Trying to get this hood to fit on the 40 coupe. big gapossis on each side- but to close to the cowl and it touches the cowl when lifting the hood. Bought a set of new hinges from Drake- made it worse, big gap across cowl and sides and still hits cowl when opening. Moved hinges all over the place but no cigar. any ideas?
First step if at all possible use original FORD hinges (repair if needed) and proceed from there. Other posters will have the patience to explain the process.
On my 40 Tudor I had some Drake hinges that fit worse than the loose originals. So I rebuilt the originals and tried again. Still required some slitting of the under brace at the cowl and pushing the sides inward on my car. Then welded the slit from inside the engine compartment with the hood gapped properly. And my hood was the original from the factory.
There are many things that throw a 40 hood wacky. Hood hinges--orig or vintique-no Drake--used vintique on last 4. -don't use those hyd ram things in place of hood springs. -enlongate the holes on main hinge bolt hole a bit fore and aft-on the body -try the hood for fit without hood springs attached-if they are the lease bit tweaked of out of alignment where they bolt up to the hood they will send the hood in an odd direction. Very common -hood will try to catch cowl if no strip across top of cowl-must be on there -ck front clip by sight from the side--is it "birdbeaked"(too low in front)-shim up via Y brace or what ever method you have for support-common problem-- a clue is to look how bumper irons fit thru the hole in fender--are they near the top? or to one side? -easiest to align hood with cowl first then move fenders to it--I have had quite a few that required moving the front clip over up to 3/8"-usually toward pass side and visa versa -after market shock towers can hit inner fender panels and throw front end alignment off as well-seems more predominant on pass side?? -when I have one where it belongs I make a small bracket that goes on the inner fender panel near the front and sits on top of the frame on one side only-if front end is right, inner panels should be approx. 1/4" above frame where they cross over the frame--maybe a little more -don't put on hood side trim until the hood fits properly--usually have to file the trim holes downward (the last 5 holes toward rear) for trim alignment Have also done as Alchemy said a couple of times Lots of other things too but here are some basics-no expert but have done 14 40's send me a PM and I will send you my ph # -
Subscribe because the only thing on my '40 that isn't just right is the hood fit, as far as the body.
Thanks olscrounger for the call last nite. Here are a few pictures. I'm on hold with the paint work until I try all the stuff you suggested. Yep, this car was done a while ago, then got some damage during an earthquake. A buddy of mine recently bought the car and we are trying to get it cleaned up and back on the road.
good pics -make sure door trim is tight or close under the hinges -get hood close then-- -gap on dr side at cowl S not too bad -gap on pass side wide-means front clip may need to move toward pass side a bit and up a tad -inst new hinges 1st and rubbers in hood holes and cowl -looks like grille a tad high at present-try to drop maybe a strong 1/8 (can only see dr side front) -when close I think you will have to file down the holes for the short trim(use bolt type clips, not snap in) and the last 5 holes on the hood for trim alignment I see where it is catching the cowl--try the trick I told you last nite on it as the car sits now and see what happens. call again if this doesn't make sense
Great conversation. Really Olscrounger's wisdom with this is appreciated. I have been archiving all the information that comes my way on aligning the front clip & the hood. Looking forward to doing this & getting it right one day.
Tim was a HUGE help on mine when I was building it. He probably saved me weeks of time with all the tips and tricks he passed on to me.
Glad to help folks with 40's. Having done quite a few of my own and fixed a few others, I learned a lot of this thru trial and error and screwed up a few things along the way.No two 40's fit the same. Had one here a while back that needed the front end aligned-it was way off and was a done car-really didn't want to work on it-not my car. Had a high dollar paint job--scary but got the front end right. Wife came out a looked. Saw that the 1/4 trim where it met the door trim was off a lot but body line was good. She said we have to fix that--noooooooooo! Trim was bolted down pretty tight, Loosened the 1/4 trim 1/2 way back and spaced it out with some tile setter sponges. Then filed the holes from the door jamb back about 5 holes til it fit. Now the paint was marked where it had been! Carefully color sanded it and rubbed it out. did both sides-all good but a little scary-glad she was there to help-owner was very very happy. Has won a few shows since. This 40 will be at the Quail show during car week in Monterrey.
I have the front clip off of my forty now. Everything fit well before disassembly. Can I assume, using the same assembly, I should get the hood fit right again with out much adjustment? I am going to assume the answer will be NO!
Olscrounger is spot on and in defense of the 39/40 Ford many of these projects that we assemble are parts that came from various Ford factories and back yards.......
I read somewhere that a lot of front sheet metal alignment issues on thes cars are due to guys butchering the rad support back when as well. Man it's nice working with a "virgin".
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