working on my '65 hood alignment. Old hood fit fine in the back by the cowl. Front damage dictated a new hood. New hood doesn't fit at the cowl. It rides high. I have the hinges down all the way. When the hood is closed, I can press down and get the hood to match the cowl. I am thinking weak springs. Anyone had experience with this?

marty

 

I do not think the springs affect this. It is a common problem. IIRC the solution is to loosen the hinge bolts at the firewall. Then push up on the hood. Tighten the bolts and check the hood for alignment. Repeat as needed. I'm going off of memory of something I read on one of these forumns. A search may be in order.

 

It could be your spring arms are binding. Try spraying some WD40 on the spring and in between the arms and at the hinge points.

 

Gotta agree with this one. I have done this method couple of times and really helps to align the hood. Most people try pushing on the hood and adjust but some physics-related-magic will improve this adjustment. This is a two person job, one to push up on the hood the other tighten bolts....

 

So you open the hood, loosen the firewall bolts, then push teh hood towards the sky and tighten the bolts? Will this somehow lower the hood? Right now, my left hood rides about half an inch too high compared to teh fender. I'd think I'd need to push down and tighten...

 

I had a set of old hood hinges that acted a lot like that. I found three of the hinge pins to be worn allowing movement, which translates into a lot with the hood. Wouldn't close all the way, but could be pushed in place once it was down.I replaced these with a new set only to find out that it made it worse. After checking the new set, I found they had more slop in them than my old ones did. Every pin had movement (like a 1/4" pin in a 3/8 hole). What junk.I then repaired the old originals but haven't had a chance to change them, but am sure it will fix the problem.

 

This drops the rear part of the mounts lower, which in return lowers the hood near the cowl part. I've spent hours aligning my hood when i got new hinges, sad part was the old hinges were so old they bent my new hood when i struggled to close it lol so yeah, i've spent alot of time adjusting hoods.

 

Experiment time....try pushing down and tighten and see the results...after that, do the push up on the hood and tighten and see results...report back to us with your findings. Report should be double spaced with footnotes, references, and graphs....

 

I will include citations and bibliography in MLA format too!

 

I surely see a "gold star" in your academic future!!! Report due by tomorrow....