My fenders are too close to the hood edge in the front. I tried 3 different radiator supports and have the same thing. It starts out nice at the back by the cowl, but closes in at the front. Tried shimming also. It helped enough to get the hood closed, and thats it. I dont understand whats going wrong. I put new rad support bushings in. Are the repop bushings thinner/shorter? I can bareley close the hood. Its so close that Ive chippied paint on the edge of the fender if I shift the hood slightly when I close it. The holes are at their limits as far as pushing the fenders outward. Im tempted to open up the fender bolt holes so I can push them out more. Any ideas? It looks like crap.

Have you done a lot of body work to the car (removed the front clip)? Is the whole front clip (fenders, hood) from the same car?

I had the same issue which I have not fully resolved. I eventually took a long pipe clamp from my wood shop and reversed it to push the fenders apart. That got me about an 1/16" on either side, not enough. I have plenty of room between the fenders at the rear of the hood. The last time I did the car the hood fit great but I swapped in a new better hood this time around.

Baffled, I asked my body man what to do. He said it is quite possible the body shell is not set entirely square on the frame. Any bit of misalignment is seen at the cowl and exaggerated at the nose of the car. Since my car is now completely assembled and I worked my butt off to line up the doors and fenders I've not tried shifting the body but I can tell the one rocker panel is closer to the frame rail than the other. I hope to try working on it this coming fall and winter but for now I'm going to live with it.

The problem with enlarging the bolt holes will not gain you anything. The way the front inner corner of the fender attaches to the radiator support will not allow the fender to move outboard without skewing things drastically. Look at where the fender bolts go into the radiator support and you'll see what I mean.

All I can suggest for the time (if your car is all put together, if not check that the body is centered on the frame) is to try my reverse pipe clamp method to spread the fender corners and tighten them down. If you are just in progress and try the body alighnment on the frame method PLEASE let me know if it helps.

I know what you mean about the inner bolt hole that wraps the rad support. The body had been off the frame by the previous owner. Unfortunately now the car is painted and put together. The doghouse was not in the condition I prefered, so I pieced one together. I did basically the same thing you did with spreading the front fenders outward. But not enough to fit right. I pushed them out so far that the edge of the sheetmetal ran into the bolt thread a bit. I also notice that the fenders hoodside edge leans inward and that points the eyebrow somewhat down. Makes the car look mad. Thats why I was debating on opening up the holes which will definitely be a last resort, if I cant fix it any other way. Thats the reason I questioned the correctness of the replacement radiator support bushings. It seems like if the support were up a little more it would open it up.

I have the same problem with mine. Have the fender matched up to the door/cowl, but the hood/fender gap is wide at the back and almost touching at the front.

It seems like they would have made it so you could shim the front of the fenders out like the back. I guess they figured as long as the fenders matched up with the doors, nobody would notice that the hood / fender crack was not uniform front to back.

I saw a 65 rag on eBay last year that had the same space problem at the front. It was wearing the paint off of the fender and the hood. Also saw a 65 Hdtp in a Car Craft mag that had what I described as a "mad" look. Rich it kind of makes sense what your body man told you about alignment. I can see how it could be cocked to one side or the other , but not closing inward on both sides. My front bumper filler, and grill point line up dead on with the bumper point. Somebody out there has to know what the deal is.

...Update: Well, I opened up the bolt holes with a dremel, I didnt want to do that, but after hours of messing with it I had no other alternitive. Body manual says 53.00 inches from side to side. I had 52.875 at the most. I now have a straight line front to back. You wouldn't think 1/16 on each side would make that much difference, but it did. I shimmed the very front bolt hole to lift the inner edge of the eyebrow to decrease the angle so the car didnt look mad. This is the second 65 Chevelle that I have restored, and didn't have anything near the alignment problems I had with this one. I still want to know whats going on.

I have the same problem with my 65 after changing front fenders as well. I was wondering if elongating the holes would be the cure, now I see it works. Thanks for the tip.

my 65 is a uniform 1/8" from front to rear. when I started the project mine to was screwy. I noticed that the hood was pulled down in the center at the latch too far and this actually made the hood wider. I took the adjustable bumpers off and the hood corners sat obout 3/8" too low. I adjusted the latch so the hood matched the fenders then put the bumpers back on to where they just touch the bottom of the hood. fits absolutely perfect now. also the mad look can be adjusted out. are the inner fender well and bumper apron on yet? if not loosen all front fender bolts and install these ( the bottom front of the fenders needs to come in) then re tighten and see how it comes out! good luck, Stan