1936 ford coupe build qestion

[lodown2003]

does anyone out there know the steps of installing front fenders on the body. do you start with front grill, then work your way back.seems there are know assy manuals for these cars. any help would be great, ken

[Charlie ny]

lodown,
The old timers taught me to build out from the running boards. The boards
go on first and with all fasteners in place but not tight go the fenders then the
grill. That is the way I did my '37 sedan, '35 sedan and '41 1/2 ton.
Charlie ny

[mrtexas]

I just did this on my 36 woodie. I first hung the running boards. Then I assembled the grille with the two attached pieces with the horn holes and attached it as a unit to the radiator and headlight brackets. Then the fenders. Lastly was the inner fenders.

[Tom's36coupe]

Great question that I was going to ask too. Now that my coupe is in many pieces and its been months since I took it apart, I am just hoping that I can remember where everything goes! lol....

[Tom's36coupe]

After the car is painted I am installing the motor then the fenders and grille. Is it possible to put the radiator in and then be able to get to the bolts for the front fenders, grille?

[jfcrash]

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Ken/Tom

I too have just completed reassembly of the fenders, running boards, etc on my 35 Phaeton.

I started with the radiator and radiator support rods set in place, first the inner fenders and then the grill including the grill stone panel.

Then as Charlie said, I installed the running boards loosely… at this point I installed the rear fenders and fender welt.

I was coached to install the hood next, which I was glad I did as it allowed me to adjust the hood alignment by dialing in/out the radiator support rods without the front fenders in the way. I assembled the left and right top portions of the hood to the hood hinge on the work bench and then set the assembly in place …which was rather easy to do, without the front fenders in place.

Next came the hood side panels, the hinges were pre tested to make sure the hinge rod worked freely… I would recommend you pre test the hood rod to make sure it can be driven thru hinge holes in both the top and bottom sections of the hood panels….I found a lot of paint build up in this area…

The front fenders went on last placing a few bolts to the inner fender just to hold the fender in place. I then started at the first hole at the bottom of the grill and worked toward the running board. All bolts were left loose until everything was in place including the fender welt.

This worked for me…

[Tom Morookian]

Here's a link to previous threads on how to do it

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52678

[danliveshere]

Jfc your phaeton is coming along very nicely!!!

[Tom's36coupe]

Thanks to all for the tips, I can just see now when I am putting it all back together and I get my first scratch in the beautiful new paint job!

[Chris Nelson]

I spent a good deal of time thinking through this problem when I was fitting all the pieces before paint. The 36 is a particularly difficult set of sheetmetal to assemble. There are bolts that you would swear cannot be bolted up if on the car. It dawned on me that in the production of the 36, Henry would not have had his assemblers go through all the gyrations it takes to put it together in pieces. I asembled my painted parts on a rug on the garage floor. Fenders, inner panels, grille, inner fender to grille panels, hweadlight stands etc. I put all the bolts nuts and washers on the floor with me and started to assemble. Of course, the runningboards are not adjustable in mounting, so they go on first. Everything goes on after the runningboards. Alignment is accomplished by the radiator to firewall rods. I was amazed how quickly it all came together. It is very helpful to have a couple extra guys to help lift the assembly onto the car so that you don't scratch up your hard work.

[Gumpy]

I agree with Chris....henry wouldn't have put one part on at a time it would have already been partically assembled a great reference for auto assembly is you-tube ill bet your car is shown there...