HopCorvetteman

My hood is about 1/4 inch high off the nose. I was able to get the rear of the hood very close to the right gaps. If I am able to adjust the nose by loosening the core support bolts, will this generate cracks in my paint? I did change out the Core Support and Radiator about two years ago. However, the nose and hood had about the same gap between each other. This leads me to believe the problem may have orginated from a rusted core support but not sure. I have two concerns. One, can I correct the gap (how)? Two, will the correction crack my paint?

midigike

Hop

I'm no plastic surgeon. For a quicker response post this in paint and body section of forum Sir

Denpo

Since I'm having a custom front emblem made I took the time to measure the angle of the center crest.
On my likely unmolested front clip the angle is 12° at the emblem. Maybe this will help you finding out what is out of whack.

HopCorvetteman

Thank you, i am new to this forum and navigating it is a nightmare. I do not even know how to post in a specific area such as C3 Paint and body section yet. Maybe the real question is, why not make the forum easy to navigate.

Alan 71

Hi h,
Scroll back up to the top of the page and just below the ad/space you'll see;

"CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion "

Click on that and you'll be taken to a list of the forums for all the years plus the special forums.
As you scroll down you'll see the Paint and Body Forum.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

From the pictures I'm not sure if the center of the hood is 'up' or the center of the hood surround between the headlights has 'sagged' a bit.
What is the condition of the long headlight reinforcement bar that's bonded to the underside of the surround in that area?

doorgunner

Rookie here: The core support would be a likely cause BUT the problem seems to be closer to the "nose" of the car like Alan said about the reinforcement bar.....or the braces that support the area between the headlights/the area in front-center supporting the head lights. I'm saying this because my fiberglass at/between/forward of the headlights dropped 3/4" when I removed some home-made bracing from that area. After I completely removed both headlight assemblies the fiberglass "lifted itself" about 1/2".

HopCorvetteman

Not sure, I will take a look at it tonight.

Alan 71

Hi,
I don't see how this problem has anything to do with the core support.
If you leave the core support bolted to the brackets on the aprons and shim the core support at the front crossmember the whole clip, including the hood/hinges, lifts.
If you loosen the core support from the aprons and shim the core support at the front crossmember the core support raises, but nothing else.
Neither helps this problem.
There's a brace that runs from the lower forward side of the center of the core support to the nose of the car right behind the center of the bumper.
This can raise the front of the clip a bit but I don't know how much it can affect the surround back at the hood gap.
I still think the surround is down, the hood isn't up.
Regards,
Alan

Here's the round brace looking up in front of the license plate bracket.


The other end of the round brace bolted at the core support.

HopCorvetteman

Allan, I loosened the bolts (three on each side) on the core support and tried to raise the nose and nothing. In fact, it did not move at all. I will try the bracket that you mentioned from the nose to the center of the core support tomorrow,

Roadster71

The brace Alan is showing will influence the area of concern quite a bit. I had to shim mine about 3/16 to get flush with the hood.

HopCorvetteman

How did you shim it? From the Core?

Roadster71

Yup, from the core. Just used some thick washers I had laying around.

HopCorvetteman

Bob, did you have to pull the front bumper or any other brackets/braces to adjust it? No problem with it flexing the paint?

Roadster71

Did nothing but shim the rod. Had no problem with the paint, but take it easy a little bit at a time. You will have to use your instincts on when to stop.

HopCorvetteman

Bob, I looked at the brace and it is bent. On the weekend I will remove it and the bracket to straighten it. The brace looks like it is welded to the top bracket on one end and attached by a bolt at the core.

lvmyvt76

you realize these cars were never perfect coming out of St. Louis like the newer ones. one quater is not bad in my book. usually the core support will help in this area.

69Vett

I think the only thing that will help your center hood gap issue after painted/body work.
Is to adjust the front center nose support rod. unbolt it and see if you can push the nose up enough to help your gap.
if you can, shim or bend the front center nose support rod.
a good body shop should adjust all your gaps, before they paint.
also to move the core support, in addition to the side bolts,
you must loosen the 2 bottom shim bolts enough to allow for your desired movement.

HopCorvetteman

What two bottom bolts? I loosened the 3 on each side of the Core (total of 6 Bolts). Do you mean two bolts on the bottom of the core? I did not loosen those (two Bolts) at all when I tried to see if the core would allow for adjustment.

69Vett

the bottom 2 bolts on the core hold the height position of the core, you insert shims to raise or lower core height, usually done with all 6 side bolts loose, if you do not loosen and change shims , you will not move/change core support height.

HopCorvetteman

All, Thank you so much for all the info. Your input helped solve the problem to satisfactions. Here are the results. First, I tried to adjust the front end (nose) by adjusting the core. I loosened three bolts from each side of the core (total of 6 bolts) and attempted to raise the nose to align with the hood. This resulted was, no difference and the 1/4 gap remained. Next, I looked at the Front Support Nose Rod. I discovered it was bent. I pulled at the rod and bent it back in place. While I was in the area, I cleaned and painted everything and installed new hardware. Once everything was in place, I put three washers to raise the nose slightly. This took care of most of the problem (see photo). I do still have a small gap but like a few of you mentioned, those C3 Corvette were never perfect anyway. I am very stratified with the results. Bottom line for the fix, Straighten the Front End Nose Support Rod and installed a few washers behind the front end nose support rod (spacers) to bring the nose up a little. Once again, Thank you all.