Body line reveals and tolerances?

[powerwagontim]

Hi Guys,
Starting to hang the front sheetmetal. I attached the cheek pieces to the sides of the radiator core support, The front radiator cover the grille and the side panels, no fenders or inner fenders. All attached just finger tight. I then installed the hood, and adjusted it to the cowl, working towards the 1/4" revel mentioned in the TM. I know the front and back adjustment is through the radiator support rods, and the elongated holes in the cheek pieces. The passenger side all line up pretty well, falling nicely below the edge of the hood. The drivers side however is a different story. The cheek piece starts out fine at the edge of the hood in the front, and dives in under the edge 1/2". The side panel then goes from being in 1/2" at the front to flush at the rear. I loosened the 3 bolts that attach the cheek to the core support and installed a 1/2" shim behind it and tightened it back up. This brought the rear of the cheek out where it should be, but I am not convinced this was the right way to accomplish it. What is the distance from the bottom of the hood to the top of the side panel supposed to be?
I can see that someone has already elongated the holes in the drivers side panel to get it up higher in the rear than it ordinarilly would have been, but not enough to get a nice looking reveal.
I realize these trucks were not Rolls Royces, but where do we draw the line?
Thanks,
Tim

[rixm37]

Hey TIm,
Sounds like time for a little TLAR (that looks about right) and eyeball engineering .
I always got to tell myself these trucks were designed to be worked on in the field with hand tools by 18 year olds.

[powerwagontim]

Hi Rick,
Best as I can tell, my hood has spread at the front, maybe some gorilla sat on it at some point. I an working on bringing it back in with pipe clamps and have mostly gotten it. I am quite aware they were probably not perfect, but I would like to get it within reason! Do you know what the space is supposed to be between the bottom of the hood and the side pieces above the fender? I am getting almost 1/2 inch. I cant bring the side pieces up any further without redrilling holes and also throwing off the line at the cowl, and the hood wunt come down any further. So, maybe a shy half is "TLAR"
Tim

[rixm37]

HI TIm
Just went out and looked my truck over.
Well my hood overhangs on each side at the front. On the sides the gap between the removable panel and the hood is about 3/8 to 1/2 on the drivers side and about 1/4 to 3/8 on the passenger side. I never measured it before. To me it looks OK . Maybe not compition resto quality though.

[k8icu]

Eye ball it and be done with it. Nobody can look at both sides at the same time plus as my Granny use to say "Nobody will see it on a galloping horse."

[rixm37]

I like that , never heard it before.


"nobody will see it on a gallopping horse"

[hbb]

Eye ball it and be done with it. Nobody can look at both sides at the same time plus as my Granny use to say "Nobody will see it on a galloping horse."

There was never any concern of fit and finish when they were new! These are war expendable vehicles and I can assure you that not one GI gave a crap about its looks, they were more concerned with if it starts and stops anything more was a luxury.
hb