Hood adjustment questions??????

[buildinga55]

I am still working on aligning the panels as I get the truck ready to disassemble and paint. I need to take some pictures, but it is too cold to go back out tonight. I will see if I can describe. Got the hood gap on the cowl adjusted and in pretty good shape. The problem is the width of the hood at the back. One side of the hood fits nice and flat from the cowl to the hood, on the vertical point where it comes up from the fender then curves to go horizontal. The other side seems to bulge out about a 1/4" on the vertical surface and then as it goes up to the horizontal down near the fender and is bulged out about the first 6" or so then seems to lay down where it matches with the cowl pretty well. It almost seems like the hood is sprung wider on that side. Is there a way to squeeze this so the hood pulls into the vertical portion of the cowl better?? I know this probably sounds like describing brain surgery. I will get some pictures tomorrow. Just thought someone might know exactly what I am talking about. Basically, the hood is too wide at the back and looks sprung on one side. How do I fix it?? Thank you

[buildinga55]

Another question. It looks like the rear structure of the hood brace could be removed. It looks to me like the driver side hood brace needs to be bent a little more so that side of the hood does not kick out at the bottom at the cowl. Can this be removed or is it a big deal?

[blackdiesel]

Yes, it can come out. Any thing than went in will come out. We took out the brace on dads hood because of broken hood hindge bolts. just drill out the spot weld. As for it being to wide, just bend it in. It is unreal how the pros will bend and jack around on body part to get them to fit the way they need to.

[robin58]

Not sure what year you're working on, but if it's a 47-54:

http://stovebolt.com/techtips/bodywo...alignment.html

I would imagine similar principles would apply to other years.

[buildinga55]

Thanks for the comments and article. This is a 48 Chevy. I kept my buildinga55 name from my 55 Chevy car I did a few years ago. The hood actually lines up pretty good at the cowl and at the front fenders now. My biggest issue is the driver side not fitting flush. It is kicked out about a 1/4". I will look into the dismantling and bending theory. That seems to make the most since to me.

[youngrodder]

Your on the right track.....

Speaking of crude, we first used a come along on the back of the hood to bring the back sides of the hood in. Later after speaking with a street rod builder friend of mine he mentioned removing the brace and and bending for better fit. This was what we did to make mine fit. Also the last thing we did was glue back in the brace after to got the hood to fit.

Good luck
Marc

[buildinga55]

Glueing the brace. Are you talking about the one that goes behind the emblem on the outside of the truck? I think I screwed up today, I was grinding the brace behind the emblem down some as I am going to smooth that area and go without emblems. Think I got the brace a little too thin and the hood is trying to come away from the bracket on the inside. I am going to make a new one, once I get the inside bracket bent to improve the hood fit. You may be talking about glueing the brace on the inside where the hinge connects. Not sure. I have bonded panels it is amazingly strong.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by buildinga55

Glueing the brace. Are you talking about the one that goes behind the emblem on the outside of the truck? I think I screwed up today, I was grinding the brace behind the emblem down some as I am going to smooth that area and go without emblems. Think I got the brace a little too thin and the hood is trying to come away from the bracket on the inside. I am going to make a new one, once I get the inside bracket bent to improve the hood fit. You may be talking about glueing the brace on the inside where the hinge connects. Not sure. I have bonded panels it is amazingly strong.

The brace that goes across the top of the hood on the underside should have some glue (probably old and dried up) that is suppose to bond to hood to the brace. Otherwise the top of the hood would flap as it would only be attached on the sides by the hinge brackes. I too went with a the smooth look and one of the side of the hood where the emblem goes had to be replaced as my metal was too thin as well and would oil can.

I know that there are also (2) rivets per side that help hold the hood to the hinge brackets.

Marc

[Houston54]

The glue you are referring to is used to secure the anti-squeak material (tar paper) that goes between the brace and the hood. There is very little adjustment in the hood brace. The center connecting plate can be used to adjust how the hood fits against the top of the cowl but it will not have any affect on how it fits to the sides of the cowl.

To solve your problem with the hood sticking out on one side you will need to install some washers on the two hood hinge to cowl bolts on the OPPOSITE side from where it is pooching out. Mine took 4 washers on each bolt to pull in the pooch.

[buildinga55]

I have shims in the one side which makes that side line up nicely. The other side is still pooched out probably 1/4". Bending the brace some seems to make sense to me. The pooch is somewhat gradual from the top of the cowl down to the bottom side of the hood. Looks like if the bottom was bent in about a 1/4" that would be pretty darn close.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by buildinga55

I have shims in the one side which makes that side line up nicely. The other side is still pooched out probably 1/4". Bending the brace some seems to make sense to me. The pooch is somewhat gradual from the top of the cowl down to the bottom side of the hood. Looks like if the bottom was bent in about a 1/4" that would be pretty darn close.

I think that your on the right track. I would think adding spacers would only work if you were trying to push the hood out slightly to line up.

If you think about the size of these hoods and that the back brace supports most of the weight across the back, it is easy to see how it could loose its shape (bow) over time. A friend of mine removed his brace that was bent and heated it up to bend it back into the correct arch.

I didn't realize how screwed up mine was until we started to do the final fitment before paint.

Good luck
Marc