Front Fender Align. Advice

53hud54

I found that my '53 Hornet was bumped in the nose slightly, when pulled apart, the plate holding the hood latch attaching to the fenders didn't line up good with the fender plate and the radiator bracket, only just under 1/4' off. Can I loosen all the rad. mount bolts and possibly pull the fenders together by that much, that would re-align the holes in the radiator to the holes in that plate. or should I just slot the hole in that plate a little, allowing me to move it up or down to the hood which seems to hit before it should Also, are the attachment plates on the fenders used to position up or down on the hood latch plate. I'm hoping to drive her next week after a long re-fresh that is almost done. I haven't even cleaned that firewall yet and that is original, a little rubbing compound and it will be like new. Hope I'm not offending you original guys with my blue grille that matches the roof and rockers.

Geoff

The heavy bracket under the front which mounts the whole assembly to the sub frame has a slot in it. Loosen  the bolt and move the whole thing sideways to align the fenders and bonnet. 

53hud54

Thanks Geoff, I figured there had to be a way to do it, especially the way everything else has slotted holes, I had it back together but had to force things, thats when I started over. All the old body men I used to call in my neighborhood are disappearing
 

53hud54

Just so y'all now, Geoff was right, and my idea posed worked, I loosened all the radiator side to side bolts on the mount frame and used a small comealong and pulled the top of the rad. mounts together by that 1/8+ inch It was off by, making that mount square to the radiator, tightened the mount bolts down and released the comealong, and the plate holding the hood latch assembly set back on perfectly, pushed the side mounts on the fenders down a little and all the holes lined up the hood shuts where it's supposed to everything lines up right on