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Hood pins and gap adjustment

1.5K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  PetesPonies  
#1 ·
The PO never took the time to adjust the fenders too well after he got the car repainted. over the years the hood rubbed against the fender, chipping paint on the hood and fender. To stop this, I moved the hood latch catch over to push the hood to the driver's side.

Ive been trying to adjust the fender and pull it out by the headlights, but I'm finding out it's going to require a lot of disassembly and dont want to risk breaking clamps, clips etc.

SOooo im asking for some opinions on this. My hood rubs on the passenger side on the front fender. i can get the hood to line up evenly across the front with the two fenders and with adjusting the hood catch, i can keep it off the fender. I really want to install my hood pins but wanted to get the panel aligned better. Should I put it back how it was, then put my pins in, or wait for a few years to get the body work done before i put pins in when i can adjust the fenders and gaps?
 
#4 ·
Is the problem that the hood is just slightly shifted to one side and, if aligned properly, the gaps on either side would be consistent with no danger of rubbing?

Or, is the gap on one side okay but the other is tight, requiring the fender to be adjusted?

If it's the former, check the hood hinges for side-to-side movement when the hood is pushed back down. I've had a couple do this as a result of the hinge getting bent and the joint where the hinge is riveted getting loose.

If it's the latter, loosen ALL the bolts holding the fender to the apron, fender to the core support, fender to cowl and fender to rocker, move the fender outward the desired amount, then tighten the bolts, beginning with the ones into the core support, then the cowl, rocker and finally the apron.
 
#5 ·
shock towers are good and i have an export brace. The hood is sold when in place, it just the front end of the fender is too far in. i can get everything perfect front to back and to align with the headlight buckets, but then it hits the fender.

So i have the grill off and all the bolts loosened except the ones under the grill as im not sure how to get the chrome trim off. this is on a 69