4AD Whats Wrong Here ...Hood Fitment

[ggvette]

I am having a serious amount of trouble with the fitting of the rad, rad support,hood.
I am hoping a fellow Singer enthusiast can shed some light on the problem. The front rad,shell
and support were not with the car when I purchased it, so perhaps I have some incorrect pieces
for my 53 ADT....the rad support bolts up to the frame nicely, the rad shell seems to mount on the rad support OK
yet I am out a good inch on the hood length...I appreciate any insights or suggestions.

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[mikeyr]

how do the side panels fit right now ? I see nothing obviously wrong so I am thinking that the bottom is not forward enough and if you moved it forward the top would slope back to the hood, the easiest and quickest way to see that is the side panels.

That is 1955 Grill but I am pretty sure that they were externally identical, I can compare a 55 to a 52-54 this weekend but I am sure they are the same. The 55's had the cross pieces to prevent some cracking in the earlier models.

[Mark Thompson]

Hello Grant,
I went home at noon and examined my 4AD to see if I could help. First, let me say that I don't presume to have an original or "correct" car. However, the bonnet, grille & valences do seem to fit together well.

First, check to see what the length of the bonnet is along the hinge edge. Mine measures 40 1/8 inch. If your bonnet has been shortened then the following will be of no help.

My radiator support bracket is slotted where it attaches to the chassis. This appears to be the only point that allows horizontal adjustment of the radiator & grille shroud. The upper end of the rod attaches over a stud bolt on the side of the radiator. No slot there and thus, no adjustment. The grille shroud has rear facing tabs that bolt onto the side of the radiator support bracket. The tab has a vertical slot which would only allow adjustment up and down.

The rear edge at top dead center of my grille shroud is directly over the center of the rolled edge bead on the radiator. I checked this with a level.

The radiator itself should be close to plumb. The grille shroud should be angled back at about 10 degrees. This should match the angle on the front edge of your side valence, since the top edge should be approximately horizontal and parallel to the ground.

Is it possible that your radiator support brackets are not original and have the holes drilled in the wrong locations? It would be easy to fabricate new support bars.

I hope this is helpful.

Note: I spent a little time trying to figure out what kind of modification you had done in the area over the water pump and adjacent to the thermostat housing. When I enlarged the picture I figured out that what appeared to be a rusty casting was a glove that you left lying on the engine.

Good Luck,
Mark Thompson

[ggvette]

OK...I am getting closer. Thank to mark and Mike for their assistance.

First thing I did was to confirm Marks measurement for the hood, and it is indeed

the correct length. I removed the rad hose and both side rad brackets to allow the rad and shroud to lean in

(toward the rad) considerably. This allowed the side panels to fit properly and bolt up nicely to the rad shroud.

The hood panels fit good enough for this initial fitting to tell me I am on the right track. I will need to shorten

both rad support brackets as Mark suggested. The end result is the rad does lean back at a good angle,

whereas mark suggested it is near plumb. I cannot move the shroud as it meets the side panels correctly

so I am assuming the leaning rad is correct for my car. Some pics of 4ads do seem to show the rad shell

with a bit of a lean back, so perhaps this is OK. There is still plenty of room

between the fan blades and the rad at the top where it is closest.

I appreciate your comments and suggestions.