Hood Alignment on 70

[PaleRider 12]

What a pain in the arse. Have been trying off and on for awhile to get my hood aligned with limited success. On the driver side when opening the hood slightly catches on inner fender well and front trim on driver side sticks out farther then fender. I can post some pics if that helps. Not sure if original hood. Tried finding some posts on hood alignment and not much success -any tips. Want to get aligned as good as I can before putting in hood pins and making my scoop functional. In looking at pics of 1970s - very rarely do I see trim lining up perfect. Is this a common problem for this year? Thanks

[Pakrat 1,043]

Factory gaps were horrible, it takes alot of finess to acheive a perfect fit but it is possible. You will more than likely have to adjust the fenders as well and play wiht it from every angle. Try making the hinge bolts to the hood just snugged but not tight and then close it and adjust it a little like that. Once you get it looking about right carefully open it and then tighten them down. There really is no easy way or trick other than trial and error.

[PaleRider 12]

I got the gaps straight on both sides and top flush and aligned with cowl. The front on driver side sticks out about 1/4 to 1/2 more than fender trim. Biggest problem I have is when I raise the hood on the driver side almost hit fender well (use to before I started messing with it). I made the gap bigger on driver side so that this would not happen (loosened fenders). Posted a couple pics - You can see that hood lies even with cowl when shut but when you raise the hood - no clearance on driver side and over 1 1/2 on passenger. Starting to think maybe as good as it gets.

[Pakrat 1,043]

The difference on each side when opened is ridiculous. You can see though that the hinge is not sitting at the same height to begin with, maybe where it attaches to the inner well is where you need to be adjusting it first. Looks to me like the gap at the passenger side is where it needs it most.

 

Did you put all the shims back where they came from on the fenders?

[PaleRider 12]

I agree is ridiculous. Never took fenders off - just loosened and shifted around on drivers side. Not sure if they are original either. They seem to be in too good of shape to be originals.

 

I'll keep playing with but I had to raise the hinge on the passenger side all the way up on the inner well just to get hood to be flush - in addition to that put a couple of washers between hood and hinge to get it to lay level with cowl and fender. I'm going to be putting new springs, shock and suspension on in the next few weeks - think that will make any difference?

 

Also, next winters project is to pull engine, replace show tower (hole punched for zerk), replace cowl, radiator support, passenger inner fender well, and driver door and passenger skin. Got some rust and bondo not too bad - but I know it's there and want to take care of it before high end paint job. Maybe I should wait till then. This winter was fixing mechanical and some surface fixes.

 

I got this bug up my arse about putting hood pins on and thought I should align hood first.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I have been trying to find some things online and you are right, there is not much out there.

 

Have you seen this one for a Chevelle? http://www.carcraft.com/projectbuild/116_9710_hood_install_tech_1970_chevy_chevelle/index.html

 

This one gives some descriptions as well from some type of general tech manual on page 376: http://books.google.com/books?id=zh94U0W_hwsC&pg=PA375&lpg=PA375&dq=adjust+hood+hinge&source=web&ots=pUJcjApwxS&sig=Bw1uiYRDDeyvqb5RoyZVClHSUSw#PPA376,M1

 

I am starting to think that your whole car may be out of wack if what you are saying about the passenger side is true. That or that hinge or spring is completely shot. This article started out with a Mustang but switched to a Pontiac doing the hood part. Still you can see how they actually had to pull and tug the strcuture to get it to align.

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/hdrp_0609_panel_alignment/

 

I know during my dry fit we strived for a 3/16" gap all around the car and we had to add and shave metal off of a lot of parts to get that even with it just coming off the frame machine.

[PaleRider 12]

I seen the ones from car craft and hot rod. The chevelle swap made it look easy. I have brand new hinges and springs both sides.

 

I think it is out of whack also. To get it to line up wher I got it the passenger side wheel well side is all the way up - driver side all the way down. Hood hinge all the way back on driver (plus I routed a little also) and all the way forward on passenger side.

 

I can tell the car what hit on sides at one point - doors and part of qtr have filler on them and not from rust. May have knocked it out of whack then. Drives straight though.

 

Thanks for checking - I'll wait till I get suspension done & new doors and then try again.