Hi friends,

while being in the process of putting the front clip together again and fighting to restore even gaps between hood,cab, fenders and grille, I am trying to get the best out the wheatered hood trim pieces.



As far as I can see, the large main center piece for a '41 is not available as reproduction but the slimmer one for '40 models can be found,right?
Or does someone know a source??

All tips for restoring the chromed and rustpitted potmetaltrim pieces are welcome.

Another question: I do not like the idea of attaching the trimpieces directly onto the freshly painted hood, I fear that the trim might cut trought the paint and breack the body filler underneat the paint as the trim gets tightened.
What about inserting some sort of very thin gasket between the trim and the hood?

Best regards,Gabby.

 

Have you tried Dennis Carpenter for parts? One of the best sources in the world, and Carpenter is a sponsor here at FTE. A subscription to Hemmings Motor News is a must, and you might consider joining the Early V8 Club.

 

The wider hood trim piece for the 1941 is NOT available anywhere. You can find the narrower trim for the 1940's everywhere. The one that came with our truck was not chrome, was painted tan from the factory as a pre-war truck. We found one at the Daytona car show a few years ago that is pitted chrome. The guy had it thrown in a box with a bunch of other junk and when I pointed it out to my husband, he went and checked - we picked it up for $25.00 - Sweet.

We've checked into getting one of our chromed and its going to run around $275. Well worth it in my opinion since this is a rare item. Just make sure that you go to a reputable shop and they have some type of sample of their pot metal work. I think the chroming for this is a 6 or 8 stage process.

I like the idea of putting a thin gasket or rubber material between the trim and the paint. We're not far along enought to worry about it yet though.

 

Gabby,

When you put your hood, fenders & all on, what order did you do it. We were told by a guy down here that has a 41 to set the hood first then the fenders, etc. He said it would save us a lot of headaches.

 

Carlene,

thank's for the tip, first we had attached the fenders and the grille, then the hood, in the reverse order of the disassembly.

Then we realised that the adjustment needs to start from the top, starting with the gaps between the cab and the hood.On my truck the right fenders need to be lowered.

Also the whole front needs to be tweaked to the right because the cab does not sit in the center nor straight on the frame. If I had realised this at the very beginning that would have been the starting point. Now I simply have to live with it.

Enlarged holes in the fender aprons and a lot of washers here and there show that the previous owner already had a hell on an headache trying to make it look right,which he was succesfull.
I hoped to be able to simply put it back together the same way, but welding on the hood, sandblasting , welding and body work on the fenders changed things a bit, therefore we will have to fiddle some more to get it to look right.

Concerning the hood center piece, I did not know that it came painted. Some previous owner must have replaced the center piece and the grille with chromed items.

Unfortunately the '41 hood has big openings underneat the large centerpiece so that I cannot just buy a '40 centerpiece.
Maybe somewhere in time at the next major rebuilding.
The '41 side hood ornaments seem to be available.

My main and favorite supplier is Bob Drake, but I also order from Dennis Carpenter and Classic Auto Parts so far.

Best regards, Gabby.

 

Thanks for the info on re-assembly.

As for the centerpiece, it did come in chrome too, just not sure for how long before they began with the painted or if you had to order it as an option. This is the only part that we've found not to be available, well, this and the handle for the glove box. Luckily, we got both with the truck.

We've gotten most of our parts either at the car show or at Mac's Antique Auto Parts.

 

hey whats up im looking for a 1941 ford hood waterfall as well i found one that fits a 3/4 ton i know the hoods are alil different and that the hood whiskers are different but is the waterfall the same? it looks to have the same shape and diameter? anyone have any info on this? if so please reply and email me your info to adamadkins@zoominternet.net thanks