is pretty much even with the front of the rocker panel. that is not much of a guide though considering most rocker panels get replaced at some point in the truck's life. still, fit the doors before fitting the front sheet metal and after leveling the cab with the main plane of the frame (I know now, frame swap. me too. mines an envoy chassis. sorry I didn't pick up on that in my previos post).,
the door to fender gap can be deceiving because the doors are not all the same contour, even original doors. same for the curve on an original fender. i have a couple of sets of each and none are the same contour on that edge. it is why guys who want perfect gaps add weld to the edges to make a gap smaller or trim the edges off and reweld the edges at the seams of their cuts. the aftermarket stuff will likely need some work but it's whats available for new stuff and we mostly all know it ain't gonna fit very good.
keep posting pics as you work your way through.

[lynx5653]

Let me explain what I have done so far and why the door gaps look like they do .

Cab was not level so I jacked it up which closed up the bottom fender and door gap. Cab still says not level but close.
second thing I did was lower core support because hood would still not close all the way, It would latch but still high on front corners.
plan now is to recheck cab maybe lower it back down a bit to open bottom gap.

Or I will just start fresh, level cab , hang fender and adjust core support to gaps correct. Then try hood with out hinges , remove hood brace bolts on the front and see what happens.

At the moment I am suffering with pneumonia so it takes me awhile to get things done.

will post picks of my next adjustment and see where it gets me .

[dsraven]

oh man, sorry to hear about the pneumonia thing. been there. take care of yourself, then worry about the truck. it won't be going anywhere in the meantime.
I think it may be better for you to start over and level cab to the parallel point with the frame. by jacking the one end of the cab you affect the body line and since that extends back the length of the box and the front sheet metal it could be quite a shim pack at either end in order to get the body line running straight.
-shim cab to get it sitting parallel to the plane that the frame is sitting at. also ensure it is centered with the frame centerline front and rear. plumb bob works great for that or measure from the same point on each side of the cab-over to the frame. see the link for the assembly manual and you can find frame info for a 3100 in section 2 sheet 24. it will show the drop below the main frame top rail for the rad support. thats a handy dimension for you to know if you want to extend the line from your cab mounts "plane" forward so you know how far below that to locate the rad support brackets. also a dimension from the firewall face (front of dash) to that rad mount center point.
-rough in the front sheet metal to ensure your rad support mounts won't be too low for the new frame (not sure what things look like at that end). you could use a saw horse or floor jack etc to get things roughly sitting where they need to be. also do a quick check to ensure the box will be sitting at the correct height on the frame just to ensure it has room to spare instead of having to raise the floor (unless your plan is to raise the floor)
one thing I did when I was mocking up mounts for my envoy swap was to first get the frame sitting on stands and levelled fore to aft and side to side. then I set the floor pan on the frame and bolted it down (envoy frame and floor/firewall swap). that kept the floor sturdy to the frame. then I lowered the cab (without floot and firewall) down over the frame/floor pan. I used threaded rod through brackets welded to the cab (you could easily find a spot to bolt them on) at all 4 corners. the rod extended down to sit on the envoy floor at the front and the frame at the rear but you could do the same by butting the rods against the truck frame. this was so I could use nuts and washers under the cab bracket to fine tune the heights and get things level (digital levels work awesome for this because they don't rely on your eyeball to be viewing from the same angle each time, which can change the outcome, plus they do a decimal point level instead of being close with a bubble level). I attached a couple of pics to show what i mean. I used the envoy floor in case you are wondering what the hee haw with the trans bump. lol. the funny looking washers under the threaded rod are actually from a set of fwd struts I had kicking around and that scenario works great to keep the rod from moving around when you adjust the set up. the rod doesn't actually contact the floor or frame that way. some wooden shims between the cab and frame worked well and didn't bend or scratch any sheet metal.
anyway, when you get better post up a few pics of your scenario. a full side shot would be interesting. till then rest up man. down time will give you time to ponder and maybe check out the assembly manual if that interests you at all. some of the drawings are a little hard to read so I hold ctr and scroll the mouse to zoom in/out on my desktop pc.

[1project2many]

It looks like the gap between the fender and the door is noticeably tighter at the bottom than the top meaning that the front of the nose may be slightly low.

Agreed. Also looking at hood line to cowl you can see hood is low. I ended up with shim washers under the core support mounts on my stock '57.

i have a couple of sets of each and none are the same contour on that edge. it is why guys who want perfect gaps add weld to the edges to make a gap smaller or trim the edges off and reweld the edges at the seams of their cuts.

Check body line on fender to body line on door as previously mentioned. Ensure they are matched, aligned, "good." I can't tell you whether the repop fenders and hood are stamped well but my OEM parts needed cosmetic help to make the lines look correct. Not only was front of fender a bit low, but OE hood wouldn't bolt on straight. Shims, grinding, cutting, welding, drilling... and more than a few test fits along the way.

Watch to see that the hinges aren't "bottoming out" when closing hood. I modified the stops slightly on mine and shimmed the top of the hinge away from the cowl at the upper hinge bolt to allow the hood to close further.

[lynx5653]

Ok this is what I have done so far.
Put truck on jack stands leveled frame best I could
set cab same distance from frame . It does not show cab being level. To level cab I would have to raise front of cab well over an inch in front for cab to be level.
Set cab same distance side to side on frame.

Question is does cab have to be level or just set level to frame ?

[Driver_WT]

Originally Posted by lynx5653

Ok this is what I have done so far.
Put truck on jack stands leveled frame best I could
set cab same distance from frame . It does not show cab being level. To level cab I would have to raise front of cab well over an inch in front for cab to be level.
Set cab same distance side to side on frame.

Question is does cab have to be level or just set level to frame ?

I would say that the cab should be parallel to the frame. So, if you have the frame level, then make the cab level, it will be parallel to the frame. Or you can just make the cab parallel to the frame - if you have some rake in the stance of your truck, then the frame will not normally be level, it will be higher in the rear.

[dsraven]

check the rear cab mounting instruction here about sheet 47.00
forward cab mounting instruction here about sheet 4600

https://www.trifive.com/55-59Assy.pdf

another site with "cab and exterior dimensions" but the numbers are kinda hard to read, even zoomed in. looks like the cab is parallel to the frame though.

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...esto/index.htm

[lynx5653]

Please remember I am on a 86 chassis so not sure numbers in manual will do me any good.

all I really want to know is if the cab itself has to be level or just same distance from frame on all 4 corners.

That is bottom of cab is same distance to top of frame in all corners.

thanks again for replies and suggestions.

[mr48chev]

It looks like the last time he signed on was = Last Activity: 07-14-2021 01:15 PM

[MD2020]

I did not read all the comments.
Mine would not close and then I oiled the hinges

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by MD2020

I did not read all the comments.
Mine would not close and then I oiled the hinges

His issue is the same as anyone who does a frame swap without a kit or without following directions that someone who has done the swap several times to the letter. It works a lot better if you have the stock frame sitting next to the frame you are going to swap under the truck to get your measurements off.

Think how the guys at Code 54 probably did when they made their first S 10 swap kit. Stock frame sitting next to the S 10 frame with both leveled at the same end ride height. Then build mounts to set the cab on the new frame so it sits at the exact same ride height that it would have on the old frame. Then the guys who buy the kit can set their own suspension height when they put the truck together.