As you can see in the photo, my lower gravel shield is about 3/4" to far to the right. I didn't install it and have never had one of these apart. It is driving me nuts because I know it's there. How do I fix it?
I am no expert body man by any means. The first thing I would pursue is to determine just what is causing the misalignment. It could be a matter of loosening bolts and shifting components around to achieve the correct fitment. This of course can lead to fender and or hood fit issues as well. If it is a reproduction piece or even original, it may require metal work. Such as forming, cutting, welding and such. A body man with vintage vehicle experience may be able to give you some insight as to how to proceed. It will probably be a challenge to correct. Patience and method would be the key to solving this problem I think. Good luck, nice deuce by the way.
It takes quite a bit of investigation to get fits & gaps correct. Especially when using parts of different origins. In your first pic it is hard to tell from the slight offset angle. I can see more of the driver side rear fender, so if the pic was taken from a dead center point it seems it would not be as noticeable. All your other gaps and fits look great to me. It looks like everything is laser straight. It would not make sense to me to change anything else other than the shield itself. If you cannot manipulate it or the bottom of the rad shell or both, to fit better the worst case scenario would be doing a little metal work and repainting the piece. It's a great looking car! Edit: I have chased more than my share of fitment problems and always take notes derived from measurements that rely on the predetermined centerline, level ground or platform, a plumb bob, laser level and accurate measurements. It can sometimes be a slight snowball effect that can cause something like this or just one out of spec piece. Good luck!
I also see the grille slid farther left than right. But, if it needs to do that to make the hood gap better, I'd leave it there. The hood gap is much more noticeable than the splash apron. If you need to fix it, loosen up things like the lower radiator mounts and the upper radiator rods, and try sliding the whole grille/radiator assembly to the left. Hopefully there's a little slop in the holes to let you do this. Then lower the hood and see where you are at.
From the picture it appears that the grille needs to go towards the passenger side. We'll presume the frame is straight and the fenders and headlight bar are symmetrical to the centerline of the frame. That means the body has to rotate to keep the hood gaps as good as they are. Loosen all the body mounts and move the cowl towards the passenger side. A 1/4 inch might be enough to equate to 3/4 at the grille. Don't move the rear of the body, just rotate it on the left rear mount bolt.
So, do you know how to build a hiboy? You carve away everything that dosen't look like a hiboy! Sorry, I'm no help, but I sure like your car.
Pete knows a lot more than me. My first thought was maybe the panel might be a parallelogram instead of square (viewed from above)
As others have suggested your grill shell and radiator needs to go towards the passenger side. Look at the light bar and you can see it's off. If your hood gaps are good now, as soon as you move the grill and radiator you will need to adjust the body to compensate for the grill move. Sometimes it's a bitch when building a car, but on a car that's already done can be tedious. The rear of the body will probably need to be moved over to the drivers side to correct the hood gap. How is the relationship between the rear tires and rear fenders. If the passenger side is closer to the edge of the tire, that might be a clue that the rear of the body is off center. Drop a string line down from the edge of the fender and measure to the face of the tire. Moving the body can be a real issue with the fenders and running boards attached, as everything is bolted to each other. If your frame is tweaked that's a whole different animal. Good luck!
Sometimes things fall in place other times it can take all day shimming and shifting, we spent the better part of a day trying to align all the gaps on the confused pickup. Everything fit perfect when the truck was taken it apart for painting, putting it back together nothing fit right. HRP
I reckon a dead straight on pic will make it look better - eg the lights to the shell. But photo jiggery won't fix the pan to the grill shell. Aren't there packers between the pan and the frame that can be monkeyed with? Otherwise persuade, cut, weld and repaint the pan has to be easier than anything else, short of just removing it (don't like that look myself). Or might it be just a case of up a bit one side, maybe down a bit the other? The pan will twist to allow this. If you're looking for absolutely perfect however...…….. Car looks great though. Chris
These guys who suggest rotating the body of a 32 5-window on the frame must not have assembled very many of them. It's a tight fit, and you are lucky to get a bolt in the holes. No way there's enough slop to slide the body over on just one end. And if you do, you've probably screwed your alignment of the doors and trunk lid. Leave the body alone. Slide the grille over if you have to, then adjust the hood gap by grinding and welding the edges. I can see you have a repro hood, so who's to say that it's not the problem. Maybe everything else is right and Rootlieb is wrong.
Agree...If it was a frame up build, then it would be prudent to follow all the proper procedures but a finished car with a minor imperfection as this can be tweaked. I don't see the need to monkey with the fit and closing of the doors and hood fit, etc. Of course I've been known to say..."you can only see one side of the car at a time".
The rad mount holes should be slotted so you may be able to get a little movement of the grill and rad to the passenger side there. I would then pull the lower pan and slot the screw holes and see if that allows a little adjustment of the pan towards the drivers side. The combination of the two might be just enough to not throw everything else out of whack.
I would start by looking to see why there is a gap between side panel of hood and cowl, as per post 2. Two problems need to be fixed together. Fwiw; I put a different grille on mine a few weeks back and had exactly the same problem. I tried to correct it (without the hood on) and decided that the grille may be distorted, or it may have come like that from the factory. - How perfect were the originals ? Maybe the radiator is a little too high, Looks from the photos that the bottom right needs to be tweaked backwards a little. But without more photos or being there, it is difficult to say. Nice car, just as it is !
You did well. I spent a day each, on each door only because the painter removed all the hinges. If he had just popped the hinge pins and left the hinges in place, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
I don't know about you guy's, but if it was my car I would be all over it with tape measures, lasers and string lines. It would drive me crazy not knowing where my car was out. Is my frame bent, is the body on crooked, is the crossmember in wrong? That grill shell is about an inch off, to the drivers side. Thats a huge amount and should have been picked up while the car was in mock up. Building a new hood to fit a tweaked car isn't the answer. When I built my Deuce roadster I found the true centerline and center punched a dimple on each crossmember and worked from those punch marks. The pictures of the pick up's front end is the way it should look. They were never perfect from the factory, but never an inch off.
Well, I had a '50 Chev pickup where body fits from the factory were terrible at best. A friend did a scratch build. Feeler Gage fits. I asked how much would it cost to upgrade mine. He said $19,000. Money still in bank. Sent from my XT1710-02 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I remember installing a newly chromed grill on my 50 pickup. Horrible job. Took 2-3 days. As far as tearing one back apart to get it right?? No way. I’d save my OCD for searching Spanish doubloons.
Too many variables to diagnose from pictures. Lots of Deuce experts at Havasu next week if you are going.
Some vintique grillshells I have messed with actually had the grill hole crooked to the rest of the shell that will make you chase your tail for awhile
Paint the sheet metal behind the lower grill black. edit: if you can’t adjust to line it all up, then just.... Edit agin: never mind. I see what you’re referring to now. Geez.
The Jalopy Journal
