Raising Cowl fix

walkerlakeprinter

walkerlakeprinter

Senior Member
There must be more entries on hood and door alignment that just about any other aspect of this hobby! Reading through many of them so far has helped. Just one quick question: If I need to shim the first body bolts to raise the cowl, do I need to shim the 2nd and 3rd bolts as well? My 1929 Coupe doors are a little closer to the latch pillar on the bottom than the top. I'm guessing that raising the cowl to help align the hood will also widen the bottom door opening. Am I on the right track?
 
I am going to loosen the body bolts tomorrow and raise the body up with my chain hoist and lifting straps positioned through the doors just behind the hinges. I think if I have the hood attached at the radiator and at the cowl I should be able to see how the alignment changes and how much I need to shim under the cowl.
 
Are all the body blocks correct and in good condition? Some folks make substitutes and they might not be correct. Wood deterioration can also have an effect.
 
After much tedium, repetition, in and out, with bolts blocks and rubber pads, there is no one easy way. And my experience taught me the solution will probably defy logic.

To help you out I would just suggest you work in reasonable time periods, and get away from it for periods and don't go insane.

Ahh, does it sound like I had a good time with that task? ;)
 
I'm glad I'm not working for perfection. As I recall, the hood didn't fit all that well ten years ago before I dismantled the car. There are enough links on Ford Barn to give enough ideas to try....or not try. :D
 
walkerlakeprinter said:
All new body blocks. That was the only change to the body support when I put the car back together. I put in a new radiator and shell.
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It has been awhile since I purchased any commercially available body blocks sold by vendors, but it used to be they were off in dimensions by as much as ¼ inch. If they are still manufactured like that, then I would think that is likely what you are encountering. Remember when the vehicle was being assembled, there was no "shimming" done. Shimming during is a band-aid to cover up something else that is wrong.
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When I think of shimming an old Ford body, Newton'e 3rd law always has to be in the back of your thought process. For every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. With a cowl, it works in multiples. Balancing all the other reactions is the trick.

It will help if a person has a bunch of relatively large washers with a slit cut through to the center hole. This way a person can slide those in more easily to see what the reaction will be then cut pads to the resulting thicknesses. It pays to make sure your frame is as straight as you can get it. If it is bent or bowed on one or both sides, that really throws a wrench in the cog.

Brent has a point about the reproduction body blocks. A person needs to know what the actual dimensions are supposed to be in order to check them out.
 
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