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I got a pair of restored hood hinges some time ago, and just got around to installing them yesterday with my new hood. Once on, I realized they were different than the ones I removed - which were bent, or I would reuse them here. The mounting holes are not oblong as the ones I removed, leaving no room for adjustments. Generally, the hood fits very well, however the right rear is raised somewhat. Did I get the wrong hinges? I'm not aware of year differences between these, or smart enough to know if I got hinges from another GM model. I know how to rotate the hinge to get the hood to fit correctly, however there is no rotation here. Should I get rid of these and buy new?
I just checked a few original '70-2 Cutlass hood hinges I have here (they haven't been modified, restored or otherwise "messed with") and the ONLY slotted hole in the part of the hinge that mounts to the fender is the REAR UPPER hole. The other two holes in that part of the hinge are round.
If all three of the holes in your bent hinges are oblong/slotted then someone probably modified them.
EDIT/ADD: In your first pic it looks like the fender lip under the D side hood hinge has been hacked away to allow more "drop" to the hinge......can't tell 100% if that's what I'm seeing but looks like it to me. May be evidence of someone (not the factory) messing with that side in the past.
Last edited by 70Post; November 10th, 2019 at 10:30 AM.
Patton - Thank you for checking this out. So there isn't a rotational adjustment on these particular hinges as with others I've dealt with in the past... I'm guessing that shims are the way to pull the rear of the right side down into correct alignment?
EDIT/ADD: In your first pic it looks like the fender lip under the D side hood hinge has been hacked away to allow more "drop" to the hinge......can't tell 100% if that's what I'm seeing but looks like it to me. May be evidence of someone (not the factory) messing with that side in the past.
Yeah, I just noticed that as well. This car has been hit and repaired, and the hood replaced with an all fiberglass type. I'm guessing that required the hinges and the fender to be messed with. I have to say that even after being hit and reassembled, the original OAI hood bolted right into place with VERY little adjustment needed. Nothing like original parts.
If you are using a Glasstech brand all fiberglass hood then no amount of hood hinge adjustment will remedy the "sitting too high on the D side" problem.
The cause of the problem, with the Glasstech (and maybe others) is the underside of the hood hits on the top of the cowl back near the rear edge on the D side....I've seen that on two Glasstech hoods I have had to deal with.
Disregarding that, I'd slot the holes in the hinge before I would start messing with shims on the hood (not sure how shims would help anway).
So....FIRST look for contact b/n the hood underside and the top of the cowl....THAT may be your problem.
As far as "rotational adjustment" goes....YES, there is some as the two round holes on the hinge mounting plate are larger than the bolts used to mount the hinge to the fender. So there's a bit of "leeway" there on the hinge. The factory had to allow some room for fitting and adjusting the hood. Apparently, the tolerances of the factory hoods, etc were such that they only saw the need to slot one hole in the hood hinge mounting plate and the slightly oversized other two holes were deemed "OK" to work with.
Yeah, I just noticed that as well. This car has been hit and repaired, and the hood replaced with an all fiberglass type. I'm guessing that required the hinges and the fender to be messed with. I have to say that even after being hit and reassembled, the original OAI hood bolted right into place with VERY little adjustment needed. Nothing like original parts.
Are you using an aftermarket hood or an original??....and again....the factory hood hinges only have ONE slotted/oblong hole in them from the evidence I have here. Any hinge with the other two holes in the mounting plate oblonged has been modified.
Last edited by 70Post; November 10th, 2019 at 11:17 AM.
Are you using an aftermarket hood or an original??....and again....the factory hood hinges only have ONE slotted/oblong hole in them from the evidence I have here. Any hinge with the other two holes in the mounting plate oblonged has been modified.
I'm replacing an aftermarket hood with an original. I've loosened all three bolts on the hinge mount to the fender, and there is very little play there - but maybe enough to get the back corner to drop just a bit more. I'm mostly glad to know I got the right hinges and will do everything I can to keep from modifying them. Thank you again!
Here you go.....I took another look at the hinges (originals from '70-2 Cutlass's) and the pic below shows the hole "setup" in the hood hinge mounting plate. The pic shows the BACKSIDE of a P side hinge mounting plate.
>One oblong/"slotted" hole - upper REAR mounting point
>One larger ROUND hole - 1/2" hole at the FORWARD mounting point
>One smaller ROUND hole - 13/32" hole at the lower rear mounting point
All the other hinges I checked here are set up the same way.....never modified, wallowed out, etc.
One common screw-up I see on a lot of hinges that have been on '70-2 Cutass's where the hood was changed or removed in the past is at the REAR hinge-to-hood mounting point.
The factory used a VERY THICK "puck"/horseshoe spacer at the hinge-to-to-hood rear mounting point and people would lose these or forget they were there when reinstalling the hood and they'd just crank in the rear bolt which would bend/distort the hood hinge surface back there. VERY COMMON problem. There's a step in the hinge metal to allow space for this spacer.....if it was left out you'll see the bent spot around the bolt hole in the hinge up there.
I haven't seen this type of "step" in other hood hinges or the use of the thick spacer so your hinges aren't from some other "model" if they have this feature.
See pic
Last edited by 70Post; November 10th, 2019 at 11:45 AM.
Wow - I just took a look at the hinges that came off my hood and I can see why they hogged out the fender lip. So I did have the right hinges (though they were modified), and I do have the right hinges now. I have the spacers for the rear and they are installed as well. I'll post a pic of the alignment that I'm trying to adjust, though it's really not so bad as I continue to look at it. And once the hood is fully finished, I'll really try and dial it in perfectly. On other hoods I've aligned, adding a shim to the front bolt will drop the rear edge of the hood by changing the geometry of the hinge when seated. I may try that since it takes very little effort. Usually no more than a 1/8" shim is needed.
Old hinge - the holes are chopped wide open Rear is too high on the right side Perfect alignment on the left
Last edited by BSiegPaint; November 10th, 2019 at 12:04 PM.
The R side (Passenger side) of the factory hood may have been damaged in the past.....look at the underside in that back corner very closely and see if there's any evidence of damage and/or repair. There may be a bit of factory applied adhesive squeezed out b/n the metal underside and the fiberglass outer...that is normal.
Lots of these hoods got stored standing up on the two rear corners.....or got DROPPED on the rear corners. Ends up bending the metal corners and breaking away or cracking the fiberglass skin.
Just went out and slipped in a couple 3/32” shims and the hood aligns at the rear as it should. I didn’t see any damage underneath, but hey, it’s a used hood that’s almost 50 years old, and I’m sure it’s been through plenty. I have some filler to apply to the top to level a couple places out, and some cracks to repair, but I’m closer now than I have been in a year. Here’s what I did and the change it made:
Added shims to front bolt Rear of hood sits where it should
I thought the '70 fenders did not have the impact ripples on the lower inner lip. Now I will have to go out and add one or more shims to the front bolt on the Muskrat's convert to get that passenger side rear down and level. Thanks for that tip.
I thought the '70 fenders did not have the impact ripples on the lower inner lip. Now I will have to go out and add one or more shims to the front bolt on the Muskrat's convert to get that passenger side rear down and level. Thanks for that tip.
Oh, the 70’s don’t, but this one does since it was wrecked in the past... Hope the shims work just as well for you
November 9th, 2019, 01:37 PM
