57 Ford Sheet Metal

[maddog350gt]

Hi all;

I was under the impression that all of the 57 Fords shared the same hood? Is this correct? I am having trouble fitting the hood on my 57 convertible. If I line it up at the cowl it is a half in short at the nose. It follows the curve of the fenders and the gaps are very good but it is short. Were all of the hoods the same or do I have the wrong one for a Fairlane 500? Anyone else run into this problem?

I also am having a problem with the deck lid, it's too long by about a half inch. I can fix it just by cutting some of the metal off so it's not as big a problem as the hood. But again I thought they were all the same. If they aren't all the same how do I make sure I have a 500 hood and deck lid?

Thanks,
Bob M.

[ragtop]

hoods are all the same and a 1958 hood will fit also trunk for a convert. must be a fairlane lid to fit if you have a photo or 2 may be able to help

[ragtop]

I don't have a real good photo of my last convert. for the trunk

[RICH MUISE]

You won't be the first  one to overload on the frustrations of trying to align all the front end components. I spent more than a few days and never did get it to my liking. Ragtop is correct on all hoods being the same, and also the Custom trunk lids are different from the Fairlanes for sure. Fairlane convert to hartop...I honestly don't know if those are the same trunk lids. Also, I would suspect the difference in Custom to Fairlane trunk lids is more than 1/2".
Ragtop...nice looking car you posted....yours?

[Zapato]

Rich, am sure the answer to the convertible/fairlane question is in that body parts manual you have.lol

Zap-

[Ray]

body types 57,58,63.64.76, all the same lid B7A6440110A. That should help.

[maddog350gt]

Thanks for the info;

Here are some photo's of the hood problem, I'll try to find the photos of the deck lid (Car is at the painters in Boise about 600 miles away). As I said I am not as worried about the deck lid as I can fix it to fit to my liking, it's the hood that is a real problem I can't stretch it. At this point I may have to miss-aline both the cowl and the front to "even" the miss match. I want to get paint on it within a few weeks, if possible.

Thanks,
Bob M.

[Lgcustom]

It appears your cowl top cover is not in place yet. You should have about 5/16" gap from the hood to that cover. Your hood will have to move forward to accomplish this. However, the hood rear line will now be slightly forward of the fender rear cut line. That should help with the front margin appearance. These things are a compromise to look ok. Now, if you want better than that, you'll have to add metal on the front edge. Show car?

[Limey57]

You have my sympathy, I spent WEEKS trying to align the front end of my Ranchero and even now it's far from perfect, shifting one thing a fraction threw everything else out.  Can you elongate the slots in the hood hinges to allow it to go slightly further forward and then pull the entire front assembly back a bit towards the doors to close up the cowl gap?  I have to admit I resorted to building up some edges with weld & grinding back to fix mine.

[RICH MUISE]

Yep...exactly what Lgcustom said about the cowl cover not in place....it can go a long way to making it look better. The hood definetly needs to come forward.

[gasman826]

The third picture with the yellow tape appears to have too much gap between the fender and cowl/'A' pillar.  The tape obscures the gap but the fender may need to go toward the rear of the car.  If not, I've welded many feet of 1/8" welding wire to fill gaps.  I'd exhaust all the adjustments first...cutting and welding as the last resort.

[Wirenut]

Have you tried shims in the front bolt that attaches the radiator support. That raises and lowers the front clip and can be another adjustment point. Those shims do a lot with front fender alignment and if the small leaf spring that goes in could be flattened and need re arched or some washers to lift. That might help the hood in front.

[maddog350gt]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts on the hood and deck lid problems. I was in Boise this weekend to look at the car. We decided to custom fit the hood and deck lid rather than trying to re-adjust all of the rest of the sheet metal. My painter will weld and cut material on the hood and deck lid to get all the seams right. I'll post picks when we get it done.

Thanks again,
Bob M.

[SkylinerRon]

Before i would let a bodyman "cut and weld" for fit i'd find a new guy.

jmho,

Ron.

[Contibob]

It would be a shame to cut down a Fairlane trunk lid, they are hard to find in good shape. I don't know about the availability of the 300 lid.