Headlight Bar

J

Jamie86

Member
My dad and I took the headlight bar off to pull the motor out. Now the motor is back in and having trouble getting the headlight bar to line back up. We tried pushing out on the fender and pulling on the brace to get the bottom bolts to go through and put the nuts on. Is it always a pain to get the 4
bolts back in the headlight bar, bracket and fender ?
 
No it is not a pain...

Loosen all of the bolts holding the front fender brackets on the frame.

This way you can install the headlamp bar with ease.

Then tighten the bolts on the fender brackets to the frame. This should pull everything back together and you do not have to "push out on the fender and pull on the brace" to get it lined up.

There is no pain to it!

Pluck
 
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I wonder if something got bent? My 28 slips together real easy for the three times I've had the headlight bar off, with no need to loosen the bottom. Have you used a long tappered alignment punch in one hole while you slip the bolt into the adjacent hole?
 
Tom,
Yes, we tried using a long tappered alignment punch, no luck. The brace under the fender has to be pulled towards the front of the car. We got close, but no cigar.
We are going try Pluck's advice and see what happens. Thanks to all for your advice,
I appreciate it.
 
ive never had trouble . had a tudor & now a coupe . all it takes seems to be patience ........
 
This brings up a question. I've often wondered if ill fitting headlight bars and fender supports result in early cracking/splits in the fenders. If one has to use force to align the holes of the fender supports and or headlight bars, wouldn't that be stressing the metal in the fenders? Just a thought. I havn't reached that stage of assembly yet so, knowing me and my lack of patience I'll probably get out a 5 pound persuader to tweek things a bit. lol
 
Since the support is too far back I wonder if it wasn't in a fender bender at one time. I think I'd remove the support and bend it a bit forward.
 
The headlight bar is installed as of today,it was not easy at all. I loosened the 3 bolts on the brace on each side and still had trouble. Thanks to all for your advice.
 
Jamie86 said:
The headlight bar is installed as of today,it was not easy at all. I loosened the 3 bolts on the brace on each side and still had trouble. Thanks to all for your advice.
Click to expand...

Something not right there but it is great to know you got it on.

Hope you had the top carrage bolt on the upper part of the fender loose also.

Pluck
 
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I know a bit late, but my experience has been that a bent bar coupled with bent fender brackets makes for trouble when putting the bar in place.

I started my fender fitting by making the bar fit the brackets. The bar and the brackets were bent. I made them fit by eye. I put it together and stood back. When I started getting close the bolts started going in easier. At first the bolts were very difficult to maneuver into place so I was pleased to find everything improving as I moved along. I figured I must be doing something right. Kind of reassuring after a couple of false starts.

After I got everything fit I found a set of NOS front fender brackets. I made a jig from them. The brackets I bent to fit the bar were almost a perfect fit in my jig.
 
Kevin in NJ said:
I know a bit late, but my experience has been that a bent bar coupled with bent fender brackets makes for trouble when putting the bar in place.

I started my fender fitting by making the bar fit the brackets. The bar and the brackets were bent. I made them fit by eye. I put it together and stood back. When I started getting close the bolts started going in easier. At first the bolts were very difficult to maneuver into place so I was pleased to find everything improving as I moved along. I figured I must be doing something right. Kind of reassuring after a couple of false starts.

After I got everything fit I found a set of NOS front fender brackets. I made a jig from them. The brackets I bent to fit the bar were almost a perfect fit in my jig.
Click to expand...

Kevin,

I have several front fender brackets and all are different...which ones are "right" I do not know as I have no NOS one's to compair to.

Just how can we make a "jig" such as yours to get the correct curverture to a bent bracket?

Thanks Kevin.

Pluck
 
Steve you do not need a jig. I did the jig cause I could and I was curious how close my made up brackets were to NOS.

The process on doing fenders that you find on my website outlines how I made my brackets fit.

In a nutshell, By making the headlamp bar and fender brackets fit well together the brackets end up with the correct shape. Then all you are left to do is get the edge of the fenders lined up front to rear and make the fender bracket fit the fender edge.
 
the 28-29 head light bar is a different shape then the 30-31, on the 28-29 you can put light bar in place and then install the bolts, on the 30-31 you can not put in the lower bolts when the bar is in place you have to put the lower bolt in the bar then install the bar to the fender, like steve said loosen the three bolts on the fender brackets put both bolts in one side then push the fenders apart and the other lower bolt should go right in on the other side,
 
Just curious,...I have a 1930 Model A 2 door that I have finished an off frame rebuild on. When I removed the headlight bar I never marked which side was left or right,..nor have I marked the front fendr attach brackets. Examining the light bar ( now ) I notice that the headlight attach location ( holes ) on the light bar are slanted to one side of the bar more than the other side. Same with the fender attach brackets,....leaving me too believe that, if the fender attach brackest are installed wrong, then the headlights will be pointing down too far,....or swung around the other way,...the headlights will be pointing up too far. Is this just my imagination or is there a "left" and a "right" front fender attach bracket,...that the light bar needs to attach to correctly so as one can aim the headlights correctly after installation ??

Upon close inspection of the front fender brackets I did not find any marking indicating " Left " or " Right " on either bracket. Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated. If the fender brackets are marked Left or Right,..where is the location of the marks on the bracket itself ?? ( The fender brackets are Original )

Thank You

Regards

Wayne Cole
 
The headlamp bar will have the pockets slanting down facing forward. One headlamp pocket on the bar will also have a flat spot for the horn mounting bracket.
 
My headlight bar has always been a challenge. The stock bar was the easiest to install. Then I went with a chrome dropped headlight bar. This was a little more work. Then I installed a 32 grill. I bought a special "V" shaped chrome headlight bar that also lowered the headlights. This was the toughest one to install. The bolts go in from the bottom and the there are no nuts.

Think of the multiplication of the distance. If you are off a 1/16" at the base and then multiply buy the length to the next connection, you could be off an inch depending on the length. Then figure all the bolts that attach to the frame, fenders and headlight bar. Then figure Ford's quality control and the quality control of reproduction manufacture and what did the reproduction manufacture use for a pattern.

I got mine on and hope the next time will be easier.

I always tell friends the when the headlight bar looks like it is on backwards it is on correctly because of the slope at headlight mounting. It looks backwards to me anyway.
 
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Tom Wesenberg said:
The headlamp bar will have the pockets slanting down facing forward. One headlamp pocket on the bar will also have a flat spot for the horn mounting bracket.
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Thanks Tom,..I completely forgot about that,..been awhile since I looked at the light bar. I do remember that the horn was on the left ( drivers side ) ,..so now that won't be a problem,..but gotta get the fender brackets figured out.

Thanks again for your reply

Wayne
 
Pluck mentioned loosening the fender brackets. Loosening just one should be sufficient. Worked for me on both my late 31's.
 
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