Front End Sheet Metal Re-Installation... what worked for you?

Hot Rod Reverend

Hot Rod Reverend

Well-known member
The 55 Ford Club Sedan is about ready to receive it's front end sheet metal since the whole front end was removed down to a bare frame and a bare firewall. The easy part was getting the cross member finished, replacing and updating the steering/suspension, re-installing the engine and transmission, etc. Now we come to the sheet metal that supports the fenders and everything else.

Does anyone out there have any advice concerning sequence, adjustment, etc?
 
i dont think thats possible.i done 3 now and when i looked at eack one i felt it wasnt possible to put it back together again.you just feel your way along and suddenly there it is and you wonder how you did it.maybe someone has better advice than that.
 
Go ahead and assemble the inner fender apron to the front wall piece and install the magic-aire duct system. Put everything together loosely. Do it for both sides. DO not install the inner fender sub-assemblies to the cowl yet. Install all your rubber pieces on the bottom of the aprons and front wall. You should also be able to install the upper control arm splash shield and rubber on the fender apron (loosely for now).
Now place the rubber pad on the bottom of the radiator support bracket and use a piece of 12 ga copper wire to hold it on permanently. Install the radiator support bracket to the frame using the two bolts with springs, washers and castle-nuts.
Put all your speed nuts back into the flange on the cowl if they were removed. Now go ahead and put your fender aprons on the car and attach to cowl and radiator support bracket loosely. use jacks and blocks of wood as needed to level both fender aprons at the front wall so that you can position the front splash pan on the front wall halves. Bolt the splash pan to the front wall halves very loosely.
Now make sure all the speed nuts are positioned on the top of the fender aprons and put the fenders on the car. At this point it is best to go ahead and put the front bumper on the car. Get it adjusted so that it is even on both sides but do not tighten the two end brackets to the front wall yet. It may be necessary to use those jack to raise or lower your front wall halves (evenly on both sides) to get the bottom of the fenders where they should be in relation to the front bumper.
Install your front air deflector loosely and carefully lower the hood to see if there is too much or not enough gap for the hood to clear the fenders. Adjust by sliding the fender left or right. If the fender runs out of travel at the bolts that hold it to the front wall, you can still move it more if necessary by sliding the whole front wall half left or right. As you do, that will also pull the splash pan with it. After getting everything adjusted real good, level and even on both sides you can start tightening everything down.
Have fun getting everything adjusted Ughhhhh
 
Last time I did this I saved myself some nervousness by having several pieces of carpet to use as spacers between the freshly painted hood, fenders and doors. Just used regular household carpet cut into pieces 8" x 8" or a little bigger. If you do not have any at home you can probably get a few free samples from Lowes or Home Depot. Then while you are adjusting you can slip them between the panels and they will give you a good gap and protect the panels. Good luck, Todd C
 
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