Im trying to align the sheet metal on my 41 ford truck. Im getting closer but it looks like the slots for the bumper brackets my not line up now. also it looks like the fenders need to be moved out to come closer in line with the hood. How do I do this? the next question is how is the hood latch supposed to be set up? I installed a new grill and now it seems like the latch is to far foward to latch on the cross bar. does anyone have pics of how its supposed to be or how to get everything lined up?
I don't have answers to all your questions, but I would suggest you begin by making sure the cab is setting square with the chassis. Measuring from side to side at front and rear of cab and level with the frame. Once you are satisfied that is ok, align the hood to the cowl of the truck. Then you can align the fenders, side to side and up and down to match the hood. It may take shims under the front fender support to get the verticle alignment correct. I don't have anything to offer about the hood latch. Sorry. Ray
This may sound like a dumb question, but are you sure that you have a correct replacement grille? If all you did is replace the grille and it pinched the fenders together and moved the latch bar... something's wrong. Best wishes.
It sounds like you might be doing thisd anyway, but for my 1939 Ford Coupe, I HAD to line up the hood, grille, and inner fenders FIRST, and only then did I install the fenders. This was the ONLY way I could make it work. Thanks for the HAMB and it's resources for the info to make my front end mock up actually WORK....
Ok ill bite, what did you do when the inner fender panels where installed to make the fenders fit? Why would installing the inner fender panels first chance things? Right now I have the hood fenders and grill on. The grill is new and the inner brace for the grill is an original piece but not previously installed on this truck.
I don't know if I can explain right now, (beer etc. ), but if a picture is worth a thousand words.... The inner fenders allowed me to keep everything in perspective, and seemed to have enough leeway in final fit to allow a reasonable starting place to "anchor" the fenders, etc. Are you getting my drift.... edit,,,, >>> In other words, without the inner fenders in place, everything was a sloppy mess, moving where it wanted to go. Installing the "inner structure" (inner fenders, radiator support, etc.) allowed me to firm everything up and bolt it down and THEN deal with the fenders. IMO, these front ends NEED to be put together in manageable bites, there is just too much shit to try to get it all right in one unit.... I tried this first before SEARCHING the HAMB. The consensus is a "modular Assembly".
Hmmm so do you have to move the inner fenders around get them aigned first. was there much tweaking of the inner fenders to make them fit? once you have that aligned dont you have to unbolt everything to get the fenders in? religning everything again? just trying to figure it all out Thanks
To avoid confusion this 39 DeLuxe Ford has a 40 Std. Passenger Car/40-41 Ford Pickup diecast 3-piece grille rather than the more pointed stamped sheet metal grille with stainless steel "bar" trim used on the 39 DeLuxe Ford cars. His advice is good. The 39 Dlx., 40 Std., 40 Dlx., 39-40 Mercs, 40-41 Pickups/Panels have the most difficult to align front end sheet metal of any Ford product before then or since. Multiple curves and planes like these subjected to 70 years of use, abuse, and lack of maintenance make it a challenge for anyone even the best of the pros.
It is true that I had to unbolt the inner fenders and grille to install the fenders, but I did this one side at a time and only loosened just enough stuff at once to do what I needed to do and then got everything tightened back up. These front ends have lots of STRUCTURE built in, I found that things did not move much (if any) when I limited my disassembly to what was essential. Also, you will have "witness marks" to help with re-assembly. It is a trying process, but by understanding it is a process where one thing leads to another, it is not as hard as it seems. At least it was not super hard for me, but still, I have not done final assembly. I think that things will be thrown out of kilter some even just adding the thickness of paint to the mix.
The Jalopy Journal
