C1 front end height adjust?

[Chris H.]

I have all the parts on the front end from the underhood/front susp restoration except the hood and upper radiator shroud.

When I went to put on the upper shroud (NOS) it will not go down far enough. It stops on the frame about 3/4" from where the holes will line up with the rad support nuts. I see on the old shroud that the tabs were bent up or gone. I also see that the inner wheelhouses are sitting on the frame.

The only way I see around this is to loosen all the frame to body fasteners (bumper brackets, frame to bumper bracket braces) and lift the front end up and then retighten.

Is this the right tact? Is this a common problem? How do I lift the front end w/o cracking fiber glass?

thanks

[Roy B.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

Has the front body been replaced

[Chris H.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

I do not believe so. It has some "minor" damage to the front. The RH bumper was pushed back slightly at the wheel opening with a slight ding to the bumper. I bent the bumper brackets back into shape and it fit fine. The lower valence has also been damaged and there is some work done there. But I do not see any body refitting.

When I installed the rad support I went from 3 shims to two and had to force the rad support down to get the wheel well to rad support bolts to line up. Again more evidence the body to frame is low. Should the wheelwell botom edge be above the frame or resting on it?

thanks

[John M.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

Chris,
Without a doubt, your rad support needs to be spaced up until the shroud fits.
This one of the things that has to be correct. I am suprised that with the support that low, you do not have a couple of pronounced "kinks" in the top of the fenders at the firewall line! The front portion of the nose will move up and down a considerable ammount, but the rear section does not, which usually causes the fender top to kink almost in line with the firewall, since this is the weakest point of the fender. The position of the rad support is pretty much set by the location of the fresh air intake plates that span outward from the rad support to the inner fenders, so this is not an area tha can be fudged. If raising the front mount at the rad support raises the front end too much, it is possible that the frame horns are bent upward, but this kind of damage will usually cause substantial damage to the fenders. About the only way the horns can be bent is for the bumpers to take a pretty good hit, and this usually takes out the front end glass. You might want to have a body shop check the car against the original specs to assure the frame horns are not bent upwards.

Regards, John McGraw

[Terry D.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

Chris

Got pictures of the problem area? I had similar problem, but I had wrong rad support.
Terry

[Roy B.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

You say you had to force the radiator support DOWN to locate the body bolts holding the radiator support? No! you raise the body ! It's better to raise the body. The body can be raised quite a bit which is the reason for shims=( to aid in closing the rear door area (line) against the rear body section) . A repro kit may not have the right amount of shims to accomplish that. People that think and use the kits ( body kits) don't understand how the body shims are used.
The "DOORS" determine how many and wear to add shims.
To make this simple to understand ( the rear and front SHIMS) ether open or close the door GAP (rear). THAT IS FITTING THE BODY TO THE FRAME . THE REST IS DONE LATER.
Many 58 to 62's show a BULGE above the wheel opening because of to few SHIMS up front.

This should be discussed at meets which I never have seen , it's so simple.

[Chris H.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

I needed to lower the rad support relative to the frame to get the 4 side wheelhouse bolt holes to line up with the rad support. You are right that lifting the body would have made it work also but I did not know to just lift the body. Thats why I asked the question:)

I have now loosened up every frame to body fastener but left them in. With a little wiggling and pushing, the holes in the shroud slightly overlaped the holes in the rad support. Need another 3/8" or so.

I lifted on the rad support untill I saw the engine start to move. Door gaps did not seem to tighten at the top and still looked even. With a little persuasion I was able to get the 6 shroud to rad support bolts in. Also put in two more rad support to crossmember support arm for a total of 3 shims.

thanks everyone.

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 front end height adjust?

Roy, My '58 is buldged at the top of the front wheel wells on both sides. All of the fiberglass and bonding strips appear to be original and not damaged. At first I thought the nose was down too low so I took the radiator support mount loose and tried slightly raising the nose. It seemed to help a little on one side but made the other side kink tighter. So to get the buldges out I should raise the body at the firewall, correct? Thanks Ted.