Model A body to frame alignment?

G

Grumps

Member
In my much younger days I worked in an auto body shop and did frame straightening on wrecked cars, so I still know how to check a car frame for damage, or a bent frame and my car doesn't seem to have any. So here is the problem I have, the hood is not aligning with the body on the passenger side of the car and after checking everything I think the car body is about 1/2 " to the rear on that side. All the bolts are in place, and it looks like new wood blocks have been installed so I assume that the body was removed at some point, but I am not sure because I have only owned this car for about 6 months. My question is how much movement is there in the bolts that hold the body and the holes in the frame? If I loosened all the bolts (body, finders and running boards) could I move or shift the body forward enough to correct this problem. The hood fits correctly on the driver's side and also on the passenger side at the radiator so adjustment of the rods that hold the top of the radiator doesn't help. Any advice on how to correct this problem will be greatly appreciated.
 
Not much wiggle room in the mounting holes. And unless you plan on racking the body somehow, how to you plan on moving only one side of the body? My bet is that your frame is racked. Measure the diagonals.


Also, is the extra clearance on the hood only at the bottom of the hood, near the shelf? If so, it might be a shimming issue. Raising the body with shims will close up a gap at the bottom of the hood.
 
Last edited:
All the frames I've worked with over the years have had body mounting holes that fit the bolts with very little clearance or allowance for movement. A person can see if the frame rails are straight to a certain extent with body on but checking for squareness is not as easy. The front cross member can be changed out and many have been over the years due to cracks or other damage. I've seen 31 members on 29 frames and I've also found them bolted in. This is the foundation for the radiator fit so I would check that out pretty close to see what the alignment might be.

Rivet holes get elongated when loose so if a person removes a member and welds up some rivet holes then the member should be properly located and aligned prior to drilling and riveting it back together.
 
Last edited:
Aligning the body/frame / rad shell / is a " dark art" . As Rotowrench says very little if any wriggle room frame to body bolts . I have got around this by adjustng the rad/shell . Loosen the rad bolts and push the rad side to side . Do this with the two stay rods loose . You might need an extra pad on one side of the rad "foot" for better hood/body alignment . Give it a try it has worked for me .

John in Bath Somerset County England .
 
I have had the radiator out and everything checked out ok. The front crossmember is riveted in and looks to be the original. I may try shimming as Will suggested to see if that helps. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top