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Fit Quality - 1941 Hood Edge Molding

Started by Paul Phillips, May 17, 2015, 06:02:37 PM

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Paul Phillips

Hi all - seeking input on how good the fit of this molding is supposed to be to the body of the hood.  I have some gaps when installing my rechromed part and trying to understand if the part was warped from excess heat in the buffing process or if this is just how good it was in 1941.  My hood sheet metal is undamaged and the mounting holes on the underside line up, but I have a gap at the front center 'point' in the hood and smaller gaps in the radius areas where this front vee section blends into the approx 6" straight section on each side.  Pictures of your cars in these areas would also be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!
Paul
Paul Phillips CLC#27214
1941 60 Special (6019S)
1949 60 Special (6069X)
1937 Packard Super 8 Convertible Victoria
1910 Oakland Model 24 Runabout

Barry M Wheeler #2189

Paul, both of our "local" '41s have this gap. Jeff Shively's car has a wide, wide gap. He is presently in the process of having it re-painted nearby and I took some photos for him to give to the body shop. Hopefully they can realign it better.

Lars's car also has this, but not as bad. We were discussing this on the phone last week and he is going to let it go for the present. Perhaps the grill cradle gets misaligned.

Doug and Bob H, we may need your expertise here.
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Steve Passmore

I think after re-plating one must expect to loose a little stock from the trim at these points. I have gaps at the fixing points on my coupe as the trim has twice been plated and on my sedan which has never been re-plated there is still a very small gap,
Steve

Present
1937 60 convertible coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe
1941 62 coupe

Previous
1936 70 Sport coupe
1937 85 series V12 sedan
1938 60 coupe
1938 50 coupe
1939 60S
1940 62 coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe x2
1941 61 coupe
1941 61 sedan x2
1941 62 sedan x2
1947 62 sedan
1959 62 coupe

Don Wilson

Hi Paul, Barry, Steve:
I don't know if what I have to say will be of any help, but I have the same problem with the refinished hood lip chrome I recently bought. The chrome I replaced was broken, and I suspect that it became that way from someone previous to me trying too hard to make it fit precisely to the hood curvature. The replacement chrome looks to be perfectly straight where it is supposed to be, and the finish is beautiful. After all my efforts, though, there is a gap of about 0.2 inch on the passenger side and of about 0.1 inch on the driver's side. I suspect that I could reverse the gap sides, but unless I actually changed the curvature (or the amount of paint thickness) on the sheet metal, I will not be able to improve this fit. Therefore, I will leave attempts to improve the fit to the hood sheet metal until such time as I would have the hood repainted. It looks beautiful as is, at least much better than having another broken hood lip chrome. There is one thing, though, to definitely consider when comes time to draw the chrome into a better fit to the hood: Besides the 8 screws that draw the chrome up vertically onto the hood, there are apparently 4 more screws to draw the chrome back onto the hood curves. The old chrome that I removed did not employ (or even have) such screws. The screw holes seem to accommodate #8/32 threads, and it seems that non-semetric "washers" for the screw heads would be needed for the screws to pull the chrome straight back into the slots that would accommodate the protrusions on the chrome. Did either of your cars employ these slots and screws to pull the chrome back into hood curve? And, what did these "washers" look like?

By the way, I also bought grille verticals from All Cadillacs, and that addition really makes the grille beautiful and authentic as it should. If any are interested, I also found what appears to be the correct Bedford Cord upholstery for my Series 63 seats from Hirsch Automotive in Newark, NJ. It has the wider cords (6 or 7 cords per inch) than what I thought I'd have to settle for. At least the wider cords match what I think was a correct match to the original when the car was probably last restored in the 70's.

I hope that this information might be of some help in your restoration efforts,
                                                                                                     Don W.
I am a happy owner of a beautiful 1941 Cadillac Series 63 which I purchased in 2009. I have visited your forum a few times this year and found some very useful technical information just by doing that, but still have questions unanswered. I have also read questions on the forum that for which I think I can provide answers, I also have some questions about the terminology used in this profile form.

Steve Passmore

Quote from: Don Wilson on May 18, 2015, 03:35:21 PM
Hi Paul, Barry, Steve:
I: Besides the 8 screws that draw the chrome up vertically onto the hood, there are apparently 4 more screws to draw the chrome back onto the hood curves. The old chrome that I removed did not employ (or even have) such screws. The screw holes seem to accommodate #8/32 threads, and it seems that non-semetric "washers" for the screw heads would be needed for the screws to pull the chrome straight back into the slots that would accommodate the protrusions on the chrome. Did either of your cars employ these slots and screws to pull the chrome back into hood curve? And, what did these "washers" look like?



Yes Don, all my hood lips have had these protrusions to pass through the holes on the hood. They do not have washers but a dome-like thing thaat allows it to side over the protrusion. They are the same as what holds your fender spears on.
Steve

Present
1937 60 convertible coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe
1941 62 coupe

Previous
1936 70 Sport coupe
1937 85 series V12 sedan
1938 60 coupe
1938 50 coupe
1939 60S
1940 62 coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe x2
1941 61 coupe
1941 61 sedan x2
1941 62 sedan x2
1947 62 sedan
1959 62 coupe

Don Wilson

Thanks, Steve:
You guys are a great source of Information!
                                                          Don
I am a happy owner of a beautiful 1941 Cadillac Series 63 which I purchased in 2009. I have visited your forum a few times this year and found some very useful technical information just by doing that, but still have questions unanswered. I have also read questions on the forum that for which I think I can provide answers, I also have some questions about the terminology used in this profile form.

Bill Podany #19567

Paul,

I own a 41 60 Special; I examined my car in order that I may provide some useful information to you regarding the front hood edge molding on 41 Cadillac's.

The fit on my car seems to be perfectly flat with no gaps.  For what it's worth, in the past, I have had the fenders adjusted to make the hood fit perfectly balanced with its body. Subsequently, the spaces on each side of the hood fit in a balanced position when closed.  Prior to adjusting the fenders, my mechanics labored to fit the engine hood balanced to the body.  This proved to be unproductive.  RM Restorations in Canada figured it out, and corrected the imperfections I had at that time.  Perhaps this information may help you.

Bill Podany
Knoxville, TN
1941 60 Special Fleetwood
1955 Eldorado

Brad Ipsen CLC #737

I do not know 41's so can't comment on this particular problem but a good rule to follow is every piece of chrome gets fitted to the car before it goes to the chrome shop.  You still have to deal with problems when it comes back due to increased thickness from copper build up but at least you know you had it fitted once and it worked.
Brad Ipsen
1940 Cadillac 60S
1938 Cadillac 9039
1940 Cadillac 6267
1940 LaSalle 5227
1949 Cadillac 6237X
1940 Cadillac 60S Limo

Terry Wenger

I had a similar problem with a hood edge piece on my '41-60S last year. I had a beautiful piece that was taken off a '41 hearse in 1956 that needed no plating. It would not fit the hood unless the outer "wings" were pulled back more than a quarter inch which would have broken it. I had another piece which fit perfectly but needed plating, so I used it. I wonder if the hearse piece warpedafter being of the car so long or those pieces just warped with time even on the car?

Terry Wenger
Terry Wenger CLC #1800
tewv16@sbcglobal.net
1932 355B TSD
1939 7557
1940 60S
1941 60S
1947 6267 Conv.
1949 6207X Coupe
1963 60S

Bill Ingler #7799

To add to what Brad and Terry have written, it is important to fit chrome trim and sheet metal together before painting. Below are some pictures of my 47 with sheet metal and chrome fitted prior to paint. Even after this fitting the hood lip you see in the picture below is not the hood lip you see in the restored picture. The hood lip I got back from the platter was so warped that it could not be fitted to the hood. Before I sent another hood lip to the platter, a metal bar was fitted between the outer hold down points of the hood lip so as to hold the lip in a fixed position to prevent warping while platting.   Bill 

Paul Phillips

Thanks to all for good info and advice. It appears my. Problem is is combination of both warping and too much material having been ground off the mating surface at the front center and in both the side radii. I have found a new core and will fit it as discussed, along with precise instruction to the plater.

Not looking good to be ready in time for Milwaukee but will try!

Paul Phillips CLC#27214
1941 60 Special (6019S)
1949 60 Special (6069X)
1937 Packard Super 8 Convertible Victoria
1910 Oakland Model 24 Runabout