Cutlass Hood HELP!!!!
#2
Do you mean the standard 442 hood with the small chrome louvers on the sides of the hood or the W30 hood with the 2 openings towards the front of the hood? Also is it a factory hood or aftermarket? The latch is adjustable side to side & fore & aft. Also pictures of what you have would help us help you.
#3
Just an Olds Guy
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
When you say it has a 442 hood, what are you trying to say? Do you mean it has the W25 hood, or the W29 hood?
If it's the W29 (all metal hood): The latch assembly on the rad support is adjustable, it can also be shimmed if necessary.
What does "won't clamp" mean. Do you have a 72 Cutlass Assembly Manual? If you do, have a look at page 11-100. It shows the latch assembly. Try loosening the 3 bolts and moving the latch asm one way or the other till you get a positive latch.
If it's a repro W30 hood? 98% of them don't latch at the front because they're not reinforced to do that.
Post a picture of your problem.
If it's the W29 (all metal hood): The latch assembly on the rad support is adjustable, it can also be shimmed if necessary.
What does "won't clamp" mean. Do you have a 72 Cutlass Assembly Manual? If you do, have a look at page 11-100. It shows the latch assembly. Try loosening the 3 bolts and moving the latch asm one way or the other till you get a positive latch.
If it's a repro W30 hood? 98% of them don't latch at the front because they're not reinforced to do that.
Post a picture of your problem.
#5
Do you mean the standard 442 hood with the small chrome louvers on the sides of the hood or the W30 hood with the 2 openings towards the front of the hood? Also is it a factory hood or aftermarket? The latch is adjustable side to side & fore & aft. Also pictures of what you have would help us help you.
#7
There are three bolts that hold that latch in and below that is the support and below that there "may" be a shim or two. Look under there and see if you can raise the latch under the top metal plate.
#8
Just an Olds Guy
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Second, (and I know this is likely a personal thing with owners) the faux hood louvers aren't supposed to be chrome, or silver. They came painted the same as the body, with the upper ridge trimmed in silver.
Looking at the second picture, it appears that the hood latch has been moved to the left. Try undoing those 3 bolts (just loosen them, they don't need to come out) and slide the latch back to the right where the paint shows it was before. Hopefully then you can get rid of the coat hanger tie downs.
Ever done a headlight alignment on your car? You won't be able to with the headlight bezels in wrong. They're upside down. The wide end goes to the inside. Take it off, invert and line up the headlight adjustment screws - you'll see what I mean. They are also 1971 headlight surrounds. The 72 surrounds are black with silver reveal. (see picture above)
#11
Just an Olds Guy
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
A minor point to clarify also the faux louvers. They were body color on the Cutlass S and Cutlass models except when they were part of the 442 W29 package. In that case they would have been black.
#12
Bringing this thread back. I sanded and painted radiator support and took off the hood latch. After painting I put the latch back and the hood closed nicely. I opened and closed the hood at least 10 times and had no problem. On 11th try the hood would not close all the way. It seems like the latch needs to move over by a quarter inch. The top part scrapes the side of the latch. is there a way to adjust this? Please note I have a fiberglass air induction hood.
the pins had to be adjusted as well. Only way to close hood is to remove latch assembly and use pins. Anyone run into this before? Makes me regret the painting of the radiator support.
the pins had to be adjusted as well. Only way to close hood is to remove latch assembly and use pins. Anyone run into this before? Makes me regret the painting of the radiator support.
#14
I believe we did tighten all the mounting points.. The only strange thing is that at some time, we’ll before I owned her, someone had put spacers between the sheet metal where the latch goes into the hole.
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