1940 Ford Hood Alignment

[FRITZ47]

We removed the hood, deck lid, doors, fenders and grille for a complete repaint (painting is finished), and are having plenty of trouble in lining up the hood in that the stainless steel strips on the rear of each side of the hood are up higher than the strips on the door and the side mirrors.

*Note: We ordered a new set of running boards from Bob Drake and after months of waiting they finally should be in this coming week.

Here is the sequence of what we did so far in order:

1)Installed the doors, rear fenders and rear deck lid. So far, so good.

2) The doors seem to be nicely aligned with the stainless strip along the doors and leading back to the strip above the rear quarter panels and rear fenders. Everything to this point looks to be good.

3) We installed the front fenders and grille assembly (no running boards at the time, as were not received yet from Bob Drake).

4) We installed the hood and it lines up nicely to the grille, but the stainless strips along each side of hood are UP about 3/8" high at the door end of these strips. (We have new hood bumpers and hood welt and later removed the hood welt temporarily in an attempt to get the hood to line up).

5) Not only do I think that we have a bigger problem than anticipated with the hood, I am thinking that the new running boards will be either too tight or too loose, since as of right now both front and rear fenders are bolted in place. It seems almost impossible that the new running boards would fit, unless we get very lucky. We may have used the old running boards as a guide to space between front and rear fenders, but I am not sure of this, as was not in our shop earlier this week when front fenders were installed.

I read a previous post with a very-detailed set of instructions on lining up a 1940 Ford hood and it clearly says to install the hood first! Too bad we did not read this prior to going so far this past week.

Any ides on what we might do without having to remove the fenders? In particular, hope we do not have to remove the rear fenders and more or less start over? Hoping for some helpful hints.

Attached pictures were taken as car was being loaded for a new top (rear fenders and doors installed). Upon return from the trim shop, we installed the front fenders and grille assembly and ran into trouble with the hood alignment. (Even if we finally get the hood lined up properly, I am starting to worry about the fit of the running boards).

Thanks, Fritz