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Struggling with hood and fender gaps--late '40s/early '50s


beerczar1976

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Spent some time trying to line things up this weekend on my '50 Special. Two items. Front fenders are looking pretty good though, to my eye, the gap between rear end of fender and front edge of door looks a little wide, but figuring for clearance of side chrome, not re-installed yet, it could be fine. However, when hood is put on, the gap between rear end of hood and top front edge of door looks WAY wide. I believe the gap is supposed to be something only like 1/8". To get that, I think I'd have to move the hood hinges back. But, doing this would move front edge of hood back from current front edge of fenders... I'm at a little bit of a loss. I know my hood does currently sit a bit diagonally to the tops of fenders; gap on one front corner is a bit wide and gap at opposite rear corner is also wide. Can also be hard to close and lock sometimes, I'm thinking due to the alignment. Front ends of fenders should be good width wise as mustache bar kind of dictates where the fender bolts that go to it, have to go.

Also, is the "bellows type" door gasket, the big flat long fender height gasket that's supposed to stop air and water from getting in between fender/cowl/and door, supposed to be visible at the top in the gap between the hood and the front edge of door? It's canvas like material so it can be trimmed, but there's a little retainer at top end with 2 screws thru it. If you cut it too short, it won't be held in place correctly.

Someone have some close-up reference pics.? I've looked on line, but every shot is from front 1/4 at an angle or too far out to see the spacing and if gasket is visible well.

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50's cars, including Buick, are notorious for iffy quality control on both fit and finish. The 55 Buick service manual gives directions and measurements for panel fit up, then states that it probably isn't attainable and just fudge everything for best overall fit. I have a restorer friend who ROUTINELY cuts and welds panels to adjust the final fit. I haven't yet seen two 55 hoods with identical margins. Some are good, some bad, mine is so-so.............Bob

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Mine has at least 1/4 inch of clearance between front of front doors and back edge of hood (1950 Roadmaster). Remember they were mass-produced cars and like Bhigdog says, it probably isn't attainable. If I can keep the different panels from scraping against each other and chipping the paint, that's what I consider properly adjusted. The '49s are difficult to line up properly and adjust, too.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, Tx

1949 model 51

1949 model 59

1950 model 76R

and others...

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I sympathize. My '53 is the worst. I've been futzing with this issue off and on for the last 1 year. I have yet to put on the front bumper because I can't get everything lined up correctly. I got some information from a guy Mr. Earl knows. He said what's already being said here, that perfection just ain't gonna happen. For the '53 he basically said to align the hood first and then align the fenders to the hood. I could be wrong, but I imagine this would apply to other years such as yours.

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I'm going to just go for a good "eyeball" alignment too. Now how about that fender to door gasket visibility? I'm thinking if I can get my hood lined up a little better, it won't be as visible. From the shoulder of the fender down it's hidden, but it's right "out there" because of the hood to door gap.

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I have run into all the same dilemmas with my 1949-53 Woodies!!

After spending countless hours making all the wood joints perfect...or at the very least, really close, the sheet metal is way off!!

And I am a wood worker, so cutting & welding are not an option for me!! LOL

In the pics, please check the wood joints, not the sheet metal!!

But great wood joints take away awareness of the metal ones, my only salvation!!

Cheers, Mike

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My '53 Special's hood is high on the passenger side so it doesn't rub. I'd have to remove the fender again to make something happen, but I just don't care enough to do that work right now. If anyone mentions it, the heck with them.

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Okay guys, I got the point that gaps aren't that super important on a driver, that's all I'm aiming for... :) However, just trying to keep the rain out of my freakin' car is also pretty important!! LOL

I'll play around some more with the door to fender weather seal up front to get it mounted so I can see it a little less (the black rubberized canvas does tend to jump out at you). I did take another look online to see if I could see this gasket on other cars, and most of them were actually missing it. In most cases, the little screw-on doglegs were still there at the top of the cowl, but you could see the outline of the original weatherstrip cement where the gasket used to be. I think once I get the hood re-centered between the fenders, the gap at the door shoulder will close up a little more too.

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Don't give up too soon...there are already too many of those around. While perfection cannot be achieved, excellence can be. Pay the oldest dude you can find at a local body shop to have a go at it. This may help: http://www.autobodystore.com/martinsr.shtml

but experience is key and none of us will do enough of these to get good at it. Believe me if it is shoddy, you will be the one aggravated by it every time you walk around the car.

Willie

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Hey, after reading you guys posts, I feel pretty good!!

My 1951 Super Woodie front end doesn't fit perfectly, but the old geezer that did it got it better than most!!

The older well experienced dude is good advice, take it to heart.

I happened to stumble on one, and wasn't too pleased initially, but now I am!!

Maybe my standards were too high for these Buicks. Mike

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To clarify, the hood fits both front fenders well, uniformly sideways and vertically.

It also fits the upper grille bar fabulously.

It is a bit short at the rear sides, where it meets the door...the gap there is wider than it should be, but perhaps the wood could make up for that.

But the gap from rear of hood to cowl is similarly oversize, indicating the hood needs to go rearward.

But the front fenders meet the doors on each side really well, so no room there.

It looks good to everybody that looks at it, but us restorers have a different eye, you know? Mike

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The hood fitment on my '50 Special seems to sound like yours...almost like the rear "tabs" of the hood should have been longer to make the gap smaller at the top edge of the door. My fender gaps are fairly lined up pretty good top to bottom. Perhaps the top of the left fender could come in towards the body a bit, but then again that starts shifting things around. If anything, once I get to where I'm happy with door and fender, I might have to tweak the hood hinge locations a bit. Per the manual, beyond moving the fenders themselves, the hood hinges and even the alignment/lock pins have their own adjustments as well. Someday. Not too worried as long as paints not getting chipped or rubbed off, and the hood opens and stays closed, I'm good for now.

As a point of reference. I figured out the mounting for the fender weather seals or bellows as they are referred to. While doing a general Google search, I found someone else having similar issues on a Chevy forum. This then pointed me to a GM/Chevy Factory Service Bulletin. Per the Chevy instructions at least, the weather seal is supposed to go at the front end of the door, and mount to the cowl under the door hinges. The top edge, and also the most important part, goes UNDER the rubber dog leg that comes down off of the door mounted weather strip. Well, I was by no means undoing the door hinges off of the cowl, BUT, by tucking the material as suggested under the rubber dog leg as suggested, I can no longer see the extra rubberized canvas from the seal, and I'm not getting a leak straight down into the body of the car from the gap I had before.

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