1936 Hood installation

[Joeyv]

I have a 36 Roadster. When I purchased it The hood was on it and so was the hood ornament. I took the hood and hood ornament off, removed the radiator, and had the radiator re-cored. I did not remove the grill or the grill shell. I’ve tried to put the hood back on and I’m having a difficult time doing it. The radiator still has the upper brackets attached to it like it did before I sent it to the radiator shop. The grill shell still has the tabs attached that the upper radiator bolts to, they haven’t been moved. The only change was the radiator was removed and put back in the same place. The radiator is already leaning as far forward as possible, it is touching the grill shell. I’m having a couple problems. One is the front hood bracket that secures the hood to the top of the radiator doesn’t to line up with the mounting holes without quite a bit I’d effort. The distance from the radiator to the firewall is the same (+/-1/16) on both radiator support rods. The hood margin is too tight to the cowl on one side of the car, and the margin to the cowl is too large on the other side of the car. When the hood is mounted, the inner lip of the hood catches on the mounting bracket on the side of the radiator. The other problem is appears that the hood ornament, when its bottom is slipped into the center trim of the grill, the hood ornament’s mounting holes do not reach the mounting holes on the top of the radiator. It looks as though the radiator would need to move forward or sit lower. Neither seems possible because it is already leaning against the grill shell and it is sitting on the same hardware as when the radiator was removed. I tried putting the hood on the car with the help of a buddy, I think next time there needs to be 3 of us. Any suggestions, or ideas where I may find the process of mounting and aligning the hood documented? Thanks!

[mercman from oz]

Joeyv is having problems mounting the Hood on his 1936 Ford Roadster. Any suggestions?

[ford38v8]

I’m sure there are others with more and better info for you, but basically, loosen all your mounting points, and align the hood to the cowl first, then proceed with alignment of everything else to the hood, starting with the stay rods.

[DavidG]

Do the hood side panels exactly fill the space between the cowl and grille side panels, no more, no less? I am guessing that they do not. Given that it is a '36. there are two pair of holes in the gussets in front of the front cross member that the radiator rests upon and is attached to. The forward-most pair are for commercial vehicle radiators; the rear pair are for passenger car radiators. I am guessing that your radiator is mounted on the forward-most set of holes in those gussets in front of the front cross member as that would explain why your hood ornament does not fit on the radiator properly.


How long are your radiator support rods? Are you sue that they are the correct length for a '36.

[Joeyv]

DavidG - I will check, but I thought the sides fit properly, from a size perspective. But they are not filling the space correctly. The support rods are the ones that were on the car when I got the car, when the hood was on; I am assuming they are correct for the 36. The hood fit ok before I pulled the radiator. I’ll check the holes that the radiator is mounted in. That could be my mistake. I won’t be back to my car and shop until Monday. I’ll give an update on what I find then.
I appreciate the guidance from you and Ford38V8. Thanks!

[TagMan]

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You wil have to adjust the hood support rod length as necessary. It usually only takes a small amount of adjustment to make fairly large movement at the gaps.

In the future, measure the exact length of the rods on each side before removal of the hood.

[Joeyv]

Thanks Tagman. I’ll remember that for next time.

[uncle buck]

I am thinking the same as DavidG. It sounds like the radiator feet are bolted to the front holes and need to be moved to the back holes.

[Joeyv]

Here is a view of where I have the radiator mounted. It is not mounted in the most forward hole. It’s mounted in the hole about 1.25” behind the front hole. I have the pan Sheetmetal bolted to the third hole back. There is an empty hole about 6” back from the front hole. Is that back hole where the radiator mounts?
One of the pictures is from under the car. The other is from in the engine compartment, trying to show the relative position of the open hole.
I’m feeling a bit dim witted having lost track of from where the radiator was removed. Lesson learned. Thanks for the help.

[Joeyv]

I’m having difficulty getting the pictures to post. May have to try when I get home and have my laptop.

[DavidG]

Okay, if on the back holes on the gusset and the hood ornament does not extend back far enough for the holes in the rear of it to line up with those on top of the radiator itself, then the support rods are too long (either the wrong ones or incorrectly adjusted) as Tag Man has suggested.

[Joeyv]

David, thanks for the advice. I’ll move the radiator to the rear holes and see if that solves the issue. I’ll try to post the pictures that I spoke of in my previous post 24639C78-3B04-4963-826D-376230D45AF1.jpg

8CD892D7-275C-4389-87C1-232AC7AF2665.jpg

[DavidG]

According to your first photo in #12 directly above, your radiator is mounted in the rear pair of holes where it belongs. The problem lies elsewhere.

[CaliforniaBorn36]

Are you certain that all mounting hardware on the radiator was re-soldered in the correct position. I had a radiator re cored, and it required some finagling of the mounting tabs to get everything to fit correctly afterwards.

[TJ]

Since the radiator was recored it may be that some of the brackets may not be back exactly in the same place as they were before. I would put the bottom in the correct mounting holes and loosen everything else up. Then little by little attach the pieces to the radiator. 36's are a real pain in the butt to get things to line up. Patience and time are your friends.