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B3B sheet metal alignment question


Brent B3B

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trying to align the front end of my B3B, I took this truck apart several years ago (30 or so :)) I am trying to put it back together to do some body work......  I am not sure on the front end alignment. I have switched hoods with three different ones, interchanging sides and center pieces etc. with similar results. the drivers side is not cooperating.  

 

any thoughts? what am I missing?

thanks,

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What did you do, look at FEF?  Same issues with the hood at least in the rear of the hood by the cowl.  I THINK you might need to shift the front clip towards the driver side to tighten up the large gap.  FEF was in an accident at one point so I think the frame might be tweaked a little.  Hood in the front..that 1/2" is wrong...might be the center section has a tweak as well?  Or the hinges got tweaked?  If it's all 3 hoods you tried than its what it's mounting to that is the issue,

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I hope something I say helps and sorry in advance for stating the obvious, because I know I probably am going to say stuff you already know/thought about!

It took me HOURS to get it right on my truck. I spent multiple weekends just trying to shim and align the front sheet metal on it, so I know what your going through, but you'll get it! 

First, how centered are the front bumper brackets through the front panel? When I did my truck, I started by getting that fairly centered, then I just rotated the panel from that point to even out the gaps at both doors to the fenders. I also had to shim the core support up and down on each core support stud to get the front clip square (and to get even gaps up and down the doors. The amount of shims on each core support stud is noticeably different for my truck to line up right. If one side is lower than the other up front, I would think that would cause some of your hood fitment issues too. I'm sure this isn't the case (but I'll ask lol), but do you have the rubber bumpers on both hood halves for when they are resting? if one or the other is missing it would cause that side to hit in front corner and the other not too. I also noticed in the video, your passenger side hood to cowl gap looks a little tight. You might try evening that out side to side and pushing the core support straight back to take up the gap. As far as the center section of the hood, my hood doesn't fit the radius between the center and halves the best either, but side to side the gaps/step is even. 

Something else to keep in mind is your door to cab gaps. Make sure the rear gap on both doors are the same. My hinges were bent, and it took a while to get the doors to fit right to the fenders. The front fender to door gaps on my truck are still the greatest, but its the best I could get it. 

I hope this somehow helps and was understandable! Below are the best picture I have on my work computer to show the gaps. 

3.jpg

1.jpg

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just the reminder you both had issues help ALOT! I will defiantly keep at it.

tonight I loosened everything up and tried to shift the front around with little results. what material did you use to shim where needed? I used an old mud flap for the "L" bracket (at the cab) and outrigger supports ( at the rear of the fender at the door) but I don't know if that is the best for everywhere.

no, I don't have the hood bumpers or that lace material at the cowl, should I set it up with those materials on it, to do that part of the body work?    

 

 

 

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I noticed that you have two different hood sides.  The passenger side is correct and the drivers side has a sharp point at the lower front edge.  Maybe the drivers side hood is too short also and is from a different year.  I ran into this problem years ago on my '52 when I was replacing the passenger side hood and did not notice the difference until I installed it.

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3 hours ago, Reg Evans said:

I noticed that you have two different hood sides.  The passenger side is correct and the drivers side has a sharp point at the lower front edge.  Maybe the drivers side hood is too short also and is from a different year.  I ran into this problem years ago on my '52 when I was replacing the passenger side hood and did not notice the difference until I installed it.

good catch!  the B1/2 hood is different from the B3/4.  

Remember you might have to loosen the RAD support to move or twist that as well.

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10 hours ago, Brent B3B said:

just the reminder you both had issues help ALOT! I will defiantly keep at it.

tonight I loosened everything up and tried to shift the front around with little results. what material did you use to shim where needed? I used an old mud flap for the "L" bracket (at the cab) and outrigger supports ( at the rear of the fender at the door) but I don't know if that is the best for everywhere.

no, I don't have the hood bumpers or that lace material at the cowl, should I set it up with those materials on it, to do that part of the body work?    

I used steel shims everywhere. I made some of them, and I used some from a body shim pack I got at harbor freight (part #67585). I also used washers a lot. I forgot to mention that I had to shim my cab up and down to get it right too. My frame was very bent and out of square when I bought the truck. I got it pretty close to the factory measurements, but I know its not perfect. 

As far as the rubber mounted parts, I used an old truck mud flap too. I cut them in squares like the original ones were, but added steel shims as needed. 

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I used old mud-flap shims on the front, under the radiator mount and on the supports that bolt to the part of the fender that has the two large rivets.  Made some 1/8" shims from an old conveyor belt to help fine tune the alinement.  It took quite a bit more shimming than it originally had, and since there was some welding done to replace some "capture nuts" on the fender brackets, not everything lined as much as I wanted.  I put the front grill on, then the hood.  I centered everything as best I could, using the hood to cowl gaps and a tape measure.  Next I put my wheel wells under the hood (for later) and attached the fenders to complete the doghouse.

I think I unbolted, re-shimmed and re-aligned that damn doghouse for two weeks, using the door gaps and the hood to cowl gaps as my guides.  After all of that, I finally remembered that my driver's side of the hood was "a bit twisted" thanks to a brother-in-law.  All in all, I discovered that what really helped me was knowing curse words in three languages. 

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