Brookville 32/ Fitting Hood

Fitting a Rootlieb 4 piece hood to my Brookville 32 roadster,and hoping for comments from someone that has been down this road.

I am using the original style hood lacing, (Vintique) on the firewall. With the lacing in the groove on the firewall the hood does not fit good at all, I can make it fit good by putting a shim under the lacing, the thickness of the shim tapers from .060" to 170" and back to.060" is about 16" long. Doing this the lacing sits very high in the groove and personally do not like how that looks.

For kicks I put the lacing in the groove of the cowl and the hood fits very well. I can easily make it fit great with some very minor shimming.

What is the down side of having the lacing in the firewall groove?

Thanks

First of all, you have probably already found out that Brookville takes some liberties with some of the OEM Ford dimensions.

The best way to make the lacing uniform is to whang it with a hammer to make the thickness more even, then either rivet or screw in place. There is an even better solution, and that's to use some universal "Hot Rod" foam weather stripping that is also distributed by Vintique and others. The Soffseal part numbers are E1078/E1076 and E1083. Tho mine is a '31 Brookville and with a Rootleib 4 piece hood, I too found that the OEM style lacing wasn't the way to make things fit right. If you are worried that it wont stick - believe me, it does as when I did my first pre paint assembly of the car I used some of that foam lacing - it was TOUGH to remove!!!!!!!!!

I'm a "three piece" hood kind of guy, and I will admit that no other single item has consumed more time in my build process than the hood top, sides and mounts.

I really don't see how you can buy a body from one company and hood pieces from another and expect it all to fit without some fab'ing due to dementions. I even went and had a custom sized hood top made that better fit my body belt lines.

But with that said IMO, nothing "makes, or breaks" a roadster quicker than a good fitting hood. So it's well worth the time and your effort.

I am also going shopping for the sides of a three piece since I don't have any and was referred to Rootlieb from Downs.
It's good to know that I will probably be in for a bit of fabbing..

Ron..

I second what John said. Mine was extremely time consuming as well. I would hazard a guess at around 40 hours on fitting the hood. A buddy of mine has even more time in fitting the hood on his '33.

Rootleib manufactures a quality OEM replacement hood - that is unless you do a three piece version or have them build one to your specs. As far as 32steel's problem - there isn't one. It appears that he ordered one from the catalog which is a repro of the OEM. It is a quality piece. The Brookville bodies - well they do leave some room for improvement tho are still the best available for a hot rod in steel. Their hoods - made by - guess who? ROOTLEIB!!!! Then of course - there is a Hagan hood, that is if they've survived the economy downturn.

For fitting a hood - there are too many little points to consider to spell all of them out, but body to chassis, grille shell to chassis, fenders, etc, etc, etc. A tweak here can change a dimension there - or even worse - all of them everyplace. For instance, my car - perfectly aligned in March, way off today and it's a body to chassis change as the webbing and block rubbers settled normally from the weight just sitting there. Now a complete alignment redo - and the car hasn't even been driven yet!!!

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Originally Posted by IC2

Rootleib manufactures a quality OEM replacement hood - that is unless you do a three piece version or have them build one to your specs. As far as 32steel's problem - there isn't one. It appears that he ordered one from the catalog which is a repro of the OEM. It is a quality piece..

For fitting a hood - there are too many little points to consider to spell all of them out, but body to chassis, grille shell to chassis, fenders, etc, etc, etc. A tweak here can change a dimension there - or even worse - all of them everyplace. For instance, my car - perfectly aligned in March, way off today and it's a body to chassis change as the webbing and block rubbers settled normally from the weight just sitting there. Now a complete alignment redo - and the car hasn't even been driven yet!!!

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Jeez..Dave.. My hood just arrived an hour ago! Does this mean I'll probably go insane? You know how I love to chase gaps right??**):CRY::3dSMILE:

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Originally Posted by DeuceRon

I am also going shopping for the sides of a three piece since I don't have any and was referred to Rootlieb from Downs.
It's good to know that I will probably be in for a bit of fabbing..

Ron..

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Hi Ron,
I don't want to discourage you but looking at your car's photo would scare me! Having done my hood, I don't see anyway that I would be able to do one on "a painted car" without damaging the paint. Way too much bending, tweeking, fab'ing, etc.

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Originally Posted by John Palmer

Hi Ron,
I don't want to discourage you but looking at your car's photo would scare me! Having done my hood, I don't see anyway that I would be able to do one on "a painted car" without damaging the paint. Way too much bending, tweeking, fab'ing, etc.

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Don't let John scare ya!
Have done many hood fits on finished, painted cars.
Just take yer time and use lotsa Blue 3M tape.
Good luck.;)

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Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Don't let John scare ya!
Have done many hood fits on finished, painted cars.
Just take yer time and use lotsa Blue 3M tape.
Good luck.;)

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AGREE - and be prepared to spend some time with body to chassis bolts!!

34_40 - Insane?? Don't you mean a bit further along!!!

Glad you got it. Quick delivery - have fun and post your frustrations here so we can all have a few yuks on your behalf. And don't forget those gaps:LOL::LOL:

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Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Don't let John scare ya!
Have done many hood fits on finished, painted cars.
Just take yer time and use lotsa Blue 3M tape.
Good luck.;)

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LOL......I can see it now......"Mr. Palmer, we are going to put you in The Club Hot Rod wing of our hospital". You will enjoy being committed, with ALL THE OTHER ROADSTER GUYS that went insane trying to make their hoods fit while maintaining the proper gaps.

Just kidding, but remember, it's supposed to be fun.

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Originally Posted by IC2

AGREE - and be prepared to spend some time with body to chassis bolts!!

34_40 - Insane?? Don't you mean a bit further along!!!

Glad you got it. Quick delivery - have fun and post your frustrations here so we can all have a few yuks on your behalf. And don't forget those gaps:LOL::LOL:

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Now 33 - 40 that's a whole new subject.
I've been buildin for over 40 years and the last 33 I did (2 years ago) Glass body,Rootlieb 4 piece hood, steel aprons, NOS 33 grille, I had well over 70 hrs in fittin the front pieces.

Awwww c'mon guys!!!!!! Sanity and rational thought is terribly overrated anyway!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Now 33 - 40 that's a whole new subject.
I've been buildin for over 40 years and the last 33 I did (2 years ago) Glass body,Rootlieb 4 piece hood, steel aprons, NOS 33 grille, I had well over 70 hrs in fittin the front pieces.

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And it shows! That's a beautiful car! I am sure I'll have that many plus! I've been pulling my hair out just on the inner fenders and the gaps / lines.. At the Burlington show I took numerous pictures of model 40's and the hood, grille, fender gaps. Some were just terrible too! Most of the original cars were easy to spot with the uneven gaps and bad alignment.

Sometimes I feel like I'm being to fussy but, I can't help it! **) Yes IC2, just comfortably numb for now! :LOL:

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Originally Posted by DA34GUY

Now 33 - 40 that's a whole new subject.
I've been buildin for over 40 years and the last 33 I did (2 years ago) Glass body,Rootlieb 4 piece hood, steel aprons, NOS 33 grille, I had well over 70 hrs in fittin the front pieces.

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hey any pro tips on tackling this fit up??? what to fit first??? any certain order?? thanks pete

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Originally Posted by prpmmp

hey any pro tips on tackling this fit up??? what to fit first??? any certain order?? thanks pete

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The first trick is ----






Ya gotta hold yer lips right.:LOL:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prpmmp

hey any pro tips on tackling this fit up??? what to fit first??? any certain order?? thanks pete

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by DA34GUY

The first trick is ----

Ya gotta hold yer lips right.:LOL:

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Don, the new guy, prpmmp, is here trying to learn, he asks a legitimate question from a pro builder with 40 years experience and that's the best answer you can give? I'm sure there are others here that would also benefit from all your experience. You aren't expected to give a 'step by step' tutorial on fitting a hood, but I'm sure he would appreciate solid, useful advice instead of a joke with a :LOL:. Maybe pro builders like yourself feel they should get paid for the knowledge they've learned from the school of hard knocks but isn't helping the new guy get headed in the right direction a step in keeping the street rodding tradition alive?

Mike

Maybe I can shed some light.

There really is no cut a dry system to body to chassis alignment but the first steps are after you have the car assembled completely and on the ground with the wheels and tires you will be using :

1. Make sure the body is final bolted to the frame using the correct blocks, webbing and pads. It should be done, IMO, several days prior to anything else to allow for settling (where I'm currently in trouble)

2. Install the grille, shell and radiator (filled of course)

3. Install at least the hood top(s). This will give you your base for body detail lines. At this point you may have to shim the grille/radiator assembly or possibly even the body to achieve reasonable alignment.

4. Install the hood sides - and not to make light of it, you may end up redoing everything you did previously or at a minimum, tweak it some.

5. If you have an 'A' or '32, everything should be coming around at this point. All you need to do from there is to decide how close is good enough.

I spent (too) many hours doing mine during the initial build up - then blew the entire car apart for paint. I reassembled it as close to exactly the same way as it came apart, tweaked it, it looked fine, now after sitting a few months, have to redo it - and another XX number of hours to go:CRY::CRY:

A '33 or '34 Ford, 34_40 can share his pain. He and I probably looked at 50 of that vintage last Saturday at NSRA Burlington and every one as far as I could see had something that was off. Then there are '40 Fords -----:eek:

Scared? Na.. Just got my eyes opened up, that's all. I hear what you're saying though about taking your time and on a painted car, I would imagine it would take even longer as more care has to go into not scratching up the paint.
It's all good though. Don't think I'm going to tackle this for a while.

Prpmmp, keep us posted!

By the way, beautiful car in the pic above!!

Ron..

To answer your question, cover the grill shell, the front of the cowl, the areas in front of the doors where they meet the firewall as well as any other place that can get scratched with blue painter's tape, and then cover that with duct tape. That way you can protect the painted areas from scratches. Then you can carefully fit the hood. It helps a lot if two people can work on it at the same time.

If ya want to know the right way to do it, go to,
www.project33.com
Search -- Installing the front clip
get ready for a long and very informative read.
Print it out for referance.
I didn't find this until I had done my last 1, sure wish I had seen it first.
Good luck

Don, thanks for the link.

Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IC2

Maybe I can shed some light.

There really is no cut a dry system to body to chassis alignment but the first steps are after you have the car assembled completely and on the ground with the wheels and tires you will be using :

1. Make sure the body is final bolted to the frame using the correct blocks, webbing and pads. It should be done, IMO, several days prior to anything else to allow for settling (where I'm currently in trouble)

2. Install the grille, shell and radiator (filled of course)

3. Install at least the hood top(s). This will give you your base for body detail lines. At this point you may have to shim the grille/radiator assembly or possibly even the body to achieve reasonable alignment.

4. Install the hood sides - and not to make light of it, you may end up redoing everything you did previously or at a minimum, tweak it some.

5. If you have an 'A' or '32, everything should be coming around at this point. All you need to do from there is to decide how close is good enough.

I spent (too) many hours doing mine during the initial build up - then blew the entire car apart for paint. I reassembled it as close to exactly the same way as it came apart, tweaked it, it looked fine, now after sitting a few months, have to redo it - and another XX number of hours to go:CRY::CRY:

A '33 or '34 Ford, 34_40 can share his pain. He and I probably looked at 50 of that vintage last Saturday at NSRA Burlington and every one as far as I could see had something that was off. Then there are '40 Fords -----:eek:

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thanks!! pete

Fitting hoods can take anywhere from a few hours to few days, a lot of great info on fitting them here just rember it will take some time and sometimes after all the shims were added and still nothing you just have to pull everthing back off and get a fresh start. but nothing looks better than a great looking front end.

Rex

One of the worst jobs i can think of :eek: on my 32 the Rootleib hood had to be trimmed at the front and metal added at the rear. Not really their fault as they didn't seem to fit that well on standard 32's :(
I set the grill where i want it and go from there, as the others have said it can take anywhere between 30-60hrs to get it looking right :(

Here in the UK some builders just space the grill up or down till right, Not my idea of doing the job properly though.

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Originally Posted by roadster32

One of the worst jobs i can think of :eek: on my 32 the Rootleib hood had to be trimmed at the front and metal added at the rear. Not really their fault as they didn't seem to fit that well on standard 32's :(
I set the grill where i want it and go from there, as the others have said it can take anywhere between 30-60hrs to get it looking right :(

Here in the UK some builders just space the grill up or down till right, Not my idea of doing the job properly though.

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I often wonder if I had bought a 3 piece if that would have been easier. A buddy aligned his 'glass '32, kinda, then had Rootleib build a 3 piece version from a template.

Some of the '30/'31s and '32's I've seen look like folks just gave up and said to themselves - close enough is as good as it will get.

Yep we have the same kind of people here :(
Strangely enough i've fitted quite a few 3 piece hoods and they seem much easier :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IC2

I often wonder if I had bought a 3 piece if that would have been easier. A buddy aligned his 'glass '32, kinda, then had Rootleib build a 3 piece version from a template.

Some of the '30/'31s and '32's I've seen look like folks just gave up and said to themselves - close enough is as good as it will get.

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How much space should there be form the Grille shell to the frame? I spaced mine up about 3/4 inch.