I bought a new in the box Bob Drake grill for my 1939 Ford Deluxe coupe. everything went on real nice until the outer trim pieces. the ones next to the front fenders. They are bent wrong and I am afraid to try to bend them.There is an inch of space from the edge fender to the trim! anyone else have this problem??
I've built several 39 & 40 Fords and one thing is constant,lining up the grill,fenders and hood are a major PITA,,everything needs to be loose and lined up before you start tightening up the grill and fenders. HRP
What HRP says is true. All of that front sheet metal and grill can be a real headache to get right. Make sure you have all of the attendant braces that go in the mix, it makes a lot of difference as to the final fit. And not that it will take up an inch of space but I think you need to run a strip of fender welting between the grill and front fenders. I've actually seen people run a double strip because of poor alignment there, hopefully you won't need to do that.
I have never built one of them but have heard from friends that have how hard they are to do. One trick most say to do is use a bolt one size smaller than the hole. For example a 3/8" hole uses a 5/16" bolt.
Mike @ Early Ford Store in San Dimas told me that 39's came with both an " early & late " style front fenders, as in different curvatures coming into the grille area.....this could be your problem....he said having a gap on one side of grille would be the result of mixing the early & late front fenders.....
bchra guy it is true that the fenders are different but the difference is between the grill flange and the head light area. In my experience you can use any 39 deluxe or 40 grill with the 39 fenders. I have battled with the grill fit on my 40 deluxe project but finally got it line up during the test fitting after starting with every thing attached loosely then slowly tightening the bolts while maintaining alignment between the cowl, hood, grill components, fenders and inner fenders. It is not an easy task and I don't expect it to be any easier when I do final assembly of the car. Oh, and the my grill is a vintique grill I picked up at swap meet
thanks for all the help, I am going to try loosening the fender to grill bolts and see if it helps. the drivers side is real close so I know I can make it work. I do not have the old grill pieces to compare to the new, so did not know where to start. Henry
align the hood to cowl 1st. Make sure this fit is right with fenders way loose and grille as well. Then inst grill to fenders with 1/4 bolts to start and see where you are-many times (on many I have done) the whole front clip group needs to be moved to the pass side aprox 3/8 inch and holes from fender to grill need to be enlarged.. Depending on what shock brackets you have the inner fenders may be up against the bkts. As it sits look thru the fender brace holes to see if the alignment to the frame is off.
I have to add this: An old shop teacher one told me, "Lefty loosey, righty tighty." I know. I couldn't help myself. I've dealt with some problems in my life and always found, no matter what --- do the hardest bolts and/or nuts first, and never tighten anything up until you've got it all together, and just before you start to do it close your eyes and say a little prayer that the Gremlins are asleep and Murphy is off on a drunk proving his theory with the help of someone else across town, or in the next state. I keep various sizes of wooden dowels around, hard wood and steel wedges, and have a drawer full of drift pins, punches, and odd what-nots to line things up when I don't have my three hands working. Vice Grips, home-made studs for holding things, and an assortment of devices to aid i measuring the space between things comes in handy too. And, last but not least, a bucketful of hammers of various weights, sizes, and lengths. I like to work up to the ten pound railroad spike nailer with the short handle I talked myself into buying at a swap meet as an anvil that can be put in small spaces and gives you the feeling of power Thor must must get when he goes after the visiting team. I've brought all this up, not to prove a point, not to polish my writing skills (that actually do need a bit of steel wool run across them) but to lay the foundation of an idea that nothing is ever going to be what the catalog, the salesman, or the description on the internet says it going to be. You don't need to be a Boy Scout, or know one, to know people who make parts are working with perfectly dimensioned realities, off blue prints, or with OEM parts they use to create molds, tools and dies, and all the other elements needed to give older cars a new life. And, if you think you have a problem think of what happened to Dr. Frankenstein who outsourced his parts from a variety of vendors.
It may also help if your car is still the same parts that came from the factory together. They could go through their selection to find ones that fit better than others. The others are the ones that we buy as NOS today...the rejects. I think it is a bigger problem if a guy is using parts he has collected and is now trying to bend twist or fold to get to fit together now. I was lucky to have a dry car from Colorodo that was complete and the parts went back together with out any real problems. And the hoods never fit that well when they were new. They were just a Ford, not a Caddy.
The difference between 39 and 40 fenders is the botttom of the fenders below the headlight. One is fairly straight the other has a curve there, the grilles are interchangeable between the years
And if you think that a '39 or '40 is a PITA, I've been fighting with my '36 front fitment for quite a while. '36's have 2-piece front fenders and a 4-piece hood just to make final assembly a little more challenging.
Everyone makes some good points and remember these cars are 75 yrs. old now. They've all probably been hit here and there, repaired, some times correctly, other times not. Parts have been replaced, frames tweaked then straightened. Wonder just how many surviving '39 or '40 Fords have never been hit in the rear in their lifetimes. It's pretty remarkable how some folks, notably"olscrounger" and of course others, can make 'em turn out better than they ever did when Henry bolted (and welded, and riveted) them together.
I finally figured out that it is best to twist the grill bar to bend it. I had to repair the lower outer corners on both sides of the iron grill assembly to get it welded together, so yes it has been bent, beat on, and hammered. so no wonder the grill bars have to be "adjusted" to fit. I am posting some pictures to show how far it is yet. My Dad usually had about 35 head of Holstien milk cows around to pay the grocerie bill each week for his 5 kids(4 boys,we ate well). I can remember him getting mad at one old cow that just had her calf and was NOT going to the barn to get milked and leave her calf, so the old man got in his 1949 Merc coupe and chased her with it, more tthan once hitting her hind leg with the bumper and grill of the Merc! She went in the barn! (where was PITA when you need them?}. Thank you all for the help on my old junker coupe. It is nearing completion, thanks for your help.Henry
I had 2 thoughts. Nice save and ,looking at the last shot of the front of the car, this is why we do this stuff.
Bob Drake got my email with pictures of the grill. I was trying to install it upside down!! Gee, that made it fit perfect now! no fool like an old fool, that's me.
Boy did I miss interpret your problem. Originally I just figured you were trying to install a 40 standard grill in your 39. Now seeing the pictures and actually reading the text I can see you were just trying to install the stainless on an original 39 grill. Glad you got that sorted out. 39 deluxe grills are COOL! Good luck with the rest of your build!
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