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Technical Will 41-48 Ford/Merc Car Hood & Fenders fit a 48-52 Ford Truck Cab?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by patmanta, Jan 30, 2017.

  1. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    As in the title, I'm trying to find out how close a fit 1941 - 1948 Ford or Mercury car Hoods & Fenders are to a 46 Ford Truck Cab. I'd like to gather as much information without having to track down the parts to try as I can.

    My neighbor just picked up a project that I'm trying to help him knock the ugly out of. We've got 2 directions before us. Either fabricate a proper frame and make an open wheel bobber truck, or, two, going full fendered and trying to make a 41-48 passenger car nose work. He's a master metal guy and I have most of the tools he doesn't have anymore, so we can handle the necessary metalwork; I just want to get an idea how much effort it's going to be.

    As it sits now, there's a 46 Ford cab with a Dodge bed on a S-10 frame (shudder, I know). In the pic below we're seeing how his old 34 fenders look.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. ..first off, that's not a 46 cab, looks like a 48-52 F-1 cab..to my eye that truck needs much larger rear fenders to look in proportion.
     
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  3. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    You're right! I don't know them well enough to have caught that; truck bodies haven't been much of an area of study for me. I actually think it's a 48 up F5 cab now.

    Yeah, the fenders would need a little meat added to them, at a minimum, for sure. The rubber on it right now is only 26" too, which is a challenge for getting an eye on things.
     
  4. treb11
    Joined: Jan 21, 2006
    Posts: 3,948

    treb11
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    short answer is yes, with a lot of work. somewhere on here there is a thread with pics of a truck with that exact swap
     
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  5. 31Apickup
    Joined: Nov 8, 2005
    Posts: 3,367

    31Apickup
    Member

    Look up Torchie, his has a 41 front, sure it was alot of work.
     
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  6. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    Thanks guys, I'm going to PM @Torchie and see what he says!
     
  7. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,176

    manyolcars

    anything will fit anything...if you have a welder
     
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  8. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    Well. Mostly. :)
    Here are some pics of my custom truck. 52 F-6 cab with 41 Ford car front clip.
    All the F series cabs are the same dimensions right up to the cabovers. IMG_2842.jpg IMG_0356.jpg IMG_1633.jpg
    Box is a late 50-52(No raised side panels) and the rear fenders are 48-50 that I modified(Took out the indents for the raised side panels on the box) and narrowed by about 2 " to bring the tire out closer to the fender lip.
    Lets just speak about using a 41-48 Ford car clip.
    The 41 is the narrowest of those years. On 42 the hoods got wider and 46 thru 48 wider yet. If you look at a 41 hood versus the others you will notice there is no raised center section down the middle of it. They used that to make them wider.
    My truck was built using a 41 Ford car chassis so I positioned the front clip as stock and moved the cab back about Inches to get the rear of the front fenders just ahead of the door hinges.
    Getting the Hood to work is the real trick. With the cab moved back the 41 Car hood is now to short. Add to that is the fact that the 41 car hood has a different profile at the rear then the cowl of the F series truck cab. And not to mention a totally different type of hood hinge system.
    To solve all these issues I used the the rear section of the truck hood (with the hinge system intact) and grafted the 41 Car hood to it. In the bare metal pic you can see the long relief cuts that I made to get the two hoods to mate.
    When finished the hood lined up and opened and closed as stock.
    I won't even go into removing the running boards and building rocker panels for it......LOL
    Hope this helps you out.
    Torchie
     
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  9. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

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  10. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    AWESOME! Yes, that is a huge help!

    It sounds like something he and I can handle if he decides to go that route.
     
  11. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    The truck cowl is actually about an 1" narrower then the 41 Ford car cowl was so I made spacers to fill the cap where the fenders attched to the side of the truck cowl. That way the width of the 41 car front clip remained as stoc.
    Torchie
     
  12. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    Ok, so, then a 48 hood would need to be narrowed then?
     
  13. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,406

    alchemy
    Member

    The car cowls are the same dimensions from 41 through 48, so anything you would modify on the 41 hood/fenders would need similar on the 48 hood/fenders.
     
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  14. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    '41s are narrower, according to Dave at Good Times louver co. I sent him a customer's '46 hood when he was in San Jose, for those 'hooded' louvers...(customer was "progressive", like linkage)
    Dave slipped up during the operation, said he had another hood, a '41. He then called back and said the '41 was narrower in back, and way different at front.
    I never measured either one, but it would be valuable info...
     
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  15. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

    Ok, cool.

    From the looks of @Torchie's build thread over on CCC, The fenders will want to hang a couple inches below the bottom of the door line. This is actually great for us because we had discussed hollowing out the bottom of the fender where it meets the passenger car running board and putting some lake pipes out through there and down where the running board would be.

    Hm. well, I think since we're looking 46 to 48 anyway, those are the measurements I need to chase down.

    It would be great if I could get my hands on a 46/48 hood to test fut without Paul dumping big coin into buying a whole front clip just to test it out. Anybody local to Eastern MA have one rotting out back they could spare?
     
  16. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    I can't speak to the width of the cowl on a 41 Car versus a 46-48 car but the hoods are totally different.
    I am sure that someone over on the Ford Barn could tell about the cowls'
    Torchie
     
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  17. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    IMG_2495.jpg IMG_2682.JPG IMG_1533.JPG The fenders do hang down below the bottom edge of the cab. The last picture is a before I removed the running boards. The next 2 show the Rocker panel I fab'd to give the bottom edge of the cab a more finished look.
    This cab was also channeled 6" to cover the frame rails.
    Torchie
     
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  18. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,406

    alchemy
    Member

    Send a PM to Chris. He had a 46 with a 41 front end on it. He should be able to clarify any width issues.
     
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  19. patmanta
    Joined: May 10, 2011
    Posts: 3,872

    patmanta
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Woburn, MA
    1. MASSACHUSETTS HAMB

  20. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    I have seen 41 front clips on the 46-48 car bodies but they must have done something to the rear bottom of the fenders as the 41 is the last of the "True" running board cars The front of the running board bolts to the lower rear of the front fender. The 46 -48 have the integrated step sill.
    More food for thought for you.
    If you found a 46-48 Front fender and grill with it's wider, flatter grill you might be able to get away with using the stock F series truck hood. I had some pics of mine in progress with the stock truck hood and the 41 fenders and grill. It came close to working but the smaller and pointier 41 grill was a bit overwhelmed by the hood snout.. I couldn't find the pics though.
    Torchie
     
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  21. Torchie is right, the 41 clip will bolt up to a 42-48 cowl with no problems except one issue) The 41's had external running boards where the 42-up they did not. So there is a small area on the back edge of the fender that needs trimmed unless you also run 41 running boards
     
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  22. My old 47 with 41 fenders and hood. @Jalopy Kid actually put this car together. Even the hood trim lines up, so I found 46-47 hood trim and put it on the 41 hood.

    IMG_8098.JPG IMG_1278.PNG
     
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  23. When people talk about 41's being narrower, they are taking about track width. 41's had 37-40 front and rear axle/spring width, but the longer 42-48 torque tube and wishbone (although 41 wishbone is 41 only).
     
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  24. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    Thanks Chris for the clarification. I used a 47 car rear end on my build because I wanted a wider width to get the tires closer to the fender lip. And then I still split the rear fenders to narrow them some more. Your second pic shows the area at the bottom of the fenders that I was referring to.
    Torchie
     
    Chris likes this.
  25. @Torchie I see your old truck keep popping up for sale...If I was in a better position I would love to buy and finish that thing.
     
  26. Torchie
    Joined: Apr 17, 2011
    Posts: 1,099

    Torchie
    Member

    Thanks Chris
    If I was in a better position I never would have sold it . LOL
    It has now had 4 new owners since August when I sold it to the first guy in California. They keep stripping parts off of it and using it for trading fodder.
    Torchie
     
  27. Yeah I've noticed. Too bad, it's a very neat pickup
     

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