do you align the hood first or the hood to fenders having trouble with the hood sitting back against the cowl almost ready to buy tilt hood kit or start over any input would be helpful :thanks:-

 

The hood needs to aligned to the cab first. The fenders can be adjusted to fit the hood. I had a lot of fun aligning cowl , hood and fenders. Got all the gaps close to even. Probably closer than it came from the factory. Remember it was work truck. Hopes this helps a little.

 

Welcome 1953. Advice as above.
Where in NY?? I'm N of Ithaca. B-in-law has a 53 he's going through now. A daily driver even in the NY salt.

 

Welcome to the forum, I have a '53 and have been dealing recently with exactly the same hood/cowl/front fender alignment stuff. I got excellent advice from Axracer on this forum. Sit tight until you see a post from him. He has written up a really useful step by step guide on how this front sheet metal alignment is done. If he doesn't chime in soon, I'll go looking for the link in the forum archives of old posts. For what it's worth, I thought that my own alignment problems were hopeless. But now my hood closes the way that it was designed to: the rear of the hood is pulled down snug against the cowl by the hinges and the front end aligns as pretty as a high priced show truck. It only took about 20 or 30 hours to get all figured out....

 

Welcome to FTE!
We would love to see pictures of your truck.

Here is a thread on this subject from one of our experts; AXRacer
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...procedure.html

Also, I pulled apart my hinges and cleaned and lubed the middle joint and that really helped closing of the hood. AXRacer gave me tips on that as well.

 

Here you go:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ml#post9927171

 

The advice that the hinges be clean and well lubed should be taken seriously. Also, excessive wear can create sieways play in the hinge arms, causing the arms to rub against the hinge plate. I found that some of this play can be dealt with by hammering on the backside of the hinge arm pivot post with an anvil of some sort on the other side of this same post. If you intend to use the stock hinges it's worth getting an understanding of how hey work. You will find that raising the hinge at the connection to the cowl actually makes the hood snug down and towards the cowl. The hinge plate can also be rotated slightly and that affects the way that the hood closes. Some of this seemed counter intuitive to me at first. The biggest problem that I had was working by myself and devising a way to hold the hood open while I re-positioned the hinge. One of the first things to do is get everything in place without the hinge springs installed. Then you can move fenders forward or backward,and the front moved sideways as needed. When everything looks like it fits well, mark the location of the hinge.While the the hinges are loose against the cowl, gently push the hinge plate up and towards the front. Tighten up the hinge mounting plates. Open up the hood, and remove the hinge bolts at the arms and hood so that you can get the springs back on. I found that my hood worked pretty well, but the hinge plates still needed to be adjusted. A very small adjustment in the plate location can make a big difference in how well the hood fits and works. Anther thing to look for is rubbing of the hinge arms against the sides of the hood. They should not be rubbing. They should be snug against the arm/hood pivot bolt, which has a wavy copper washer to keep friction there to a minimum. Lastly, pay attention to the rods that go between the radiator support and the cowl, and the rods inside the hood itself. When you get close to having a halfway decent fit of the hood, you can tweak the tension on these rods to further tune up the alignment. I found that with so many places to make adjustments, it's hard to tell where to make tweaks. I probably assembled and reassembled everything a dozen times before I got halfway decent results. Last piece of advice: watch you fingers when removing or installing hinge spring. I found a way to do it using vise grips. I never had an accident, but I can see how a person could mangle a finger pretty good if they aren't paying attention.

 

My B in L broke his hand while hooking up the hinge spring. Worse yet the newly painted hood got dented.
There is a spring tool. I think Restoring American History | Mustang Parts | Camaro Parts | Chevelle Parts | Ford Truck Parts | T-Bird Parts | Firebird Parts or
Dennis Carpenter Ford Car, F-100 Pickup Truck, 8N, 9N Tractor and Cushman Scooter Restoration Parts or mid-fifty has the tool.

 

Welcome to FTE
Mid Fifty has a hood sping tool too.
Search Results - Mid Fifty F-100 Parts

 

im from hamburg ny the new snow capital 7ft in 3-4 days crazy

 

My brother worked for Erie County retired to FL.Has a place near Bliss, NY for the Summer. He says if he has to wear long pants for 3 days in a row he's on the way South. There are a few other guys on this forum that left the Buffalo area for warmer climates. Feel free to join the NY Chapter if so inclined. Tell Neil I sent you so I can collect my commission....

 

Patio 1953, I`m in Westfield amd did my 56 with new repo fenders and a NOS hood contact me and I can advise. It was a pain but it looks good.