spent a fair bit of time fitting /gapping new 25 louvre hood to orig gril shell on 32 tudor.got the gaps nigh on spot on,really pleased.heres the two issues I have.1,a larger than should be gap between grill and splash apron,2,reveal on hood doesn't align with body reveal,and lower than the bead at bottom of the cowl.gap at bottom of hood 1/2 inch above the fender been looking at images on google,majority are like this and some spot on.would like to get it closer to align.what do you have to do to correct this/am I missing something.thanks.
Phil. This is one of the hardest thing to get to fit on building a deuce. Seems everyone approaches it in a way. Will be interesting to see what you get. Good luck. I will be watching this one.
I think the 1/2 inch above the fenders is correct. If you suceed in getting the reveal to line up, what is that going to do to the fit at the cowl? I'm guessing it is going to be way high. I spent a lot of time on my F/G car trying to get all the gaps the same and the reveals to match and didn't have much luck. Then I went and looked at several "Henry's" and figured out they didn't have much luck at the factory either Dennis D
yep everything that needs to be is on.thats what I found looking at sedans on google,all seem to be low at reveal.just seems too look odd.i guess its about 1/4 in too low.
You may have to shim up the grill shell mounts to get everything to line up better. It may all be a compromise in the end.
can you try a thicker cowl/shell lacing? or try to put something under them? i have had to shim under the hood hinge mounts to get hood to rise. pictures?
Sounds like the radiator[grill shell] is too high to the fender line. Bottom of my grill shell is a business card from top of fender. To get reveal on hood to line up with reveal on cowl, you may need to add material under cowl lacing.Everything hangs off radiator, so moving it makes a difference.
didn't know about thicker cowl laceing.going to look at a bit of shimming.gaps are spot on.going to have another go today.
I was using a '32 style hood on an A, the lower panel hinges 'opened' slightly due to frame flex. (with Dzus clips on lower sides)
I use different thickness adhesive backed rubber on the inside of the hood to get it sitting correctly and this will allow the body reveal . When you lift the hood you can see this rubber so its less than ideal , but only way to get gape right . To get the gap between the grill shell and apron you have to cut and shut the apron , if its a repro item it will never fit properly .
As mentioned previously lining up the hood can be a lesson in futility. I was never able to get the original 25 louver hood on my pickup to fit perfectly but after spending several hours working on adjusting the height of cowl,the radiator shell up,down,in and out,side to side I finally got it to fit where I was satisfied. Regardless of which early Ford you are working on from the Model A to a 1940 Ford th hoods will fight you every inch of the way! HRP
FWIW Are you using a stock firewall, with the original lacing channel? I Had problems with an aftermarket Brookville flat firewall in that the channel was not on the same elevation as the stock Ford. Tried to reshape the channel but never was able to get it to the right height. Finally in desperation, I obtained a sound original firewall that I needed to rework for engine clearance and the hood fits fine. All using an original hood and body. I have notice others using a Brookville flat firewall having the same hood fitment problem.
Original body,original firewall,original hood,original radiator shell,original frame. Everything fit well before I blew the truck apart. With my sedan it didn't take long before I had it fitting to my satisfaction.,it too is all Henry.HRP
I've seen this on a lot of cars especially new builds with parts from various mfg's, as Highlander points out sometimes their is just no way around it unless you "lower the bar" a little and accept a compromise. This is not for the "faint of wallet" though, to see what is involved in achieving perfection; check out the metal work involved in the projects that Dave Lane at fastlanerodshop.com does. Click on their past projects page and then ( as one example) click on Allan ****ons Deuce 3w, each photo in the big square contains more shots within. Enjoy
hi guys ,messed with it today.now only 1/8 off instead of a 1/4.think part of the prob is the Brookville firewall.the reveal the laceing sits in is to low,used my profiler to get shape from original firewall (didn't want to cut this up to use)and compared to Brookville,bit off.if I can adjust the laceing edge and maybe shim a bit should come very close if not on the money.glad im not paying though.unless theres any other suggestions.look at dave lanes stuff on reg basis.
Perry--Pretty common deal. The reveals on my car were pretty close, but I did have an issue with the radius of the Rootlieb hood matching both the cowl on my Wescott body and the Brookville grille shell, and BTW these are considered some of the best in the industry. In my case it may have a little to do with the fact that I ordered the hood to be made one inch longer than stock. Welcome to hotrodding as they say. Never really liked the looks of what is offered for cowl lacing so I came up with these, sorry about the ****py pics. Not sure where I got them, maybe McMaster-Carr. They can be trimmed as well as adjusted individually to get the radii to match. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Yes, Fastlane has one of the best sites for studying build shots.
The Jalopy Journal
