Crown in the hood

[my69boss 10]

Hello,

I am new to this site and hoping somebody can point me in the right direction. I am aligning the body panels on my '69 Boss302 and I can not get the hood to lay flat in the center. The whole hood crowns up in the middle about 1/8" higher then the fenders. I have tried bringing it down with a block of wood and a persuasion tool but whenever I raise and lower the hood the crown comes back. The front and back of the hood are aligned perfectly with the fenders.

 

This link shows how the hood is higher in the center and level where the fender / cowl / hood come together (not a great pic but you get the idea).

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae48/Blueoval69302/Mustang/BossFender-Hood.jpg

 

This link shows a picture that I took when it was almost new. As you can see its always had this crown sense it left the factory!

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae48/Blueoval69302/Mustang/Boss.jpg

 

Any thoughts would be great!

Thanks.

[LindenBruce 27]

You might try some shims under the fender where it bolts to the aprons. Or a different hood. Bruce

[fastwayfirebird400 14]

I found the my fenders were shimmed on both sides of my one owner original paint car. I bet you could shim it up to get that out. Friday end of shift car, the guys wanted to get on their:scooter: and get out of there!

[gsxrken 21]

Some fiberglass users have to put the hood on two work horses and set a heavy weight on the middle of the hood. I remember seeing two rear wheels with tires on a hood like this when i visited a bodyshop. After a few days it takes the bow out. Perhaps with more weight or more time it would work with steel too.

[stangs-R-me 120]

I've got that too, but more forward on the drivers side ... but on the passenger side in about the same spot the hood dips "down".

 

My car had a rough and unknown life priror to my purchase in 1981 and when I stripped it down to bare metal, we found all sorts of repaired body damage. Some was along the front of the hood, so I always just assumed my hood issues were due to this minor accident in it's past.

 

Drives side is pretty obvious in the pic, passenger side less so but it is there.

 

Doug

[jkskinsfan 19]

Our cars are famous for their "Ill Fitting" body parts. Most of us have learned to live with 'em.

[rc4mike 10]

Stiff hoods hings will lead to that as well

[Flanders 46]

slight tangent here ---- stands-R-me: where did you get your side stripe from (mach1 style with GT) ?

[stangs-R-me 120]

slight tangent here ---- stands-R-me: where did you get your side stripe from (mach1 style with GT) ?

 

I made them.

 

Bought some 1 in. wide gold stripe tape and hand cut to perfectly accent stripe style. Carefully peeled off the original Mach 1 gold lettering and put these GT logos in their place. The only clues that it is not O.E. is the gold color is off slightly and it is not reflective.

 

Also stole the single pin stripe out of the Mach 1 Deck lid stripe and modified it to fit the wider coupe trunk lid. Had seen a stripe like this on a non-Mach 69/70 (think it was a Boss 302) and thought it looked good.

 

http://www.1969stang.com/gallery/stangs-R-me-Deluxe-GT-Hardtop

 

Doug

[my69boss 10]

Thanks for all the ideas guys! I tried shimming the fenders today but that really didnt help any, so i will try setting some weight on the hood and see what happens! I found about a half dozen rust holes in the bottom of the passager door that I will have the joy of playing with this week! I will post a pic soon.

 

Stangs-R-Me i know how it is to have a hard life. My boss has 32K miles on it (parked sense '73) and the driver side door was totally filled with bondo with about 2 dozen holes where it got hit (replaced the door). The front driver fender had the same issue by the extension (was able to weld those up and hammer and dolly it straight again), the left quarter was lightly hit and the rear trunk and tail light panel had major rust problems and were replaced. My jaw hit the floor when I got the car back from blasting!

[jwscarab 20]

Stiff hoods hings will lead to that as well

 

Thats what I always thought too. After years of use with stiff hinges, they will crown. I'd possibly consider a new hood if thats the case.

 

Not to hijack - but anybody even consider removing the hinge springs and putting cylinders on it?

[my69boss 10]

I would really like to keep as much original sheet metal as possiable! I am looking at the hinges from TCP, but i have hurt the pocket book enough for now! That would be sweet if somebody knew how to retrofit some cylinders!

 

Here are two pics of the door that needs some attention:

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae48/Blueoval69302/Mustang/Door1.jpg

 

http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae48/Blueoval69302/Mustang/Door2.jpg

 

Thanks again guys for all the help and support!

[Pakrat 1,043]

It is pretty common, after shimming and adjusting mine was real close so we just skim coated the fenders a tad until everything was completely even and level.

[my69boss 10]

It is pretty common, after shimming and adjusting mine was real close so we just skim coated the fenders a tad until everything was completely even and level.

 

I am using the Rage Gold from Evercoat and Dolphin Glaze. Did you just glaze your fenders or use filler?

 

Also what do you guys think i should do about that door? I dont know if I should replace the metal or weld it up?

Edited November 14, 2011 by my69boss

[Lemon Owner 11]

With the door corners it almost always rusts from the inside out so the inside will be much worse. I would (and have) replaced the whole corner that way you won't need to do it again in a few years.

[my69boss 10]

So this weekend I will cut out the door cancer and clean it all up and weld in a new piece! As for the crown in the hood I have a confession. A few years back I installed a monte carlo bar. Well what was happening is the bolts for the bar were hitting the bottom of the hood. Took the bolts out and now the hood lays almost flat. I feel really dumb now! I think I will try some SS cariage bolts and see if those clear. Sorry for wasting your time!

[Lemon Owner 11]

hahaha at least you got it sorted. We all make mistakes and yours was very cheap to fix. :smile:

[tony 63C 14]

Doug, sorry, can't offer much help with the hood problem, but do wish to commend you on the crafty stripe work. Looks great.

 

Cheers,

Tony

[stangs-R-me 120]

Doug, sorry, can't offer much help with the hood problem, but do wish to commend you on the crafty stripe work. Looks great.

 

Cheers,

Tony

 

Thanks ... the mach 1 lettering was there in the stripes for a few years but I got tired of people at car shows coming up to me and saying "that's not a real mach 1". No kidding I'd always say; what gave it away the hardtop body style ??

 

After it was painted, I went a year with NO stripes and it just needed something plus at the time the GT stripes were NLA. I then realized that the still available mach 1 stripes would line up perfectly with the center of the quarter ornaments ... plus I just liked them sooo much better than the simple & non-reflective GT stripes so I just had to get a set.

 

 

The hood imperfections have been there along with this paint job for almost 30 years and have never really bothered me. At shows the hood is always up anyway so no sees it. With the hood closed, I think the showy hood pins, scoop, etc. have always been visual distractions so no one has ever commented on my distorted hood !!

 

Now if the hood issues caused the front molding to not line up that would be a problem !!

 

Doug