Heres my problem- the old hinge is perfectly positioned and it was nearly impossible to get it this way. I need to replace this hinge and want to match the positioning as close as possible- is there a clever way to do this? I can eye ball it yet that's never worked in the past.
Any help or ideas much appreciated.

 

Get a can of Glass Wax, and spray that around the old hinge. Match up the spray line with the new hinge, and then wipe off the Glass Wax. Now that I have suggested Glass Wax, I have no idea if it is still even being manufactured. This is a sign of my old age. Assuming that it isn't still available, then the next best thing, would be to use some liquid type of wax that dries and leaves a film that when you remove the old hinge, will give you an outline of where it was, for placement of the new hinge. Just keep in mind that hinges were not manufactured exactly the same every time, and if your replacement was manufactured in some far off Asian country, that the fit and function might not be that good. The previous owner of my car replaced the hinges with reproduction hinges, and I have to use a broom stick to keep the hood from falling on my head. I have a pair of used original hinges that I intend to send out for new rivet replacement, and then off to the cadmium plater for a new finish to be applied. It is a little more expensive than the reproductions, but others that I know that have done the restoration process are a lot happier with the results than the people that have gone the reproduction route.

 

Don't waste your time.

The manufacturing tolerances from the old hinge to the new one will negate all this effort. Just bite the bullet and plan to realign the hood from scratch.

 

I was going to carefully dab paint for all hinge bolt center points before the swap. Oh, I'll still do it for a baseline but won't curse the after market hinges when she comes out off. Thanks Joe.