I have a 51 Buick and got it with the hood off and strapped down to the trailer when we set it on the car the opining is about 1/4" to narrow on both sides. The fenders over lap the door on this model. With the gap set between the door and fender a little thicker then a paint stick the hood is close to fitting. but looks funny to me. My question is how far do the fender set out from the door on your 50-52 Buick?????? Trying to decide if the hood was flattened when transported by the customer when transported 100 miles strapped flat on the trailer. space as shown above the hood is closes to fighting right . with the fender gaps where they look right to me here is how the hood sets
I don’t have a Buick so I don’t know but in the last pic it looks like the front fender has a slight twist to the left (gauging from the splash pan). It could be just the angle of the pic or maybe that’s how Buicks are, I don’t know. But, if there is a twist there that would certainly lessen the gap a bit. Maybe mount the grille and core support and then see where you’re at? That might bring everything closer into alignment. About the overlap, I know on some Chevys the front fenders don’t actually overlap the door but they do stick out about an 1/8” further to allow the front edge of the door to swing underneath it. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
thanks saxman it is the angel of the shot. Buicks we weird the fenders lap the door buy about 3/4" The core support is in and I centered the holes while tightening the bolts. if you notice the revile on the hood and the revile on the fender are off hood is up around 3/8" so the trim wont line up either . If I spread the front of the fender as far apart as possible the 2 reviles will line up but it is a very tight fit . The car came in on a wrecker with the hood strapped down and that bothers me, I just figure the fender should be closer to the door but not sure?
My hood had a lot of wobble or free play when I got it. There are two structural supports under them and they are spot welded. One of my the welds on my hood popped causing the hood to act as if it was flattened. There is a section in the manual that shows explains how to use turnbuckles and threaded rod to adjust the hood. I used tie downs straps to get mine in place prior to repairing the weld. Posting some pics of my door gap on my 51 special in hopes that it helps you. From the manual: c. Fender and Hood Alignment at Front Doors With front doors closed there should be no metal-to-metal contact between doors and rear ends of front fenders. Check for clearance at frequent points, using a strip of fibre or other soft material 1/32" thick. The spacing between rear end of front fend ers and the shoulder on front edge of doors should be approximately 1/8", and fairly uni form from top to bottom. The spacing between rear end of hood and front edge of doors should be fairly uniform on both sides, and sufficient to prevent contact as door is opened. Before making any adjustment of sheet metal to provide necessary clearance at points mentioned, first make sure that front doors are properly aligned in the body openings as described in paragraph 13-7. Improper spacing or interference between hood and doors may be corrected by adjustment of hood hinges par. 12-3. On Series 40, if fender and door panel sur faces are not reasonably flush correction may be made by adding or removing plain washers between the fender support and the cowl panel. On Series 4-50-70, adjustment of fender with reference to door panel may be made by loosen ing the fender attaching bolts at fender support and rocker panel. This will permit movement of fender in or out, forward or rearward. Fenders 12-4 ADJUSTMENTS SHEET METAL 422 must not be moved so much that proper align ment of hood is affected. Where spacing between end of front fender and edge of door is objectionably uneven from top to bottom it may be necessary to adjust the shims under the radiator mounting strap and between fender skirts and frame par. 12-4. d. Hood Alignment Inspection When closed and locked, the hood should bear firmly against the three rubber bumpers on radiator grille frame and the rubber lacing attached to the cowl ledge. Along the sides, the hood and fender contours should be in reason ably close horizontal alignment. Misalignment at these points may be corrected by vertical ad justment of hood hinges par. 12-3. A clearance of approximately 1%" should exist between each side of hood and the fender, and the spacing should be fairly uniform from front to rear. Improper spacing along sides of hood may be corrected by lateral adjustment of hood hinges par. 12-3. A clearance of approximately 1/8" should exist between the rear edge of hood and the shoulder of cowl panel, and the spacing should be fairly uniform from side to side. Improper spacing at this point may be corrected by fore and aft ad justment of hood hinges par. 12-3. In excep tional cases of uneven spacing it may be neces sary to adjust the shims under fender skirts par. 12-4. With opposite side of hood locked, raise and lower one side of hood several times to check alignment of pilot pins with holes in pilot plates. The direction of misalignment may be deter mined by a cleaning grease from pilot pins and holes and coating pins with chalk; a chalked pin will be heavily marked on one side if it is not aligned with pilot hole. A marking on the inner side of pin is not undesirable, provided that unlocked hinge does not bind and raise with the hood. Check opposite side in same manner. Misalignment of pilot pins with holes may be corrected by adjustment of hood hinges; how ever, if only the lower end of a pilot pin on hood reinforcement is sprung out of alignment the pin should be straightened instead of adjusting the hinge. Alignment of pilot pins with holes in pilot plates is very important. If there is misalign ment, the hinges will bind on pilot pins and hood will be hard to open. If the pilot pins spread the front and rear hinges apart this may prevent proper locking of the hood fasteners when hood is closed. 12-3 HOOD HINGE AND FASTENER ADJUSTMENTS The hinge mounting bracket has horizontally slotted bolt holes which permit fore and aft adjustment on the fenders. Bolt holes in fenders are not slotted for adjustment of hinge in any direction, therefore the vertical setting of hinge is not affected when hinge bolts are loosened. The hinge fastener and housing ***embly is bolted to the gooseneck hinge strap and the bolt holes in strap are slotted to permit vertical adjustment of the fastener housing only. See figure 12-2. This arrangement permits vertical adjustment without changing the pivot point of the hinge, and without changing the fore and aft setting. Lateral adjustment of hinge to change hoodto- fender clearance is obtained by U-shaped spacer washers which can be removed or in stalled without removing hinge bolts. These washers are furnished under Group 8.014 in thicknesses of .030" and .120". To move hinge fastener and housing ***em bly outward to decrease hood-to-fender clear ance, either remove spacer washers from be tween fastener housing and hinge strap or install washers between hinge mounting bracket and fender rail. To move parts inward to increase clearance, either remove spacer wash ers from between hinge mounting bracket and fender rail or install washers between hinge strap and fastener housing. See figure 12-2. An equal total thickness of washers must be used on both bolts at either point of adjust ment. When adjusting hinges it is important to BOLT & INT.-EXT. TOOTH 1. WASHER Figure 12-2-Hood Hinge Mounting 423 SHEET METAL ADJUSTMENTS 12-S keep all four pilot plates level and oi, a common plane. Use simight edge to check for level between front and rear hinge pilot plates on each side and reaCust hinges as retmired to obtain full bearing of both plates against straight edge. A robber bumper is mounted in fender rail under the upper inner end of the hinge strap. Make sure that this bumper is in place and is in good condition. If this end of hinge strap is bent so that the hinge pilot plate is not level, laterally, carefully bend the stxap to level up the pilot plate. The },ood fastener tension is non-adjustable as the latches are spring loaded to make them automatically seek a firmly locked position. After adjustment or replacement of a hood hinge the adjustment of the hood fastener oper ating rod should be checked. First make cer tain that hood pilot pins are propeib aligned .ith holes in hinge pilot plates. Push both fas teners down to the locked position and have both hinges resting on bumpers on fender rail. Check the clearance between the shoulder on rear end of operating rod and the trunnion of 2-ear fastener; clearance should be approxi mately Adjust the nuts on each side of front fastener trunnion to obtain this clear ance, if necessary. See figure 12-8. Whenever t becomes necessary to remove the hood fastener eontrel cable, disconnect the return spring, pull control knob out and remove it from cable end by unscrewing the fluted head set screw in knob. After removal of control knob the cable ***embly can readily be removed by disconnecting at bracket clamp and pulling it forward through ann of rear hinge fastener. c. Adlusmient of Hood Width The hood panel reinforcements are of channel section and welded to hood side rails to provide an ***embly of fixed width at all points. Adjust ment for width should not be necessary except when hood has been distorted due to accident. If alteration of hood width becomes neceosary i 2-,-AdI.,.n.ie .1 Hd Opi,.ih Rd *!* pa,. 2-5-IiSI Kd flail t.lM.i,.s - l4.S Wffi roe. I *-4-5!.4ghtii l..d fii,il t.ffiS!.,,iat !p*d Ud 12-6 ADJUSTMENTS SHEET METAL 424 however, it may be accomplished by carefully bending the reinforcements with proper tools. The hood may be made wider by straighten ing the reinforcement with a C-clamp prepared and applied as shown in figure 12-4. The hood may be reduced in width by bending the rein forcement with a large turnbuckle prepared and applied as shown in figure 12-5. Both tools illustrated may be made locally from details shown.
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