Shimming the steel '32 body, and getting the beltlines aligned is pretty difficult. Like mentioned above, try adding a 1/16" shim under the rear of the cowl, just ahead of the door opening - in effect tipping the passenger side of the cowl forward. The pinch bolts for the cowl should get pretty tight, but not super tight...if you had th springs, you should just get past the point of compressing them fully.

That pinch bolt is mainly for sealing up the body to firewall, shimming under the firewall feet and subrails of the body is where you get your overall body alignment.

On your fender deal, do tighten anything - just try to get as many bolts started as possible. Front fender braces are going to be the last thing to line up, and yes, you may have to make modifications. to the bracket and/or teh fender. The steel repro '32 front fenders arent perfect..they are slightly different from side to side, especially in the lip area around the front. Take you time and think through every move....you've heaed the measure twice, cut once rule - with this stuff is is more like measure 7 times, THINK about cutting it, and then go back and measure 7 more times....haha