Front Fender, Hood, Grill Fitting

As you look at these pictures please keep in mind that you can view close up by placing your curser on the picutre and clicking. Or if you're not interested at all, just delete this whole thing. But also email me and tell me to remove your name from the mailing.



I got a little distracted this week and decided to load a few .223's and shoot in a tournament over the weekend. I loaded some 55 grain VMax bullets that I moly coated to a comparator length of 1.87". This will result in an overall length of 2.265" which is slightly longer than what a ar magazine is designed for, but the chamber of my ar can accept an overall length of up to 2.3" prior to bullet land contact. The question is: shall I go longer and single load each round for better accuracy or shorter and use the magazine for speed.





I decided to go with the shorter overall length so I could use the magazine instead of individual hand loading. I'll just do the best I can.  



Test time with my 20" Rock River, open sight, AR15.

 I would also like to note that a couple of good friends, Cliff and Jack have been very instrumental in helping me fine tune this AR, espically the desired powder loads etc.





And the results at 200yds.





I've installed the front fenders, inner fender panels, grill, running boards and hood for fit.




The goal is to get the installed components to fit as tight as possible thereby not having to use fender welt to hide larger any gaps between the panels. Although, I must say that if you are going after a truly original looking 1933 then fender welting would be used, as it was in the factory.





Here is an example of the first fit. 
At the orange tape at the top of the grill housing, where the radiator cap will eventually be attached,  the grill is way too low.



I added a horizontal rod behind the grill, to pull the top corners of the grill together, thereby raising the radiator cap portion of the grill.



Here is a picture of the rod I added taken from the back of the grill.





Here is the fit after the rod has been added to the grill.




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This picture is from under the running boards with the frame on the right. The black brace in the center of the picture are the factory braces which attach between the running boards and the frame for added stability when someone stands on the running boards. They are very difficult to install and are not adjustable. In the trash they went.





Here is a picture of some braces I made that are fully adjustable. Since the front of the running boards are attached to the rear of the front fenders, moving the outer part of the running board will move the front fender up and down which will aid in the fit of the fender and the inner fender panel.