1955 Roadmaster Hood and Fenders Install Help Needed on Steps

[buickbrothers]

Ok veterans. Planning to mount hood and fenders tomorrow. What I need is advice/lessons learned to avoid struggles and rework. My biggest concern is when (and how if you have suggestions) on mounting the hood springs. I saw Mudbones video and he originally mounted springs, then fenders and then hood but ended up pulling the springs off indicating it was impossible to align the hood with the springs on. So, I am looking at mounting the hood first and getting it in alignment to the cowl. then mount the springs and then mount the fenders. I also need to know the best way to stretch and mount the springs. I'm do have a fixture to stretch the springs, but it doesn't allow enough to fit fat washers to give me the full length I need but I can use thinner washers as a partial length holder. I saw a video to use a pully belt that might get me the last bit of length I need that my stretcher can't do and just use the thin washers. Anyway, please provide advice/lessons learned, sequence order, etc. Thanks! 

[buickbrothers]

Update. Installed the hood, then mounted one fender to work on gross alignment between hood and fender. Pulled the fender and installed springs. I used a combination of a v-belt hooked to the spring and my engine hoist to stretch the spring. Worked great and both springs and hood are installed. Played with washers but about three inches short of what is needed so I switched to hoist. Will start full install formal install of fenders tomorrow. Now that we committed to installing springs before fully installing fenders, I'm sure we will still need to make adjustments/tweaks on alignment. So, still looking for any advice on adjusting things moving forward. 

[buickbrothers]

I'm amazed no one has responded with any help/advice? I'm stuck on the hood trying to get a 1/8 alignment across the back before adding fenders. It's about a 1/4 gap right now. I brought in the troops to help install the hood and after I got the bolt's I let them tweak the alignment while I worked on loading washers into springs which was a waste of time because they didn't reach so had to use the v-belt and hoist I mentioned earlier. How to I get this to slide back to close the gap more with the springs on? 

[EmTee]

Maybe @Bhigdog will chime-in.  I don't have any experience with a '55.

[Bhigdog]

Between the hinge and hood adjustment points there is almost an infinint number of  adjustments. If you removed the hinges it is even worse.

You really need the fenders on to adjust the hood. Do understand that you will NEVER get all the margins even on a 55.....bob

[EmTee]

3 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

Do understand that you will NEVER get all the margins even on a 55...

True that ^^^ !

 

KAD36 and I had this discussion as he was lamenting the uneven gaps on his '56 Super at the BCA Nationals in Strongsville.  We then walked the show field and surveyed the collection of '55 and '56 Buicks on display.  None of them displayed perfect gaps and it was interesting to see many of them displayed characteristics similar to Ken's (and each other).  It looked to me that many of the front clip 'gap anomalies' probably trace their roots to variability/errors in the cowl attachment.  If so, there's little that one can do after the fact, if shimming doesn't resolve it, aside from adding or removing metal from the door edge and/or trailing edge of the fender at the A-pillar and/or 'tweaking' the fender mounts.  Even if the opposite ends of a gap were equal, we still saw cases where the space in-between varied unevenly.

 

Consider the production methods used to produce these cars:  http://www.55buick.com/production_figures.html

 

"Buick had an amazing production run in 1955. They produced 738,814 automobiles - the most for one year in the entire history of Buick. This number was not to be beaten until 1973 when Buick produced 821,165 automobiles. In 1955, Buick was the number 3 automaker behind Chevrolet with 1.7 million cars and Ford with 1.4 million. If you were to count just Buick Specials produced in 1955, 381,946 units, they would have been ranked 6th ahead of  Mercury, Dodge, Chrysler, Cadillac, Studebaker, and DeSoto."

[old-tank]

Too late now, but never remove the hood hinges on a 55 and if you do maybe the witness marks from the original installation are there.

It has been a long time since I went through that headache...

[Bhigdog]

7 hours ago, old-tank said:

Too late now, but never remove the hood hinges on a 55 and if you do maybe the witness marks from the original installation are there.

It has been a long time since I went through that headache...

I solved getting the hinges back in their original location by drilling two 1/8" holes through each hinge plate and body panel. When I reinstalled the hinges I used 1/8" pins through the holes for alighnment and bolted them down. worked good.

Somewhere in the Buick body or shop manual it states something along the lines of that due to the hood and fender panels springing differently the best you could achieve for margins is "best over all average" fit.........Bob

Edited September 2 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[KAD36]

The reference point being the cowl and I swear mine is crooked from driver to passenger side and the car has never been hit nor have the doors and passenger fender or hood hinges been off. It seems to sit slightly higher and farther back on one side.  Seeing many 55s with Emtee that day and knowing exactly where to look supports the best average fit statement.  Unless metal or filler is added.  
 

The other place is the rear third of the door along the bottom edge is a little proud of the rocker. It seems the door needs more arc to sit flush along the top of the rocker but it sits flush to the quarter panel.  Wrestling with the driver door - in/out twist and lift - made some improvement but it’s not perfect.  The passenger side is better but as a consequence does not come close to fitting up flush or in line against the windshield frame.  

Edited September 3 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[buickbrothers]

Thanks for the response gents. Yes, you guys should team up and write a white paper titled "Before you restore a 55 - READ THIS FIRST". It's impossible to restore a rust covered car without taking parts of in order to kill the rust, and paint the parts, and the car for that matter. Spilt milk at this point and I do appreciate the validation that lines on this car will not be uniform.

 

I finally made a tool to take the springs on and off by just using the lift of the hood. I used a PVC pipe cut vertically, some plates I cut from thick galvanized light fixture covers to go between the coils with half inch holes drilled out in order to run a 10" bolt through the center. I'll send pic's later, but now I can pop these springs off and on easily and do a final mount of them after the fenders are on.

 

I have the hood in the "best fit" alignment I can get - close to 1/8 on corners but seems to have a natural widening in the middle? I think my driver's side hood hinge has some wear/slack because I can match my passenger side gap and lock down the bolts but when I open the hood the gap I set on the driver's side doesn't remain as tight as I set it - it opens up a slight amount. Passenger side stays the same. Is that a worn hinge result on the drivers side? Here's some pic's for reference:

 

  

 

Also, can anyone explain what this part does that mounts on the brace at the rear of the hood?

 

 

[Bhigdog]

3 hours ago, KAD36 said:

 Wrestling with the driver door - in/out twist and lift - made some improvement but it’s not perfect.  The passenger side is better but as a consequence does not come close to fitting up flush or in line against the windshield frame.  

If you are not aware, besides the door to hinge adjustments the hinge itself has some adjustment where it bolts to the body.   The door to hinge and hinge to body combinations are near infinite and getting both the door margins and window to body fit even is surely work of the devil. Again..........Best over all.......Bob

 

[buickbrothers]

Thanks Bob.  I aligned the back doors which took a while but have them fitting nicely. The driver door is very close but is not curving in at the bottom so need more work. My biggest problem is the alignment on the passenger door. I am aware that adjustments can be made using the bolts on the hinges and the hinges themselves. Can you explain how to "twist" these doors. I'm aware you can but haven't found an outline on how to twist them which I can tell they will need. Thanks. 

[old-tank]

The hood alignment looks as good as can be expected.  On one of mine I replaced the whole cowl assembly which came without hinges. I installed the best set that I had and used the existing witness marks. My original rusty hood fit real good. When I installed the better hood I had to start all over again with the alignment... Same with replacement fenders.

 

[Bhigdog]

2 hours ago, buickbrothers said:

Can you explain how to "twist" these doors.

If you mean actually twisting the door metal I've not heard of doing that so can't help there. That said, I spent days and days just tweaking the door adjustments trying get everything just right. The smallest little adjustment would change every margin. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worst. But mostly not as expected.

Not so sure I would try bending or twisting the doors unless as an absolute last resort.........Bob

[KAD36]

No way my hood ever fit that good from the factory to the cowl - looks great. Don’t touch it.  Write down what you did.

 

If that twist question was to me, twist meant loosening the hinges on both the door and at the post one set at a time and rotating the door counterclockwise about its horizontal axis to try to tuck the bottom of the door in closer to the rocker top and line up with the contour of the quarter panel.  Even with floor jacks and a little woonden brace to avoid sag.  On the driver side the choice was align to the windshield post (vent window post to windshield post flush as airflow goes over those surfaces) or align to the rear quarter panel contour or split the difference.  The passenger side seems it could only be made worse if trying to improve it but I don’t like the fit to the windshield post.

 

I did pin the hinges on the driver side for when the door comes off for painting so it goes back where it is.  I spent days after days fiddling with it, then gave it a break for a month with the interior panels off then fiddled with it again.
 

Currently it opens and closes easily with one (strong) finger (thumb), the flipper works reliably, the window rolls up and down easily without binding, the outside button and inside handle both actuate the lock release easily, the door stays closed over bumps so people stay in and water stays out.  Not messin with it.  Just dont look at the bottom.  The passenger side, just don’t look at the top. 

 

[KAD36]

My belief is that piece you are holding provides a ground path for electrical shielding purposes from the firewall to the hood instead of relying on the hinges and latch to ground the hood.  Less electrical interfaces and no oil/grease to increase resistance. It contacts a bracket on the firewall.  Mine is original and unpainted.
 

That’s just a guess from staring at it with a beer wondering the same thing. For many years.  Not consecutively.

Edited September 4 by KAD36 (see edit history)

[buickbrothers]

Thanks all. Yes, when I'm indicating twisting the door it's not intended to indicate bending the metal but rotating the door to curve in better. I finally found a pretty detailed write up that someone did on hood alignment and door alignment. It's cryptic and some places so not always easy to understand what he is indicating. This document is where it indicates twisting the door to get it to come in (curve in) at the bottom or top. Post was by user MARTINSR.  It's a long write up but here it is for anyone that needs it: 

 

Body panel alignment: Nothing adds to “detail” on a car more than nice fitting panels. If the car is a light color it is even more important. Those “black lines” that are the gaps between panels really look bad if they are not a consistent width. While using this guide and aligning your panels be sure that you open and close the moving ones very carefully after a change. You can loosen the gap fast which will allow the panels to hit, so be careful.

I have to start with this very important point. ALWAYS have the car sitting on it’s wheels or at the very least the weight of the car should be on the axles. That being if you want it on jack stands to raise the car up and give you more access to the bolts and such, place the stands under the control arms as and rear axle. They should be out as far as possible towards the wheels. This can still cause problems on the front. Even in a little from where the tire actually holds the car up can change the amount of pressure being exerted on the car’s body. A car can be twisted or bent more than you can imagine up on jack stands when the stands are set on the frame allowing the weight to hang off the ends. This is VERY, VERY important. Of course this goes for anytime a panel is being fit, either welded or bolted on.

 

Hood alignment: Let’s start with raising and lowering the rear of the hood. If the car you are working on has a hinge that sits on top of the cowl, your only options are to shim or bend the hinge. Bending the hinge slightly is one way to move it. If you need to come up in the rear you can put a small block of wood or other item on the hinge, to bend it. When you close the hood down (NOT ALL THE WAY) it will get in the way of the hood closing and bend the rear or the hinge up. If you need to bend it down, the only option may be to remove it and bend it a little. You can also shim the bolts between the hood and the hinge, more on this later.

If you have a hood where the hinge mounts on the side of the fender or the side of the cowl like with an older car or truck, you want to "rotate" the hinge on the fender. Just pushing the hinge up and down will give you very little movement on the top of the hood.

This is the strange little trick that you have to remember, if you raise the back of the hood on the hinge or raise the back of the hinge on the fender the hood will go up. If you raise the "front" of the back of the hood ON THE HINGE or the hinge to the fender it will go down. What you have to remember is you are working with a pivot point in the hinge, not a stationary part.

If you loosen the FRONT bolt on the hood (where it bolts to the hinge) and put a shim, or washer between the hood and hinge, this will LOWER the hood on that side. If you put that same washer under the rear bolt it will RAISE the rear of the hood on that side.

 

So, if you loosen the bolts from the hinge to fender and close the hood, the hinge will rotate on down in the front right? This will raise the REAR of the hood like putting a shim in the back bolt between the hinge and hood!

What you need to do to lower the back the hood is to loosen the bolts (only slightly) and PUSH UP on the front of the hood. This rotates the hinges back, thus raising the front of the hinge and lowering the hood in the back.

If the hinges are warn out it won’t change how high the hood sits when the wear, not by more than a fraction of an inch. And I have never seen a car with these style hinges that you couldn't put the hood a half inch LOWER than the fenders if you wanted to. The adjustment is HUGE on these cars. That is one of the things that is easy to do on them is align panels.

I recommend you remove the striker or latch from the hood so that you can move it up and down without worrying about the latch grabbing the hood. After you have aligned the hood, take a piece of dumb-dumb or clay or something similar and put it on the latch. This way you can see exactly where it hits when you do install the latch. You bring the hood down till you just tap this dumb-dumb but DON'T LATCH IT. Just so the hood makes an indentation in the clay/dumb-dumb. This tells you where you have to move the latch.

I do this at work everyday, by myself so if you can't get help this is the trick. Always leave one bolt on the hinge tight. If you want to rotate it back, leave the front bolt tight. If you want to rotate it forward, leave the rear bolt tight. When you move the hood forward or back on the hinge, leave the bolts snug enough that you have to tap on the edge of the hood to get it to move. Or if it needs to go back, leave the bolts a little snug, and wiggle the hood up and down and the weight of the hood will make it slide down. Remember it only needs a 1/16" or so to make a 3/16" or more change at the front. To pull the hood forward on the hinge loosen them so they are still a little snug so you have to pull up on the back of the hood to make it slide that little bit. If you loosen it up so it moves anywhere you want it, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MOVED IT AND YOU WILL MOVE IT TOO MUCH, GUARANTEED.

Get the hood laying flat first, then move the hood forward or back on each side to make the hood fit the hole between the fenders. If the gap is large on the front right and small on the front left, then the hood needs to me moved back on the right side. As you move the hood back on a side it will close up the gap in the front of that side and open it at the rear of that side.

You may need to move fenders too. Just do each change slowly, move it VERY LITTLE. Look at the bolt and washer as you move the panel, you will see where the washer used to be, the amount is much easier to control if you watch the washer movement.

If you need to move the hood up or down at the front, you have a few ways to do it. First, on each side there are the “bumpers”. The hood bumpers are located at each front corner and look like a bolt with a rubber pad on top. Just unlock the jam nut and raise or lower the “bolt” so it holds the hood at the height you need to match the fender. You may find that the hood won’t go low enough even with the bumper down far enough. The latch may not be down far enough. When you close the hood, you shouldn’t be able to pull up on the hood or push it down. The latch should be tight enough to hold it against the bumpers tight, but not too tight. If you have to apply too much force to open the hood or it opens with a loud POP, the latch is probably too tight. If it is at the right height but you can lift it up some, then the latch needs to be moved down.

 

Doors: If the doors are off the car, bolt the hinges to the door and the cowl in the middle of the movement allowed. Let’s face it, it “shouldn’t” be too far off the center of holes. If the doors are on or if after putting them on things are way out of whack, raise the door up on the hinges as far as it will go while still staying about the right height. You always want to start high, it is much easier to come down than go up. Besides this is the ONLY time you will loosen all the bolts on the door. I don’t mean ALL the bolts, leave the hinge to cowl (or center post on a four door) tight. Only loosen the door to hinge bolts. Unless it is WAY down then you may need to move the hinges up too. But do one at a time, both door to hinge or both hinge to cowl/center post.

While moving the hinges aligning the door NEVER loosen all the bolts on the hinge, NEVER. Loosen all but one, just till it is still a little looser than “snug”. Leave that last on just a little snug. Let’s say the door fits well but is a little too far rearward. NEVER loosen top and bottom hinges and move it forward. Loosen the top hinge to cowl/center post as described above and lift the rear of the door, a LITTLE. This will push the upper hinge forward. Now TIGHTEN that one bolt that was left snug. Do the same on the lower hinge, pushing down, but remember the weight of the door is helping, so little push is needed. Many times no pushing at all, just the weight of the door will do.

If the door fits well but is out at the top or the bottom, again, loosen ONE hinge to DOOR in the manner described and push it out or in. If it is out or in at the top rear for instance, move the bottom front in the opposite direction. This will pivot the door on the striker, and move the rear top where you want. Moving the bottom rear takes moving the top front of course.

You may need to twist the door. If the front fits well and rear is out at the top (or bottom, just reverse) you can put a block of wood at the rear of the door at the top lets say and push in on the bottom to twist the door. Some will take a LOT of force to bend, and be VERY careful not to let your fingers hang around the outside of the door edge!! I lost a finger nail doing this on a ’69 Shelby GT500 convertible once (remember it well) when the block of wood fell out with all my weight on the door while twisting!!

Tip: If you are hanging the door and you have access to the hinges (either through the wheel well with the skirt off or if the fender it’s self is off) you can simply hold the door up to the opening and push the latch shut. Then put the bolts in the hinge. I can often install doors all by my self in this way.

 

Deck lid: The trunk lid is pretty much like the hood but the hinges don’t move at all on the body (usually). So shimming and twisting are a few of your only options beyond the movement in the slotted holes on the hinge. Bending the hinge or pushing up or down on the sides of the quarters, front or rear panel are the others. These should be done ONLY after all other things are tried.

Fenders: Most of the tips for doors and the hood work here, with a little twist or two. Start with fitting the rear top of the fender. I like to put all the bolts in, loose. Not falling out loose, just so the fender would easily move. Close the door, and with the hood open adjust the gap at the top of the rear of the fender to door. After you tighten other bolts this cannot be modified so, do it first. Tighten the bolt under the hood closest to the door to secure the position. You may need to shim a bolt at the rear of the fender to the cowl, to move the fender forward or back. After you have that bolt tight and the gap is to your liking open the door and tighten the rear fender bolt that is at the top of the fender in the door jamb. Now do the bottom bolt, with the door closed, adjust your gap. You may need to wedge a flat blade screwdriver or body spoon to “force” the fender forward to get the desired gap. Or just the opposite, use a 2x4 or something similar off the front tire to force the fender back to get the gap. This is one of the hard spots to get nice because you have to get both the gap and the in and out of the fender to door at the same time with the same bolt. Some cars have two bolts that are far enough apart to get the gap and tighten the front bolt and then pull the fender in or out and tighten the rear bolt to get the flush fit of the panels.

General tips: Bending a panel or adjacent panel is sometimes required. You can get this done in a number of ways, one is to use a block of wood. Let’s say that along the edge of the hood there is a spot that is high. Well you can’t adjust it down, the front and the rear are perfect. So you can lay a block of wood on the spot, right at the edge where it is strong. Using a big hammer (the bigger the better, trying to make a small hammer do the job can cause a lot of damage) hold the block and strike it nice and solid. Then check the results, you may need many strikes to do it. In doing this you may want to support the hood at the front with a block of wood under the hood. This way the hood is up off the fender and it will bend easier because of the solid rest it has. You can also put the block under the edge of the hood at a low spot and with steady pressure bend it down at a point if you need it.

If you are working with very tight tolerances, you can actually grind the edge of a panel or jamb to get an extra fraction of an inch. Be VERY careful and using a fine disk like 80 or 120 take a LITTLE off. You don’t want to grind the metal thin of course but a LITTLE can make a big difference when you are fighting for fractions. Now, you really won’t be cutting too much metal, you are really just cleaning off ALL the primer and paint there. Then when you prime it, don’t put a lot or sand it thin so there will be very little on the edge.

You may want to paint the hinge with a little contrasting paint. Do it with the hinge bolted on, right over the bolts. This way you can see easier how much you have moved it.

These directions are for doors where the hinge bolts flat to the side of the cowl and then flat to the front of the door. There are of course many ways the hinges can be mounted on cars. If yours are different than you need to use the “concepts” that I have described here. If for instance you have a 1950 Chevy pickup. The hinge bolts flat to the back of the cowl but will work the same way. The door hinge bolts flat to the side of the door. In this case you do just the opposite as I earlier described. You would loosen the hinge to cowl bolts to move the door in and out and the hinge to door bolts to move it back or forward. If you find that your car has a design that hasn’t been addressed, take a good hard look at your hinge arrangement. If the door is open, close it enough while you can still see the hinges and imagine what direction will it go if you loosen a particular set of bolts. Get an idea of how you can move it, then start the alignment process.

These are just ideas that I have used over the years and some may work for you some won’t, but it is a start.

 

 

[old-tank]

On 9/3/2024 at 10:40 AM, buickbrothers said:

 

 

  

 

Also, can anyone explain what this part does that mounts on the brace at the rear of the hood?

 

 

Probably to keep the hood from lifting at the rear at high speeds.

Edited September 4 by old-tank (see edit history)

[buickbrothers]

Update - fenders and hood are installed and I see a lot of alignment issues. Where I could use more specific's is how to align the fenders. These really don't seem to have any real obvious adjustment points except where there were shims that were used at the cowling/bracket mount near the hood hinge areas to raise the back of the fenders. The hood sits way to low in the front (below the front of the fenders) and are not even on the new rubber bumpers. So I need to raise the hood or understand how to bring the fenders down in the front but there no obvious way I can see to do this, and I have found no documentation on fender adjustments (loosen the engine shroud to drop the fenders down if that is even possible?). The rubber bumpers can be raised with washers/shims but looks like 1/4 gap of shims which seems like a large amount of shimming that would mean I need to do something else to lessen this gap. Any help/suggestions appreciated. I'll try to get pic's but having a problem getting this on my PC to attach to forum postings - new iphone that is not loading my pictures right now. Thanks.   

[EmTee]

I'm not familiar with '55 Buick specifics, however, I think my '56.Chevy is probably similar.  The front fenders sit on the radiator core support and there are shims and rubber mounts between the frame and the core support.  If the front of the hood is low, adjusting the hood stop/bumpers is the usual the way to resolve it.  Are you saying there isn't enough adjustment provided with the bumpers to make the front of the hood even with the fenders?

[old-tank]

2 hours ago, buickbrothers said:

The rubber bumpers can be raised with washers/shims

Unless yours is an extreme example that is all I do.  On some the side bumpers at the cowl have the hood too high at the corners, so just trim them down to fit.  

Are all of the front sheet metal parts original to the car?

[buickbrothers]

Here's some pic's finally. Yes, all parts are original to the car so no new fenders hood or anything from a sheet metal parts standpoint. I have installed new rubber on fender bumpers, hood bumpers and top of cowling. I'm assuming I can play with the hood hinge adjustment to bring the hood up higher in the front, but I'll have an even bigger gap that to the front hood bumpers resting on the radiator core support which seems like it will become about a 1/2 gap. Very extreme to me so it's making me pause to determine what can be causing it - fenders seem way to high at the front, but they even out with the hood at the rear towards the cowling and Willie's suggesting about trimming the rubber bumpers on the fenders would get that in better consistency. Would not do that until I resolve what's happening in the front. The last pic is an original front view of the hood and fenders when I got the car and before removal. So, you can see something just doesn't make in sense here to be this far off on the hood to fender alignment at the front. Any thoughts/advice to help me troubleshoot is welcome! She has come a long way in the restoration process and is kicking and screaming to the end!      

 

1. Hood and Fenders

 

2. Passenger side hood to fender gap - Hood Lower to Front Fender

 

 

3. Hood to Drivers side - Hood lower to Fender

 

4. Center of Hood to rubber bumper

 

5. Original view of hood/fender alignment before removal. Hood bumpers are flush to the radiator core and may have one small 1/8 of a shim.

 

[EmTee]

How are the gaps between the front doors and the fenders.  It's hard to see, but the picture below sugggests that maybe the fenders should move backward a bit.  I think that would help at the front of the hood.  I'm assuming there were no shims originally present at the hood hinges.

 

[JohnD1956]

Aren't there bumpers for the hood out by the fenders? 

[EmTee]

22 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

Aren't there bumpers for the hood out by the fenders? 

Yes, i think he mentions those (if I understand what was said).  I'm questioning whether the hood is sitting too far back, or the fenders are too far forward (ref. below).

 

[buickbrothers]

Update. Did some more adjustments and here's what is going on. First, fenders are aligned to the curve at the cowling and door corner's so they are as far back as possible. And yes, there is a pic of the rubber bumpers the hood sits on, at the front near the radiator and hood lock, which shows the gap I'm working to close. Second, there new rubber guides mounted on the inside of the fenders the hood also sits on. 

 

I started at the front. I was able to close part of the gap where the hood rests on the rubber bumpers by loosening the bolts that mount the sheet metal piece that the bumpers and hood latch (which I haven't installed yet) mount too. I did shift it up as far as it goes which helped. The passenger side appears to be higher than the driver side based on the remaining gap differences. The driver side fender to hood gap was much larger than passenger side, so I loosened all engine schrod mounting bolts and raised the schrod as high as it would go. This closed that gap where I'm very close to having identical gaps between fenders and hood on each side. Much better! 

 

The hood at the cowling line was high in the corners but flattened out and evened up with the cowling line in the center below the windshield and wipers. So, I pulled the new screwed in corner bumpers off the cowling which lowered each corner. Looks like I'll need to trim these brand-new bumpers down as Willie indicated. The hood edge next to each fender is very slightly higher than fender edge. So, I'll need to tweak these one of two ways. Either it's the fender side bumpers that need trimming as Wille suggested or the fenders are still sitting a slightly low. After just lifting the driver's side schrod and fender to what I thought was its max height yesterday, I suspect I will need to trim the fender bumpers. However, I have to consider that at the front on the driver's side, the hood gap to front bumpers is wider than the passenger side so the engine schrod and mounted fender to the schrod needs to come up before I consider trimming the fender side bumpers. I know there is a thick piece of rubber mounted under each schrod at the frame level (reused the original rubber pieces here) and I may need to shim it up more on the drivers side.

 

In summary, it's a science project to keep doing adjustments based on the various high/low and forward/back conditions to determine each root cause that needs to be altered. Not anything you guys haven't experienced yourselves - haha. I think I can get it dialed in between the Hood and Fenders but I'm concerned about the gaps on each door where it meets the fenders. Moving these doors again and attempting to close this gap will probably send me to the funny farm!           

[EmTee]

17 minutes ago, buickbrothers said:

In summary, it's a science project to keep doing adjustments based on the various high/low and forward/back conditions to determine each root cause that needs to be altered. Not anything you guys haven't experienced yourselves - haha. I think I can get it dialed in between the Hood and Fenders but I'm concerned about the gaps on each door where it meets the fenders. Moving these doors again and attempting to close this gap will probably send me to the funny farm!   

Keep a log of each adjustment and the result.  Include temperature, barometric pressure and relative humidity. 

[JohnD1956]

Remember that they cannot align perfectly. You have to have a gap at the upper grill bar when that is installed. 

[buickbrothers]

Question. In reference to the sheet metal radiator schrod piece that the hood rests on at the front (it has the 4 rubber bumpers, and the hood latch spear will attach to this piece). It seems to be a bit pliable (some sag) like it needs more rigidity. Should I mount the hood latch to it now to see if it pulls the rubber bumpers up to meet the hood and/or if it will raise the hood at the front a bit? A second option is to mount the arching chrome piece that connects to both the radiator schrod and the two chrome curved pieces wrapping under the headlights. I need to see the position of this arching chrome piece anyway since the front of the hood meets this piece. Just wondering how this affects the positioning of the hood bumpers and the radiator schrod piece height/levelness. Thanks gents.       

[buickbrothers]

Update and a few questions. Made lots of adjustments to both front doors and drivers side fender, as well as engine schrod piece that the driver fender mounts too. Next I mounted the arching chrome piece that connects to both the radiator schrod that the hood rests on and the two fenders. That told me a lot of things as well as adding the rigidity and height that was needed on the radiator schrod that the hood rests on. All holes lined up on both the radiator schrod and the two holes on each fender to mount the arching chrome piece. The fender gap on the driver side vs passenger is wider so I need to shift the hood to the drivers side to even this out and I think I'll be there on gaps at all locations (door's to fender edge, fender corners/hood/door corners to cowling). 

 

Questions on hood latch: I went to mount the hood latch and discovered out latch is not easily adjustable - the threads are stripped on the square center nut of the latch fixture. Impossible to turn. I saved a spare latch from our parts car which I plan to use but the center pin thread threw the same square nut was at an angle.

1. I was able to straighten it up but is there supposed to be any at all or just come straight down?

2. I haven't put the hood springs on yet since I'm still tweaking the hood. Can I install the hood latch without the hood springs being installed?

3. When installing hood latch, how compressed should the spring be as a starting point and how is this latch supposed to behave? I understand the double hook part of the latch but I'm not understanding the left/right blade function in the hole that the center pin goes into. What does it catch? Just seems to rest against the center pin. Thanks.   

[old-tank]

Is the grill installed?

[buickbrothers]

No, haven't installed grill yet. Why?          

[old-tank]

It adds to the stability and finished dimensions in front.

[buickbrothers]

Yep, agree and will be doing that soon. Any thoughts on my hood latch questions and timing about hood springs? 

[old-tank]

Get the springs on first before adjusting the latch.

[buickbrothers]

Thanks. Yep, suspected that was the case.

[Bhigdog]

23 hours ago, buickbrothers said:

Questions on hood latch: I went to mount the hood latch and discovered out latch is not easily adjustable - the threads are stripped on the square center nut of the latch fixture. Impossible to turn. I saved a spare latch from our parts car which I plan to use but the center pin thread threw the same square nut was at an angle.

1. I was able to straighten it up but is there supposed to be any at all or just come straight down?

2. I haven't put the hood springs on yet since I'm still tweaking the hood. Can I install the hood latch without the hood springs being installed?

3. When installing hood latch, how compressed should the spring be as a starting point and how is this latch supposed to behave? I understand the double hook part of the latch but I'm not understanding the left/right blade function in the hole that the center pin goes into. What does it catch? Just seems to rest against the center pin. Thanks.   

1. The center pin should come straight down at a 90 deg angle to be centered in latch "hole".

3. Compress about 1/2 of available threads. Not at all critical.

    The upper part of center pin diameter is flared larger, then there is a step that catches the blade. The flare is to push the blade aside as the pin descends. Over time the blade often gets bent downwards. You can tell this is happening because the hood won't stay latched when the body flexes going over bumps. This would be a good time to inspect the blade and straighten it if bent......Bob

 

Edited September 16 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[buickbrothers]

Thanks for the pic and information Bhigdog. Very helpful. I'm currently cleaning the grill so I can get this mounted - these honeycomb holes are a pain and must have the full 70 years of build-up! I'm wearing out all my Dremel tool heads. Anyone find a better way to clean these holes? 

[old-tank]

After you finish cleaning the holes be advised that the back side of the grill and the holes were sprayed with silver paint at the factory.

[Bhigdog]

30 minutes ago, old-tank said:

After you finish cleaning the holes be advised that the back side of the grill and the holes were sprayed with silver paint at the factory.

Not to put too fine a point on it but Buick called the silver color...."Argent".............Bob