Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

I'm currently at the stage of getting the front sheet metal installed for the first time since the big tear down, and am having a lot of fun getting the hood to line up with everything else (or vice-versa). What I had before didn't line up worth a darn either, but I thought that once I had all the correct pieces installed, it should have come together a little better than this. I am starting to wonder that the top of the hood is just sprung and needs to be reshaped (or replaced).
Is the rad supposed to be so far back toward the engine that the fan comes within a cigarette paper of the rad fins? This is about where I had to set mine in order for the sides of the hood to clear the sides of the rad. Then there is quite an uneven gap between the hood and the grille.
I messed around with it until I was starting to go bananas with it yesterday and this morning. Has anyone else had this problem before, how did you correct it?
Thanks.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Ensure the bottom radiator mounts are lined up with the correct mounting holes. Sounds like the bottom of the rad is located too far toward the front. I believe there are two sets of holes. Brian

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

From an earlier post on the '36 radiator location, the correct location is the first set of holes (next to the engine). The outer set is for a pick up, if I remember correctly. Ed

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

HI, You might have to loosen everything up, relocate the rad and set the hood first, then the front end. Its a pain but it will look right. Ken

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Lyndon, I have some instructions for lining up '36 front end sheet metal in my files. If you would like a copy, send me a PM with your Email address and I will send the info to you. JM

A message to Lyndon and others who have personally contacted me on the instructions for lining up '36 front end sheet metal that I "THOUGHT" I had in my files. Unfortunately, I have looked everywhere and can not find these instructions. I should have looked first before I made this original post. These instructions were written by another Fordbarner from either AU or NZ who struggled with the front end alignment on his '36. I will look to see if he has registered on the New Fordbarn and try to contact him directly. Maybe I can get him to post this here or at least send the information to me so I can post it here. Now I do have some front sheet metal alignment instructions for a '35 Ford if anyone would be interested in getting that. I'm sure some of the alignment procedures would be the same as '36. I apologize for making this earlier post and then not being able to follow-up and send it to those in need :o :confused: J.M.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Thanks for the replies. I will double check it but I am pretty sure I set the rad in the proper holes for a passenger car, which I have. I don't like having the fan so close to the rad core, but I guess that's just the way it will have to be.
I loosened every nut and bolt holding everything together up front before trying to fit the hood, and that helped some but there still is a way to go. I will give it a rest for a day or two then get back on it.

-Lyndon

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Also, loosen the bolts holding the headlight supports to the frame. You may have to make the bolt holes larger to allow the supports to move a little up/down/front rear. If your body mounts have compressed, it impossible to get the front of the hood sides to match the grill edge and have the back of the hood sides match the cowl. Been there, done that! With the hood center strip in place to locate the top of the radiator you might try dropping the headlight supports a smidge to get the hood sides in allignment.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

I've been advised with my 35 phaeton rebuild to set the front sheet metal and radiator up first so that the cowl can be shimmed to suit the hood,as well as the B- pillers and doors to align correctly as I have to install a new floor and rockers as well. Advice I received was that if you don't align the whole lot as one unit I will have an awful time aligning the front sheet metal especially as the original hood and radiator were rusted beyond salvage and I'm also using another 35 chassis.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

( "I don't like having the fan so close to the rad core, but I guess that's just the way it will have to be.")

Lyndon, I have a couple of inches clearence between the fan and radiator on my '36 coupe. I can easily remove the fan if I need too.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

You mentioned it didn't fit worth a poop before, and it sounds like you've just been tweaking with the front clip components. If I've understood those two comments correctly then the next question is, has the body been off the frame before? It could be you'll need to move the body around some.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Are your top braces bringing the radiator too far back? Can you post some pics?

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

These are very helpful comments. I will try and post some pictures of it later on.
Yes, the body was off the frame back when I first had the car in the 80's. It was put back on the frame in what I would have thought was the only location possible, but I am rethinking that now. If I remember correctly (which for me anymore is getting to be a stretch) when I installed the body on the frame in about 1988 it went on with the body mount kit. Using an aftermarket grille at first, I had real bad fit problems between the hood and the grille-the hood stuck out about 2-3 inches past the front of wear the grille comes to a point. Later on I obtained an original grille, and the fit-up improved greatly, but was still not perfect.

From what I am reading here, it seems maybe the body might have to slide forward about an inch or so, which would alleviate my fan-rad clearance, and give the necessary clearance between the top sides of the hood and the sides of the grille.
I will keep working it.
-Lyndon

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Relatively speaking an inch would be a "huge" amount. Assuming your rear axle is in the right place the wheel would be way out of line with the fender opening if the body were off, fore and aft, by an inch. A good suggestion was to check the rad rods, they should be a nominal 29". Of course, if they were way off you wouldn't be able to mount the hood hinge brackets at one end or the other.

As for "only location" for the body, you should have movement possibility of something around 1/8". Don't just think front to rear, but also side to side. That may not seem like much, but, as an example, if the body is "crooked" on the outside as much as a 1/4" cumulative, it'll drive you nuts trying to get the front end straight.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Ok here's some pictures:

I'm thinking I might be having more radiator problems. The rad is mounted to the frame in the correct set of holes. But it is tipped back a lot in order to get the hood to sort of close, the pass side being the worst:
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL174.../389875029.jpg

The driver side is a little better:
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL174.../389875021.jpg
Here's a view looking from underneath up at the corner where the rad is touching the top of the hood on the passenger side:
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL174.../389875013.jpg
And here's the same type of picture but on the driver side:
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL174.../389875074.jpgwhere the rad and the hood are not touching but are very close.
Last but not least, here's a picture of the fan to rad clearance:
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL174.../389875016.jpgwhich is actually about 1/4 inch. The picture I took showing the hood mount did not turn out, but it showed that the mounting piece is about 3/4 inch forward of the mount holes on the top of the rad.

Looks like I will be working this for a while. Any ideas, suggestions appreciated.

-Lyndon

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

To me it looks like the hub on your fan is too long. They do come in different lengths. That hub looks like it may be a pickup fan.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

It does look a little long all right. I had one that was shorter, but the blades to interfered with the rad hoses and the fan belt itself so I used this one. The other place that the fan would have run afoul was at the distributor, where the shorter fan shaft caused the blades to nearly run into the coil (but this could be corrected with a slightly longer fan belt).
Bottom line seems to be that the rad needs to go aft just a little more to clear the hood and allow it to close. I might need to rethink the fan mount (again!).

One other area I thought of was where the rad is bolted to the frame: I put the 3/16 inch thick rubber pads between the rad and the frame, if I were to take those out it would probably lower the rad a little more and maybe help out???

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Below may be the instructions you are thinking of. I do not remember who posted this on the old Ford Barn, but he is to be commended.

1 Start off by fitting the inner guard panels with the cooling louvers in them onto the frame with a couple of bolts.
2 Fit the running boards to locate and support the front fenders. Note that they can’t be moved forward or back much. Their position is fixed by the bits on the frame that stick out to support the body and also the forward end of the rear guards.
3 Fit the headlight/ fender supports to the frame.
4 Then hang the fenders over the inner guard panels and attach them to the running boards. Put in a few bolts to hold everything.
5 Fit the radiator and support bars.
6 Attach the hood support brackets on the firewall and radiator
7 With hood ornament temporarily in place using its rear two bolts to hold it on the radiator, adjust radiator rods so the stainless steel 33 inch long strip in hood center just fits between back of ornament and firewall bracket. Remove the ornament.
8 Then assemble and tighten the grille and the two side panels using all bolts. This will probably cause a fair bit of bad language and the need to stop for a drink but persevere You’ll need a piece of bar to help line up the holes, as if its anything like mine, I would have sworn that the three panels would never fit together, but they did.. Be very careful to align the edge of the grille and the side panels so that the surface of the panel is level with the surface of the grille, especially at the bottom.
9 Fit the grille and side panels to front fenders (the fender welt that goes between doesn’t seem to make a great deal of difference at this stage) and check how ornament holes line up. Ornament must be right over holes so bolts just drop in. If there is any stress on the ornament it will surely break. Check if the ears on radiator line up with grille top side mounting holes. If panels are painted use some masking tape for protection.
Either adjust the grille/side panel assembly or remove it and move the grille in relation to the side panels to improve the ornament fit or the alignment between the hood sides and the rear of the grille
10 I think this is the time to fit the small curved filler panels that go between the headlight support brackets and the joint between the horn grille panel and the fender.
11 If not already on, fit the hood and check the panel alignment.
12 You may need to pack under the radiator feet or even under the front hood mounting bracket but if car and frame are fairly straight they should be ok. There should be an anti squeak strip under the radiator mounting foot at least.
13 You’ll find that by pushing or pulling on the bottom of the grille the alignment can be changed dramatically.
14 The panel that fits between the bottom of the grille and the crossmember will help to give you the correct position for the bottom of the grille. It needs to be a good straight one.

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

This looks like a great set of instructions, thanks very much for posting them! I was not ready to install the fenders just yet but I see they are essential to be in place when getting everything to line up. This is going to be a longer project than I originally thought!
-Lyndon

Re: Lining up sheet metal: hood, grille, etc. on '36 Ford
 

Thanks for the install instructions! Just getting ready to pull the front end stuff down from the attic and start the fit and repair. Very timely indeed. Ed