hood misalignment. nose is high?

[Tulsarust]

Here is my latest struggle with my 49 S10 swap do done haphazardly by PO. Followed the shop manual from Oldprojectmanuals website but can't get hood fully closed with all hood hinge bolts loose and hood supports disconnected. I'm afraid PO didn't get fenders far enough down on the front but I've never done a swap or body removal. Here is my pics and I'd like ypur guys opinion before I unbolt the front fenders completely. ........

[pugs]

home made mounts or one of those kits?
does it have rubber bushing under the rad support, if so how thick are they?

[Tulsarust]

all homemade. radiator is mounted to the fenders and I don't see front fender support. to me, it looks like fenders are bolted to inner fenders and cowl, but it must have some front support. from reading builds the front radiator support looks like front support for fenders and grill. Just not seeing that here as they sectioned the OG radiator support, put in an aluminum radiator and bolted it to the fenders. i'll go look before I goto bed tonite to make sure.

from my pics I hoped to show how it looks like hood is "open" even though it touches in the front. The top edge of hood fits well at cowl under windshield, but the side are a good 1" from closing flush to cowl. that's what makes me think it needs to continue "closing" down to line up hood and cowl seam.

[pugs]

fender supports should be visible if ya look under the fender, the OG rad support is basically a U shape stamped channel. what I have see is that the very bottom of the support is cut off and bracket made up and either welded or bolted up so it can be bolted to the frame.

one other thing to check real quick is to see what they had used for the the front cab mounts maybe they are just shot making the cab setting down or worst case floor rusting out in that area

[Sim6]

Fronts too high, you're going to have to free up the core support and get it on a jack where you can raise and lower it til it all lines up. You will have to loosen all inner fender/fender bolts so envy thing will move. IMO. Welcome to the site.
Jeff

[Tulsarust]

Pics under and above.
Cab mounts look mediocre but at least they are present! Ha!

[mr48chev]

What does it look like from a straight on side shot? The front of the cab may be too low in relation to the nose.

I've never done it but I have read where guys fit the hood to the cab and then fit the fenders to the cab and hood to get it right. I'd think that is what you will end up doing.

[joedoh]

I cant see in the pics what is holding the front clip up, can you point it out?

I agree with mr48 looks like if you raised the front cab mounts it might pull up the bind it seems to have at the cab/hood. take the front mount bolts out and put a jack under each side of the front of the cab and try a little lift

[Tulsarust]

Here is the only front clip "support" I see. You can even see the edge of the radiator flange that is bolred directly to fender. Should the radiator be directly bolted to metal or have rubber mounts to account for flex in the chasis?

I didn't even think about raising the front of cab to check. Duh. I'll loosen that up and see what happens. Regardless, it's tr to fave a radiator support too.

[pugs]

how close is that lower radiator tank to the frame rail?

[paulspickupparts]

Originally Posted by Tulsarust

Pics under and above.
Cab mounts look mediocre but at least they are present! Ha!

Someone really hacked your radiator support . If you look at sides of the radiator they seem to have cut it about 8 inches down. Originally that would have extended under the radiator and rested on the original crossmember. The radiator support takes all of the weight of the inner fenders and fenders which bolt to the side of it. You inner fenders and outer fenders hang off the sides and are not meant to support the front clip. That is the job of your radiator support. Also you radiator is only supported at the very top by parts of the original radiator support . and the lower radiator hose. The way it sits now all of the weight of the front clip is now supported by the inner fenders sitting on the frame rails. Not good. If the cab mounts are too low on the front you are now putting a lot of pressure on the front clip resting on the frame rails. You really need a original radiator support . Install it and used the center mount and in your case possibly your cab mounts to adjust to the proper height. The way it is set up now this will only get worse. Good luck.

[chopit]

Tulsarust, if you decide that you want to blow it apart and do it right as per Paulspickupparts observations (that's pretty shady as is), I am about 2 hrs from you in Gravette AR and am 99% sure I have an extra radiator support I could donate to you to do it right.

All the info you need to set it up right is on this board...just cant remember which thread but somebody here will know and can post it up...

...I imagine its in skymangs sticky

[mr48chev]

Looking at those photos this morning I'd say that the guy who did that butchering set the cab on the frame a lot lower than most guys on here set theirs as they don't usually have to hack the sheet metal up that much.

With no core support the movement of the front end sheet metal is going to pull the radiator apart in short order as it is all that is holding the front end together.

[Tulsarust]

Thanks to all here for the information. I saw the radiator support had been hacked when I bought it, and the hood was way off, but I figured I'd fab a radiator support , align the hood, and it wouldn't be a big deal. Now I know better after crawling under it for awhile. I'm committed to fix it right since I want it to be daily driver for me. I'll proably just remake cab mounts too and get it back where it should have been prior to the hack. I really appreciate the radiator support donation, but I'll need to measure because the radiator that's present may be too wide. Gotta be a reason they hacked the OG radiator bracket.

[OrrieG]

Don't have time to look for the thread but cliff notes for AD front clip alignment are 1) set cab so floor is level with fram; 2) install radiator support and grille and hood latch and align hood to cab and latch (might need to have grille support installed too). If you cannot get it correct might have to adjust cab angle SIGHTLY, a little bit translates to a lot at the front; 3) install fenders to match hood, cab and radiator. this might help too.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/bo...alignment.html

[chopit]

Originally Posted by Tulsarust

Thanks to all here for the information. I saw the radiator support had been hacked when I bought it, and the hood was way off, but I figured I'd fab a radiator support , align the hood, and it wouldn't be a big deal. Now I know better after crawling under it for awhile. I'm committed to fix it right since I want it to be daily driver for me. I'll proably just remake cab mounts too and get it back where it should have been prior to the hack. I really appreciate the radiator support donation, but I'll need to measure because the radiator that's present may be too wide. Gotta be a reason they hacked the OG radiator bracket.

you may have already read this but if not read page 1....if ur radiator is 2 wide then anything you fab support wise will prolly be to wide and push fenders out

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=632686

19x22 aluminum from speedway $116...pretty much what seems most use and fits in fabbed og support.

...mine was already in the old way with full size aftermarket rad and tilted unaltered support, but PO did good fab it works nice and cleared everything so I left it since he already spent big bucks on rad.

[Tulsarust]

Well, here's the full Monty of the front end. Best I can tell the whole front clip is support by inner fender well on drivers side. Thats where i stuck the pry bar and could raise and lower the whole fender. Ouch

OrrieG, I have that page bookmarked on my iPad in the garage and I could tell I was way too far off and had probelems. That's why you guys are awesome for advice.

I'll measure this radiator to see if it matches the speedway size. It dies have 3/4" aluminum channel on each side I could use ro attach to a radiator support and the fender width seemed ok where it was, but the height was whacked. So was the PO (builder, i uee that loosely) before the PO I nought it from. I agree with earlier post and glad I haven't split the radiator even in the few miles I drove it before I figured it was time to fix it.

[joedoh]

that truck has a spilt bumper? thats kind of unique, how does it look?

[chopit]

ahh...now I see you also have the full size AD aftermarket radiator. This is what mine has and it is mounted normally in the original support but po kicked the bottom of the support out to clear steering box and made a new cross brace at bottom to mount it to.
Then extended a piece on sides of support for new holes to mount fenders back to.

[Tulsarust]

Chopit, you got a pic of that handy?

Joe, bumper looks ok but PO welded the dang thing in place and I had to wrestle that grill outta there! A welder doesn't fix everything people.......

[chopit]

Mines in mini storage at present and gonna b hard to get pics assembled but I will see if I can get decent in the next day or two. I will be blowing it all apart for paint soon but by that time you will probably be done.

In the meantime I found a pic of a support modified on this forum and kicked out 2" at bottom for full size rad

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=604991

post #11

since he is on this board I was trying to find if he had a build thread with more detail. Maybe somebody here longer than me knows an easy way to find it.

[Tulsarust]

Great. Thanks. Had to order steel today, so no fab till Saturday. Slow and steady

[mr48chev]

Making some spacers and raising the cab between 1/2 and 1 inch might help fit the front end a lot.
Or trim away at the bottom of the inner fenders but it's already pretty low at the bottom of the front fender.

When I subframed my 48 with a first generation Camaro subframe in 1981 I ended up trimming the daylights out of the inner fenders to clear and fit the front end right.

[Tulsarust]

Is there a larger bushing type spacer to use or shim with metal and keep same rubber mount?

[Tulsarust]

Update on getting hood aligned.
1. I raised the front of cab 1 inch
2. Lowered radiator support 1 inch
I now have an even gap between hood and cowl, but it is almost 7/8 inch wide.
I also have the hood to cowl hinges pushed fully back towards cowl to where the bolt ftom the engine compartment is fully seated against the front of the Oval slot which should push the hood closest to the cowl right?
Don't understand 2 things.
1. Why can't I get hood closer to cowl.
2. How can hood be pushed away from cowl and the front fenders are now in front of the hood?
I'm pulling my hair out.......and I don't have a lot to give!