[30six]

Here is a reply to a posting I had on FORDBARN a few years ago.

Leave all bolts finger tight only until all is assembled.
Remember almost everything relies on the radiator, how it sits in frame and are all attachments soldered on in the correct place. Seventy two years is a long time for things to remain the same.

Attach running boards
Fit the headlight fender supports.
Fit the inner front panels( with the louvers) to the chassis. Don’t put bolts in holes yet which attach it to head light support bracket
Fit front fenders. They fit over the inner panels. Fit bolts which attach the fenders to the headlight support through the side panels, also to the body and running board.
Attach the grille side panels to the grille before attaching to car. Line up the rear of the grille with the curved part of the side cheek panels. Leave off the horn grilles as I think Henry only put them there so you can put your hand through them to get to some of the bolts.
Fit and tighten grille attachment bolts. Bolt heads are on grille side.
Fit the grille and panel assembly to the fenders leaving bolts loose.
Fit the small filler panels from under fender. These help to put the whole assembly in the right place.
Fit the splash guard which goes from the bottom of the grille to crossmember in place. Some swearing may be necessary to get this in the right place. It fits inside the bottom of the grille and helps align everything so a good straight one is necessary.
Temporarily fit radiator and pray that whoever assembled all the soldered on brackets put them in exactly the right place. Put radiator stay rods in place loosely.
Attach hood ornament to the radiator with c’sunk screws and allow the front of it to rest on grille. This is better to do with an old and genuine ford emblem as you know it is the correct size.
Fit hood attachment bracket to front of cowl and tighten.
Fit Stainless strip, preferably without hood attached to it (especially if you are doing this job alone) to the rear bracket and slip in the front bracket and attach it to the top of radiator.
Adjust the radiator rods so that the back of the hood ornament is almost touching the stainless center strip which should be 33 inches long. If the chassis is sitting level it would be a good idea to hang a plumb line to make sure the center of the grille/hood ornament/strip is directly over the centre line of the chassis.
Now if all is well you should be able to attach the small tabs on the side of the grille to the radiator and the front of the hood ornament to the top of the grille. You don’t want to stretch or strain the grille to fit the ornament bolts as the ornament was not designed to carry any stress. You may need to “massage” the grille a bit so the bolts will just drop in.
If the radiator seems to be too low it should be about twenty two and a quarter inches vertically from the front rail just in front of the x member up to the small bolt at the side of the grille. Pack up the radiator with some anti squeak strips. (Body to chassis webbing strip or similar). Check that the radiator is in fact vertical, as the feet that it sits on may not be level.
Remove the front or rear centre bracket and hood strip and assemble hood. Place it back on car. You’ll need at least two people to do this.
Check the fit. The front of side panels should be parallel with back of grille. The lower surface of the top parts of hood should be parallel with the top of the grille. If not you probably need to raise or lower the radiator a bit.
Tighten up some of the bolts and check everything as you go. Things don’t need to move much to change panel fit.
You may need to pack up the front hood attachment bracket on the radiator to get the hood at the right level.