Hello to all. I am new to the HAMB, so hello to everyone. I need some help with the hood on a '32 5W I am building. The entire body is all Ford steel. I know questions have been asked before on the fit of the hood, and it's hard to get it perfect, but with mine when I get all the gaps and body lines lined up, I have a good 1 3/4" gap between the bottom of the hood sides and the top of the fender/frame. The hood latches won't even reach the hooks. The frame is original too, and the body is bolted down tight, and I just can't seem to get rid of this unsightly gap. I know on some slightly earlier Ford's I have seen a garnish molding to fill this gap, is there the same for the '32's? Because I haven't seen one. Thanks for any help.
Sum Ting Wong! However, I have seen a car or so that put spacers on the latches to make them reach...but I really think something is not mounted properly, or the hood panels are for a different application. You might check to see if pickup sides and coupe sides are the same height.
No difference between p***anger car and pickup truck original hoods,,with the exception of the 20 and 25 louvered side panels. Do you have any shims between the body and frame and is the radiator mounted correctly? What type of material,,,rubber or original style webbing did you use on the firewall and radiator shell? Are the spring loaded hold latches original or aftermarket? HRP
I'll take some pics and post them. Yeah, I don't know whats up with this thing. I am ***uming that it is the correct hood. My father actually owned/built this car in the late 60's, and we found it about 5 years ago, completly dis***embled in someones garage, still with the paint he put on it back then, hence me believing it's the original hood. He doesn't remember it having the gap back then either. Some how I'll figure this out!!
Right now, I have a aftermarket aluminum radiator, with the origi**** grill shell. I have had to add temporary shims under the radiator to raise the whole ***embly to get the hood from overlapping the body on the back side and to get the gaps to look good, ending up with the large gap on the bottom. I have the original style welting. There are no shims under the body and I've checked probably 100 times to make sure it is tight against the top of the frame. As far as the latches, I have what I believe are the originals, and also a set from SoCal, I have the same result with both. This thing has definatly got me stumped.
You are not going to like this ... but there is a strong possibility the the frame is bent. It has been in one too many " Dukes of Hazards " movie As a long time 32 Ford guy ... I have seen this before. The frame has to be strapped down at the cowl area and then the frame pushed up at the crossmember. I know of 3 or 4 32 frames that had to have this done to get the type of fit that most rodders want today.
Yes there is something wrong, The gap on a 32 Ford hood side to fender is in the area of about 3/8", ***uming that you have the correct hood. The height of the rear edge of the side panel should be 22 1/2". In most cases the problem with hood alignment is in two areas, the simplest being an incorrect radiator mount bracket or the most complicated being that the floor had been replaced in the vehicle and that had been done incorrectly. Since you don't have any pictures to go by this is all supposition but your cowl height should be using dimensions based off an original style firewall. If you don't have one, the height of the cowl off the top of the frame should be around 28 1/2", measured at the rear hood hinge bracket. If your measurement is not close to that, its time to figure out what you are doing with a picture post.
Your right, I don't like that since I've already boxed the frame and installed the tubular crossmembers, ARGHH!! Didn't think of that possibility before, or maybe I just didn't want to. I'll have to do some looking at it. Thanks.
Thanks for the dimensions, ****. I'll check that first. Also thanks for all the quality parts that we have gotten from you too!
Boxing the frame and all that welding can warp the rails. Building a full fendered 32 is a LOT more difficult than just building a Hiboy. Add in a hood and things get even more difficult. When the frame is in two pieces and going back together ... extreme caution and care needs to be exercised.
Pilot eh? This may help. Make yourself an adjustable for height bracket similar to this: You'll need a little more vertical height than the photo shows since the one illustrated is for a 32 grille shell that goes on my 31 Model A roadster on 32 frame. The 32 grill shells on a 30-31 Model A fit a little lower vertically speaking than does a 32 grille shell on a 32 frame. Looking from here it seems your radiator could be overly tall and that's where the problem is. If so, a visual flow line looking from the side at the cowl angle and hood angle will not match. More than likely the hood angle will be going uphill. Angles should be very close to the same or the car will look strange. 32 hood tops measured down the center are 32" from cowl end to grille shell end. 30-31 Model A hoods measured in the same manner are 31 5/8". You can make a check for a bent frame by shooting the angles with a digital level. The level on top of the frame in the middle of the flat area will give you a zero point. Placing the level on top of the frame in the engine area should show just about a 2 degree difference. If the frame checks ok, I'd pursue the grille shell height with the adjustable bracket and the radiator removed.
Like myself and others have said before, "full fendered '32s are a lot more involved" than hiboys and a full hood adds to the problem. My first guess though would be a model A crossmember with stock u-bolts and saddle caused you to shim the radiator higher. This should cause the hood sides to be way out though.
Jay if he added shims under the radiato mounts to keep the hood from overlapping the cowl in the lower rear then its not too tall.. i agree with the other guys .something is seriously wrong here.. especially with a henry body. If the radiator and or shell are too low the lower hood corners will over lap the body in some cases.. too high it will be too far away.. I hate hoods as usually the drive me to drink when trying to get em fit on the car and lord knows i drink too much already remember body shimming can affect hood fit also .. Even if the gaps on the doors look right that doesnt mean the body shims are in the correct spots. dave
I'm having issues with my camera, I'll try another later today. Here is some more info on my issue. I checked the dimensions that **** provided. The aft hood side is 22 1/2" as mentioned it should be. The height of the center cowl above the firewall to the frame is more than 28 1/2, it looks to be about 29 to 29 1/4 inches. Why that is I don't know. I replaced the floorpans with ones I fabricated, they are above the frame channel though so I don't know how they could be causing the issue, and as mentioned before the frame channel on the body is down tight to the top of the frame. For the firewall, I used the original one except I cut out the center and used 1/8" steel to smooth it, retaining the original outer lip and lower mounts. The lower mounts however are about an inch above the frame. I've been told that this is normal and gets mounted like the radiator with springs and bolts. Is this true? Like I said, I am piecing this thing together from a pile of parts, I've never built a '32 before. When I boxed the frame, I retained to original crossmembers during the process to keep the original demensions, and check/measured often to avoid warpage. The front crossmember/radiator mount was replaced with a Heights superride, installed exactly to their specificatons. As far as the frame being bent, wouldn't there be some kind of buckling or warpage on the sides or top and bottom, nether of which it has that I have noticed. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
Also, there has been mention of body shims. I have none installed anywhere. Could it be that I need to install some on the back side of the body to angle the front down?
Just wondering how you got the proper door gaps and stuff without shimming? But ive never had the chance to work with a real henry 32 so maybe they werent shimmed from the factory. i guess someone can enlighten me on that. I did a couple model a c-dans and didnt shim anything but i just thought i got lucky Dave
Honestly, I haven't even gotten as far to install the doors yet. I found this problem and have been stuck on it. I suppose it would be a good idea to install them to see what issues I have in store for me there huh? At least it's raining like crazy today to make me feel better!
Lining up a hood can sometimes be a real pain in the ***. You get the gap right at one end and that throws it off at the other.
before you even try to mess with the hood get the doors on and make sure all the gaps are right and they shut properly then look at the hood.. Dave
How well does the rear fenders fit ?? If they fit decent and the bolt holes in the frame line up with the bolt holes in the rear fenders ... the body can not be off much, if at all. Because a slight difference in the frame rails ADD UP ... over the length of the ch***is ... 3 feet or so of length can make a 1/8 inch variation at the cowl turn into a 1 inch or more @ the crossmember ... I know of more than 2 or 3 32 frames that have had a sawsall cut into the frame from the bottom at the cowl and pulled down and rewelded to get everything to line up. That's WHY ( IMHO ) a rodder should always put everything together ... before blowing it back apart for finish paint
I agree with building a car first before paint, that's what I am doing now, thankfully so with these issues. The bolt holes for the body/frame lined up pretty well. The holes in the frame for the rear fenders were welded over at some point, I guess someone was planning on going fenderless. I tried hanging the doors on it earlier for the first time, and needless to say, the gaps are way off. I am starting to believe that the front end of the frame may be bent down a good bit as it looks like to get the gaps right on the doors, the front of the body needs shimmed up, which is going to make the hood gap even more. Arrgggghhhh.
It would probably be a good idea to find someone with a fairly original car you can study if there isn't a big, obvious solution. I find it worrisome that the gap sounds like it is full length, and not a tilted kind of thing, unless hood sides turn out to be non-deuce. I'm in northern NJ, but I'm sure there has to be someone a bit closer with a together deuce.
I would love to find someone close to me that has one I can take a peek at. Anyone know of one in southeastern, PA area? The gap on the hood actually does slope. On the back side it is about 1" sloping to almost 2 1/2" up front! What I can't imagine is how, if it is, the nose of the frame is bent down. I would think it would get bent up if anything. But who knows. Several of you guys say you have heard of guys having to bend the nose up, it looks like I may be on that list too.
Back up to line item #16, If you are measuring an 1 1/4 taller than the measurement I gave you something is wrong. The biggest mistake made is not using stock coordinates when replacing or building a floor. With a 32 Ford the easiest way to do this is use two items, a stock fire wall with the original legs and a pair of rear fenders. The stock firewall sets the correct body height and the rear fenders locate the rear body height as they register with the two holes on the frame rails. Use these two and you will get your floor correct. There is a 1/16" anti squeek pad under the front legs of the fire wall and you can use 1/8" the frame webbing down the frame rails. The right angle cast legs on the front of the cowl are not body mounting bolts, they are used to draw the cowl down over the firewall and can be tensioned to help the door alignment but they are not strictly used for aligning the doors nor as a guide to determine the height of the body. If you cannot get the hood down to the frame rail, all indications point to the floor being installed too high. You should check the door fit and insure that the body reveals line up before you get carried away welding or stop at the auto body supply and stock up on 4" zip wheels. The next step is to visit or contact someone with a 32 to see how the parts go together or figure out why you have a problem. Line 27 says that your hood is pointed up that means the rear of the body is to low. Did you eye ball this or did you attempt to install the floor less the vertical rear measurement with a pair of fenders. The frame is not bent, you can easily check that with a long carpenter square straight edge.
It is difficult to tell from the photo ... but the gap between the bottom of the grille shell and the crossmember does NOT look to be excessive. With the fenders on and the frame webbing in between the fenders and the frame ... it closes the gap up a considerable amount. On my 32 Roadster ... the latches will not reach ... with the fenders and the webbing missing.
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