33/ 34 front fenders the same ?

[Metal Twister]

I have a car in here that is a 1934 tudor sedan. When it came in it had plastic fenders on it and it was all assembled. Mr customer brought me some steel re pops to install which I have done and it looked just fine till I went to install the hood. The hood now has a serious gap in the distance on the radiator shell. I'm totally baffled. I raised the front core support and everything up about an inch and it closed the gap quite a bit but any further up and things are going to start looking goofy I think. Im wondering if Mr. customer brought me 35 fenders and there might be a slight difference in the length between the two years? The rear gap looks just fine?

[Django]

You would know if you had '35 Fenders as they are completely different.

[ken ct]

They are diff. 36 fronts have a slight peak going down the center. ken ct. rears are diff too.

[Metal Twister]

Everything edited I think...

Oh man Im so sorry... I also am having some issues with a 36 but I meant to say 33 and 34 fenders. My bad... As soon as I saw the comment on the crease in the 36 fender I knew I screwed up! Its one of those days I tell ya! Second Monday this week!

[DavidG]

There's a slight difference between '33 and '34 front fenders were they attach to the front fender aprons and a difference between '33 and '34 front fender main brackets, but those differences would not account for your hood fit problem.

[Metal Twister]

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Wow, I'm baffled then...

[rotorwrench]

I wonder how much adjusting it took to put the fiberglass stuff on there previously? You might have to get creative with the all the affected parts to get that to go away. Many of the repo parts are questionable too.

[Metal Twister]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

I wonder how much adjusting it took to put the fiberglass stuff on there previously? You might have to get creative with the all the affected parts to get that to go away. Many of the repo parts are questionable too.

I don't know why they don't just stay with the original stuff? Think Im going to play with the front hinge piece and see if I can get everything to slide forward a bit Maybe split the difference. How much gap is in the correct fitting hood on the front?

[tombarb33]

I used 34 fenders on a 33 and the fit at the bottom point of the grille wasn't right by about 3/4 inch. Some metal working fixed it, but I'm curious if this was a problem with my set of fenders or common to all 34 fenders on a 33. They seemed to fit the 33 splash aprons fine.

[1934]

Did you notice if there was a gap when the car first came in? The fenders probably have nothing to do with this problem. Is the grille a repro or original? I have a Drake grille on my '34 and a similar gap on one side. After lots of head scratching and many knowledgable opinions.... the grille is crooked! Very frustrating! Find out if the grille is original and, if not, maybe that's the problem. Hopefully, it's something simpler. Good luck!

[jerry grayson]

It looks like you need to do some adjusting on the rods from the radiator to the cowl.

[DICK SPADARO]

I would be looking in the area of the radiator. Do you have an original radiator or a replacement radiator. It almost appears from your pictures that the grille shell is stretched to wide for the radiator and pushing the hood sides outward.

[Metal Twister]

I had to even things out in front at the bottom as well... Lower bead lines missed each other by about 1/2 inch. I'm not absolutely sure but I'm 99% sure its an original shell and grill. Radiator looks original in shape and size but has been re worked for a small block. And before anyone gets angry, Yes I made the lower pan inside and I know its not original! But compared to the plastic p.o.s. I took out it will work just fine. is there any type of spacer or material supossed to be between the radiator shell and the top of the radiator? This has the shell sitting right on the radiator and the hinge mount sits on all of that with the 2 screws sandwiching everything together.

I took off the front hinge mount and everything just fell into place... Hummm Fits ok with out the mount! LOL

[David J]

This dimple or lack of is what he's talking about . Pic one is 33 , pic 2 is 34 , pic 3 is 33 front & 34 rear , pic 4 is 33 front & 34 rear and pic 5 is early 33 rear { note the dimple has a hole in it for the early type support rod } and normal 33 front . The aprons are a study in themselves with at least 7 variations 33 - 34 . Anywayz it sounds like you found your problem - I just wanted to show the difference in 33 & 34 fenders .

Originally Posted by DavidG

There's a slight difference between '33 and '34 front fenders were they attach to the front fender aprons and a difference between '33 and '34 front fender main brackets, but those differences would not account for your hood fit problem.

[Metal Twister]

I know its not the ultimate fix but I slotted the front hinge bracket and slid it as far forward as I could. It closed things up nicely.



Thanks once again guys for the suggestions and help. It is greatly appreciated!

[Mike34]

Originally Posted by tombarb33

I used 34 fenders on a 33 and the fit at the bottom point of the grille wasn't right by about 3/4 inch. Some metal working fixed it, but I'm curious if this was a problem with my set of fenders or common to all 34 fenders on a 33. They seemed to fit the 33 splash aprons fine.

To the best of my knowledge there is no lenght difference between '33 and '34. On my car the right fender is from a '33 and the left fender is from a '34. Both are original fenders and everything lined up just fine with minimal adjustments. - Mike34

[Tom Mazz/CT]

I just recently spent a good deal of time fitting the grill & hood on a 34 coupe. I found that the inner fender panels can move a bit due to oversize holes (fore and aft as well as up and down). The grill attaches to the inner panel with one bolt about 10" above the frame. This bolt locates the grill the proper distance away from the cowl. You can then tilt the grill fore and aft by adjusting the hood support threaded rods. I found that it worked best to get the cowl,hood and grill lined up good, then install the fenders last.

[Metal Twister]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazz/CT

I just recently spent a good deal of time fitting the grill & hood on a 34 coupe. I found that the inner fender panels can move a bit due to oversize holes (fore and aft as well as up and down). The grill attaches to the inner panel with one bolt about 10" above the frame. This bolt locates the grill the proper distance away from the cowl. You can then tilt the grill fore and aft by adjusting the hood support threaded rods. I found that it worked best to get the cowl,hood and grill lined up good, then install the fenders last.

With a few carefully chosen four letter words and the gnashing of teeth I walked away from it for a few days. When I returned the battle was much easier! I ended up taking those bolts out and adjusting everything up again and found that was the issue. The inner fender panels are fiberglass and who knows how close they are to the originals in shape and length? Guess Mr. customer couldn't find steel re pops so its as good as its going to get. Thanks for all the help and advise here guys... it's appreciated.

[Dave Mc]

Original 33 Frt Fenders have a 5/8" hole almost inline with the Fwd Fender Brace which the Headlamp wires pass thru both the fender and inner fender, the 34 Fenders did not have that hole as the wiring passed thru the inner fen with the small stabilizer brace ( oblong hole )