Hi All,

I finally am finishing up putting my 442 together but ran into a problem. I installed the hood and the gaps are around a 1/8 of an inch in the front and middle of the hood but not in the back. The drivers side rear is rubbing on the fender and needs to be moved over towards the pass side. My door and fender alignment are fine on the drivers side so if I pull the fender out it will stick out over the door. So how do I get the rear of my hood to move about an 1/8 of an inch to the passager side without messing up my gaps????

Thanks,

KZ

 

Is it an original hood or repop? Even factory hoods had to be "worked" sometimes.

 

Karl glad to hear you are finishing up the car, was just thinking of you the other day. Was wondering how far the car got this summer, no worries, as you know I and others have gone through a nightmare restoration. I am wondering if you need to pull out the fender and the front of the door, pull the hinges out a bit. I know you have an original hood, fitment is troublesome but usually they sag on the front drivers side. I'd start by playing with the hood hinges first before messing with the fender and/or doors.

 

hey buddie loosen the hood and slightly move it and repeat if needed in the rear,also if the front is high lower the stop or stops,also if needed shim for hood to top of fender hood to hinge, and if the front needs to go out shim it,the fenders i mean to core support or in take out shims, it takes real time to do a real fine job,also buy shims and paint then touch up if wanted after adjusting.

 

Fitment of the hood depends on several factors and adjustments. Since it sounds like you have had the front sheetmetal apart on the car (correct me if that is not right) you need to make sure you have a lot of the bolts loose so you can fit the hood and the front end as an assembly. The only bolts on the fenders that you should have tight are the bolts on the very back of the fender that you access from inside the door jam. Leave the rear fender bolts that attach to the cowl under the hood loose. Make sure the fender has the correct gap to the door and that it is consistent from top to bottom. Also make sure the fender is at the correct height so it matches with the body lines on the door. With that done, tighten the bolt inside the door jam and the 2 bottom bolts behind the wheel. Make sure the radiator support is also loose so it can be moved side to side. The hood bolts need to be loose enogh where you can slide the hood around a little on the hinges when the hood is down. The front bolts on the fender to the support can be snugged. I suspect you have the radiator support and thus the entire nose over to the passenger side too far. With everything loose try sliding the nose back to the driver's side a little and slide the hood around to see if you can get the corret gaps. It's a big puzzle and you'll need to make several adjustments to get things to line up. See if this helps. Once you get the gaps on the sides where you want them, tighten down the radiator support. You may also need to slide a shim(s) in between the front edge of teh fender where it bolts to the support if you need to widen the gaps at the front between the hood and fender. Now you can lift the hood slightly and have someone reach in to snug down the hood bolts. Don't open it too far or the hood will move on the hinge. With the hood tight, close it and see how everything looks. If the hood is up or down in the back, you can adjust the hinges up or down to correct it. If you do that, the hood may need a slight adjustment on the hinge as it could move it forward or backward slightly. Lastly, set the front stops to get the front edge to align to the fenders. With that done, tighten the rear bolts on the fenders to the cowl and then the remaining bolts.
Brian

 

Thank You All,

I figured it was not going to be easy job and was going to take a lot of patience. The hard part is being careful not to chip or scratch anything which I did OUCH! Thanks again for the info.


Karl

 

When I first got my hood, I thought something was wrong because it was tight on the left rear part of the hood and had a big gap on the passenger rear. I messed and messed with the bolts being loose, but the adjustment wasn't enough. Turns out the passenger fender had 3 spacers. I took two of them out and the gaps turned out perfect. That's really odd because the factory steel hood had nice gaps, even with the spacers.

 

Thanks Eddie,

I did get the hood gaps pretty close I just have to adjust the fender gaps alittle and I am done. I have another question, I attached a picture of your frt end and I circled the 3 gaps between the hood and grills. The problem I have now is I have to much of a gap in the 3 areas I circled and I noticed on your 442 the gaps look great. How do I get them gaps closer to match your 442? Thanks,

Karl

 

Mine actually fit quite perfect without adjusting anything in the front. Is your hood slightly higher than the fenders in the front? Because you could lower the hood bumpers to get a closer fit. Or even if it is level with the fenders, you could lower it slightly and see how the fitment looks with the fenders.

Do you have any pictures of the gaps on your car so we could examine them?

Also, the plate in the front where the hood latchs unbolts. You could raise it up slightly (you may have to oval the holes a bit) and lower the hood bumpers so it sits level with the fenders again. That should bring it closer? I'll have to go take a look at my car again and see what adjustments are available.

 

I took a look at my car. I don't know if you can move that plate? It could be slotted to move, but then you run into the latch pushing further into the hood and the steel rad shroud sitting too high.

The stoneshield should be tight to the plate, so that means the only thing to adjust would be the bumpers for the hood.