BIG gap under cowl

chrs1961815

Well-known member
I haven't been on here in quite some time as it has been a crazy 6 months but I am now back as I am running into some serious issues on my 28 Roadster.

Some background: my car was hacked up by the previous owner and the body and cowl are welded together. I also suspect the car was in an accident at one point.

I purchased a new radiator from Bergs which was tough to get bolts into but we got it. The hood no longer fit close enough after (the doors and hood never fit really good) so I decided to start messing with the body blocks and shims because the radiator already had only one thin rubber pad under it. It took basically TWO body blocks at the front of the cowl to get it to where the hood fits decent, but the front latches don't want to go up that far and there is a big 1 inch or so gap in between the cowl and frame. You can clearly see the body block and transmission!

What is the problen as I am dumbfounded? What can be done to fix this right?
 
Here are pictures of both sides - it looks like the hood isn't aligned but that is because I don't have the brace rods in place.
 

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Here are pictures of both sides - it looks like the hood isn't aligned but that is because I don't have the brace rods in place.

It appears there is a wooden block under the forward section instead of between. This likely has the body raised much higher. Whether this was done out of ignorance, or whether they were bandaiding something is yet to be determined. I can provide you with pictures showing what it should look like if you need them however I think your first order is to remove all the body bolts and make sure you have the correct Sill Filler (Body) Blocks and pads. Then go thru tightening and adjusting doors, cowl, etc.

If you have the time, with the body bolts loosened, it may be best to stretch a string on the top frame rail to verify straightness.
 
I put the blocks or shims under the cowl to align the hood. Thats how far it had to go up to fix it.

Some of the blocks that were in there were not correct and I was able to fix some of them but for others I could not get the correct block in there. All now have the correct rubber shims.
 
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