Most 46-48 fords I see have an ill fitting hood. There is typically a large gap between the lower hood edge and the top of the fender. I read somewhere that it is possible to shorten or lengthen one of the hood hinge straps which fixes this problem. Anyone on the board know of the fix, or where I can look next? Any help appreciated. Bob Myers SD
Same thing with 39-40s and others. Front sheet metal alignment is a tedious and head-scratching process, but when successfully completed is very rewarding. There have been many good articles in magazines over the years regarding this common problem.
I left the inner fender bolts loose and put a jack under the car inside the fender and used a 2x4. This pushed up on the problem area. Then I tightened everything.
Hood to fender problems? How is the fit between your hood and cowl? Mine sucked! The rubber seal was over half exposed. After loosening the fender mounts, correcting the front fender mount fubar and more head scratching than I care to admit it's passable. The hood hinges by themselves can be tedious. I also enlisted the help of a jack to lift the loose parts into position. But the hood....Mine required loosening the hood hinge mounting bolts and tightening the bolts in this "raised" position toallow the hood to close the gap to the cowl. I had also replaced the hood pivot bolts and washers. Good luck---
On my '47 Ford convertible I took off my springs and used a product from a guy in Louisiana called a hood holder. It attached at exisiting holes at both the hinge location and the nose of the hood. Once you opened your hood you gave it a twist (like old Corvette ones) and it locked in place. To close you just gave it a twist the other way and lowered your hood. Allowed my hood to sit nicer at the front and took away some of that ugly gap. Years later I bought one for my '47 Chevy convertible as well. Sure wished he made one for my Olds. His number can be found in a little black and white ad in the back of alot of car mags. I will look for it as well and post if I find it.
Look to see if you can oblong the mounting bolt holes of the hinges. I would think at where they attached to the cowl but may also where they attach to the hood too.
This is a problem built in by henry in 46-48. I have owned several and every one has the same problem. Currently I have a 46 and the wife has a 48. The 46 body is total stock and unmolested while the wife's 48 is a chop top custom with many hours of body work. I made a set of pictures showing the hood fit on the green 46 and the red 48 for a comparison. The red one has a much better hood fit but far from perfect while the green 46 is close to a basket case but stock. I have done several things to make it better but still a long way to go.
Have the "Hood Holder" on my 46, fuel pump failed leaving a fairgrounds and a friend following me stopped to help. I was in the mniddle of the road and had opened the hood to let others know I was immobile. We decided to push 46 off to the side and my friend went to shut hood, before I could shout out the fact it had hood holder he shut it like he would his 40 with stock hinges. Bent the crap out of the original bracket that mounts to cowl sides.
Great, I have a set in a box at home, just recd couple of weeks ago. Soon to replace the "Hood Holder".
I haven't even tried to align anything, and the fenders are only held on with 3 bolts... but I left the springs off, and use what is affectionately known as "The Stickinator 9000 XL" I'm using a '42 Hood, so I'll be making the front "mustache" fit the hood... still needs tweaking
I had my fit perfect...Now with 10,000 miles the fit has changed at the cowl. I think the hinges moved a little, and I even ditched the springs. I use a prop rod from Hyde Products. It could be part of the problem as the bottom end of rod is tied to the hinge plate on one side, and it could be stressing the hinge plate when the hood is up. Stick to dark colors on 46-48's....
Fitting the hood to these cars is extremely time consuming if you want it right. But once the hinges are fit to the cowl properly, and a few guide pins are put in the hinge to re-mount it to the cowl in the exact same place, the hood will always go back on in the right location. All adjustment of the hinge is made in the 2 hinge-to-cowl nut/bolts. This adjustment will get the gap and fit of the hoods trailing edge to the cowl right. As for the bottom of the hood to the top of the fenders, that is a really hard one. Ill admit, on my car, the seam in the fenders has been welded shut, and the tops of the fenders have been built up with about 1/8" of mud, to get the hoot to fender fit tight and even. The bondo haters might not approve, but with todays filler technology, this sort of fix is not going to fail, and the end result of the hood fit is well worth it. It still takes a lot of work to get that skim coat to evenly fill the gap, and still be very straight. Here is my hood fit. Hinges and springs are stock. The fit you see here is without the front hood latch installed. You align the hood to the car, and then fit the latch to make it close straight down. The latch shouldn't have any factor in how the closed hood fits the cowl/fenders. Dont use the latch to pull the hood in any direction.
I got the same thing - best thing I ever did because the hood is a real bitch to align with the springs on.
Hello, An aquaintance on the Fordbarn.com named Dan shared this article with me, which are attachements below. Open each one and enlarge and read carefully page by page. I have not worked on my hood since I received the information yet. But most of it makes sense and is probably very valuable information. Peter
I did the same thing - got tired of jerking around with the hood. Its great. The guy is Hyde Products - 985-649-4041 is the number I have, may be an old number.
Pulled the front clip off to do an engine swap and been moving the hood hinges around today with out success. Raised both hinges as in post #4, got good hood to cowl fit on the passenger side, driver side fit sucks. Didn't try pulling the springs off because Id rather keep them Looking like I might have to drill new holes to suck it closer to the cowl, then I can work on fender fitment Has any one else had to drill there hinges ? I am not a body man maybe missing some think obvious Thank You Norb
The ‘Hyde Hood Holder’ makes life easier to align the hood and fenders on your fat Ford- as others mentioned- pushing the fenders up a bit helps too. Finicky stuff... but worth the effort
Had the problem on my 48 Coupe , Previous owner had twisted the little cowl mldg. to reach up to hood mldg. I removed hood and hinges , The hinges pivot on Rivets , I removed them and found after years of wear the rivets have grooves worn into them and the holes they pivot in are oblonged , I got new rivets and filed the holes in the hinge plates round again , grabbed the new rivets by the head with channel lock pliers and heated them red hot , placed on an anvil and smacked them on the end to fatten them up , to fit the newly rounded but larger holes in the hinge plates . reassembled them and they work like new. ( Pics are before and after )
Thanks Dave I am going to try that, these hinges do seem loose. Also going to remove the latch pin while fitting the hood, post #16
If you can find a copy of the May/June 2009 issue of the V-8 Times, there is a very detailed article on how to align the troublesome 1941/1948 hood. You shouldn't have to shorten of lengthen anything to get it to fit properly.
The Jalopy Journal
