VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 31grillshell

Could one of you 31 guys post a photo showing the area where the grill shell, hood and front fender meet...with the hood open. Thanks for your help..........31coachman

Please explain what you are seeking. Al W.

See photo I posted at left earlier today, pretty straightforward details here. If you have a remaining question just ask.

Think I should have asked if something goes between the cross member and the metal mounting piece at the base of the grill shell...like a pad or spacer of some kind?

You may find you need a spacer perhaps one side only. In getting rad shell properly aligned so hood fits uniformly at rad and at cowl (1/16" gap generally) and even up/down, ;left to right, it is most important that the top center bolt of the rad tank be dead center off the cowl. This is achieved by keeping the bottom rad bolts loose while the V brace is adjusted at cowl until it is proper distance from cowl to outer end, and dead center. Install hood to see all alignment is bang on, including turning rad shell left or right a bit to get even margins. Only whe everything seems true should you start to hand snug the lower bolts. Take a good look at that point and see if any spacer is needed at bottom bolts in order to keep rad shell from riding high on one side of cross member. When doing mine, I found I needed about 3/16 hard rubber spacer one drivers side. Make U shaped shim as needed and slip into place before final tightening. Note in doing this you also need to keep an eye on the rad margins as the rad can move in and out during tightening as the bottom support and crossmember have slotted holes for this purpose.

Centering the V-rod makes a lot of sense, not sure if I would have worked my way there eventually or not. We have discovered that turning the shell will produce even margins side to side. Also I did not think that 1/16" would be achievable so thank you for that one also.

Your advice is much appreciated, thank you!