Ok guys, I need some help.

I can't seem to get my hood aligned right and it's absolutly driving me nuts!

If you look at the passenger front, you see that it's about a quarter inch above the fender. I've even raised the fender with two washers.

Another thing is it's not centered. The passenger side has a big gap, and the drivers side has a tight gap. Also, the center ridge of the hood doesn't line up with the nose. I've already got two spacers to push the hinge over to the passenger side, and I don't have any shims on the passenger side at all. It just seems a bit extreem to keep adding shims to the drivers side.

Any tips before I drive myself crazy?

 

The drivers side looks high too, is it? Have you tried tweaking & lowering the center of the nose panel, then lower the front of the hood more? For moving the hood towards the passenger side, try loosening the hinge to hood bolts and sliding it over. Just shimming the drivers side isn't going to help much if you don't compensate for it on the passenger side.

 

Looks like your latch is holding the center down and maybe the rubber stops are holding the front corners up. Do you have any adjustment left in the rubber stops?
Sometimes you can loosen and slip the hood over on the hinges, but often the 90 degree mounting portion of the hinge wont allow it to move if it's tight against the hood. You may have to actually get a little brutal with it. I had one car that we had to pull the hood and then massage the hinges by pushing them the direction we wanted them to go, then reinstall the hood.
Have you measured the width between the fenders to ensure they are properly spaced before hanging the hinges and hood?

 

Yes, the right side is also a little high, but it's not due to the rubber stops. I don't have them adjusted yet, and actually, you can push the corners down about 1/4 inch below the nose panel before they hit.

69, I don't think I'm understanding what your saying... or at least it isn't making much sense. When you say nose panel, your talking about the front piece above the grill that bolts to the fenders on both sides right? I'm reminded of the movie cars where it just isn't making sense yet. Turn right to go left? Lower the nose to raise it? Your probably right cause you can see as good as I can get it, and I'm not happy about it.

427,
I didn't put the fenders back on, but I heard it wasn't fun. In all, they line up fantastic with the doors etc. Everything looks great except the hood. Anyway, do you know what the measurement is supposed to be between the fenders?

I did buy new hinges, as well as the latch. It's possible the hinges arn't up to par.

 

By nose panel, I'm referring to the part in front of the hood. It's supported in the middle by the center vertical brace, that the latch is mounted to. You can loosen the attaching bolts and push the center down, so it can more match the contour of the hood (which now it doesn't). If it doesn't want to go down, but you want it to, you may have to elongate a hole or two. Either the hood is mis-shapen, or the nose panel is out of adjustment (which is the more likely one since it's more flimsy when it doesn't have any support). Looking at it logically, your fenders are a given....unless they really are mounted out of whack. Try matching the hood to the fenders, by lowering the latch and adjusting the rubber bumpers as needed. Then loosen the support and shape the front panel to make it match up to the hood. Other than being tight on the drivers side, how do your gaps look for uniformity?

 

Ok, I think the light bulb just went on. I was focusing on where the front panel mounted to the fenders (which are perfect), not the center. All this time I've been trying to figure out how to raise the fenders, and not lower the center of the nose. Got it!

So... here is my dirty little secret. My core support had some rust on it, so I welded new metal down there and in the process, didn't weld a nut back into the Radiator core where the vertical nose support is supposed to bolt up. Really, the only thing supporting the center of the nose is the new latch which as you know, bolts to the top of the radiator core and then to the front nose panel. (Yeah, another "come back to" item lol).

It sounds to me then that I'll want to tweak the latch bracket to lower the center of the nose... and when I get that straightened out, might as well weld in that nut and mount the vertical support huh?

As far as the gaps, they all look very uniform except the huge gap on the passenger side which after reading the posts in this thread, I think I can figure out.

Does it sound like I'm heading in the right direction? Any red flags with bending the latch support bracket to lower the center of the nose? Hey, maybe this is why my rubber hood stops are so far away from the hood?

 

Yeah, sounds like you're on the right track now. Just be sure to unbolt the front panel before tweaking on the center support. You don't want to go bending the wrong thing! Saying "oops" sucks when you're working on painted parts! Don't forget you can also use a combination of latch height and side rubber stop adjustments to slightly alter the contour of the hood once it's latched closed.

 

Sounds great, thanks for getting me moving in the right direction! I think I can get this!
Looks like I'm going to Ohio tomorrow for the Superbike races this Saturday, so I'll grab a buddy and work on the hood next weekend!
Thanks!

Jeff