i ended up with this 54 this year and am about to get started playing with it. It has been hit around on the farm for years and you can’t open the door without the skin catching the cowl. The cowl needs to be pulled out some. To create good door gaps again. How would one go about this? Make a plate that bolts to the fender mount on the cowl and try to pull it out?
Mine was like that on both sides. I cut the jamb near the skin so that the skin could be pulled out to align with the door. I made a template to match the door out of cardboard then removed the door for better access. Then weld new metal in to fill the gap in the jamb.
Correct, this is not a hinge pin issue. The hood and front fender have obviously been banged in. I have replacements for them. Just need to know how to pull the cowl out. You can see the heater vent on the side is obviously distorted.
I would also use a porta-power pushing in the door opening using a block to distribute the push over a large area of the metal while pulling on the cowl.
From the pictures ( can’t see the left fender)you need to replace the front sheet metal including the rad support and inner aprons. When you mount the new pieces you should get a idea if the frame is out and how curled in and pushed back the right cowl and right front cab is . Whenever I have seen a crashed car repaired in a body shop in the 30 years I have been fixing cars you always start by tossing all heavily damaged and distorted pieces and replacing with decent panels. Between using the new panels as reference points or templates if you will - and alot of measuring you can pull/push the cab to fit. The replacement panels will come off and on many times before you get it squared around. Trying to fix the cab without trial fitting all adjacent panels is pointless! Check to make sure your front frame is straight - if you mount the rad support cockeyed or swayed over nothing will line up. All these panels are interrelated! Sorry for going on and on - your truck looks like a good find.
Thank you, this is good advice. I have collected all new front sheet metal and radiator support so I will do what you said. I think I will try to make a plate that bolts to the cowl fender mounts to pull while also pushing with a porta power from the door jamb.
That sounds like a great idea. I have always used port a powers and think they are fine. But here on the H.A.M.B. there is a guy I saw use those cheap scissor jacks that come in the trunk of every car with extensions mounted. He did a beautiful job repairing the cab of a truck that a tree had fallen on. When other H.A.M.B. members teased him about getting a port a power he said he had one and preferred the scissor jack method. The next chance I got I tried the same idea and I like the scissor jacks to! Those cheap Chinese porta powers always end up leaking anyway. The title of the thread is - fixing a smashed 31 model A-pickup cab.
Braze a plate with a hole in it for a come along to the skin just where it turns into the cowl, ahead of the vent. Pull the skin toward the front to make the gap with the door correct. Then melt and grind the brass out.
By the damage on the front tin and then banged back out, That truck has been wacked hard.. The cowl firewall needs to be pulled, it has been pushed back into the door
ONLY AS A LAST RESORT!!!!! Experienced (and successful) body men know that repairing a damaged vehicle starts with REVERSING the damage by pulling and/or pushing the displaced panels as close as possible to their original position and alignment. Based on pictures you posted of the right cowl, that would suggest to me that you need to pull the entire height of the cowl forward. I would NOT be welding or brazing anything to it at this point, especially in such a localized manner. A piece of heavy metal, i.e....angle stock, square tube of about 2" with 1/4" inch wall or a 4x4 of wood placed inside the cab, up against the firewall, with shims/spacers to make the contact even would be a first step. Then you can drill a few holes for some stout eye bolt shanks that go through the firewall and the reinforcement described above. Weld up the holes later. The eye bolts are for attaching a come-a-long or winch to, and then the other end to an anchor point. Ideally, if you could position the front of the truck frame rail against a strong tree, it would make a good anchor for the come-a-long on that end and the other end attached to the eye bolt(s) and pull. The pulls should start midway (height wise) on the cowl and watch what part moves. Don't move too much in one place at a time if it pulls unevenly. Change your hookup accordingly. You may need to hammer out some stress wrinkles in the floor or inner cowl while the pull is applying force. Work slowly and methodically, constantly assessing movement of the panels. At this point the front sheet metal is inconsequential. This is not a unitized body construction. What you are after is to restore the door opening to it's original dimensions and get the door fitting to the cab opening. By the way, they did NOT fit perfectly when new. You very well may need to replace the door hinges, but I would suggest you wait until you have moved the cowl/door pillar forward enough to accommodate the door's length. The hinges may not be bent, possibly the hinge 'strap' has moved on the door frame from the original impact. The straps run horizontally along the inside of the door. Remove the upholstery panel to gain access to them. That's enough for now...Phew!....I am wearing myself out envisioning the work as I describe it.... Ray
Hnstray If you read this thread PROPERLY I suggested repairing the right front post and door gaps and also getting the hood gaps and fender gaps tuned up at the same time that doesn’t seem to crazy - does it ? I only made the joke about cutting to tune up gaps because some people suggested doing that first. The front sheet metal is inconsequential ??WRONG - that truck looks plowed hard in the FRONT so fix -ALL OF THE FRONT including the bent firewall. As someone already said the truck was hit hard enough on the right side to close the right side door gap at the rear of the door. Besides look at the front sheet metal it needs to be thrown away anyway -try looking at the pictures and read the whole thread even the owner agrees with me ! I am just trying to help somebody on the H.A.M.B. if I can - so please don’t insult me .
Hopefully this works for the OP. For me, I see a tip I hadn’t thought of for my similar but different situation. The trailing edge of the driver’s door on my ‘51 GMC is tight (touching) at only the bottom 1/3rd or so of the door/jamb. It’s never been hit- but the cab mount clunk so I believe I’ll start with replacing them before I move on to the pushing apart phase I had intended. Thanks— Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Relax a little! My comments were intended to counter some suggestions from several posters, not solely yours, though the thing about front end sheet metal does make it appear that way. I stand by my statement that the front end sheet metal is mostly “inconsequential” at this point. Yes, I saw the photos....the right fender and hood were trashed along with the inner structure too. My point is simply this....the truck is a body on frame construction and as long as the cab is restored to it’s original dimensions, most conspicuously the door aperture and cowl side panel, and the cab is bolted squarely on the frame, and the frame is straight (to be determined), mounting the front sheet metal is no bigger deal than it would be if the truck hadn’t been hit in the first place. The fact is, these trucks were sloppily built when they were new and getting the hood and hinges to fit the cowl correctly is one of the greater challenges even on one that hasn’t been hit. I own a ‘54 GMC 150 and a close friend has a ‘51 Chevy 3100. We have worked on both of them to improve door and hood fit. I didn’t come by my suggestions out of sheer imagination. I have more than a little body repair experience to draw on. My introduction began about 1957 when I was an adolescent. I won’t bore you with the details here, but suffice to say I have a Chief EZ-Liner in my shop that I have owned for going on 20 years and have used it quite successfully on numerous vehicles. Some of my suggestions about using eye bolts and 4x4 wood and a come-a-long were based solely on my perception that the OP has both limited equipment, and experience, to draw on. There certainly are more suitable tools available in the marketplace. But it is also possible to do a lot with less sophisticated equipment. I regret you felt ‘insulted’ by my comments as that certainly wasn’t my intention. Ray
It was only the first paragraph that I thought was a knock at my my previous post all of your other info is very valid as is the other suggestions previously mentioned in this thread. This website is a excellent resource for all of us to help each other out in a positive way. I have been a licensed auto body and paint guy for 30 years . I was only you trying to convey to flying53gmc (vehicle owner) that there is a lot more going on than a little door gap problem. If that truck was going up on the frame machine where I work it would go up on the rack one time (hopefully) and get everything lined up at once. And it wouldn’t go on the rack at all if it didn’t have competent front end sheet metal to gain nice gaps over the entire truck. Also along that line of thinking good hood hinges and the proper rad support fasteners and hardware are a must to gaining proper front sheet metal alignment. The aftermarket support is huge for these trucks as they are arguably the most popular models of Chevy truck. Trying to line up a hood with sacked out hinges is maddening. Repairing all these issues can be done with less sophisticated tools but they should be tackled together as one large repair.
They may not cause gaps to change much but if you don't have the cab sitting the right distance off the frame nothing lines up right. The info is in the assembly manual you can buy but I have the measurements saved in this photobucket album. https://s173.photobucket.com/user/mr48chev/library?page=1 The two orangish images have the measurements. That was exactly what I was going to suggest. For up higher on the firewall I think you might get away with using existing holes but I'd use a large piece on the inside to spread the pull. A porta-power will get the door gap set pretty simply but wouldn't use one with that wrinkle down behind the fender that needs to come out first. If you push the door jamb out and then pull the cowl where the fender bolts to get tat wrinkle out you stand a chance off pulling the door gap too wide. You have to go gently as the cowl sections on these trucks move all too easily and don't need massive pulls or amounts of pressure to move them. I got hit real hard in the right front with my 48 in Texas in the mid 70's and we pushed it back in shape with a small bottle jack. My buddy was a genius at figuring out where to push or pull even though he had no formal training at it.
If you made some spreader plates, and choose to pull rather than push, you can do a lot, with some amount of precision, using ratchet style chain binders. I have pulled a few OT vehicles into decent shape that way back when I had few tools, no money, and could patch up some junk into a daily driver.
Spreader plate would be a must unless he has access to the correct clamps to pull it with. I like that ratchet binder idea. That should be all the pull one needs on one of these cabs needs.
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