Hood gaps
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 26,118
Likes: 1,874
From: Greenville, Indiana
Remove the latches.
Loosen the bolts, shift the hood as required to get best fit. Tighten bolts.
Re-install latches in position where they do not pull the hood in any direction except DOWN when the hood is closed.
Pretty simple really unless you have a bad opening or a bad hood outer panel.
The above method is for MARGINS, not flushness.
Loosen the bolts, shift the hood as required to get best fit. Tighten bolts.
Re-install latches in position where they do not pull the hood in any direction except DOWN when the hood is closed.
Pretty simple really unless you have a bad opening or a bad hood outer panel.
The above method is for MARGINS, not flushness.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 26,118
Likes: 1,874
From: Greenville, Indiana
please advise how that helps the margins?
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair!
I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair!
I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!
Last edited by MikeM; May 2, 2012 at 06:03 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 22,202
Likes: 4,187
From: Kannapolis NC
A little tip I learned the hard way on an earlier car, leave a decent gap at the front of the hood. If you don't, and then raise the hood the center of the hood can rub the front and take a chip out of both the hood and the front portion.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 22,202
Likes: 4,187
From: Kannapolis NC
please advise how that helps the margins?
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair! I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair!
I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!Corvette Stories
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Race Director
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 10,866
Likes: 717
From: Beverly Hills/Pine Ridge Florida
please advise how that helps the margins?
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair! I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!
If I found a paint stick shimming my hood, I'd look underneath and see if someone had done a paper mache' or plywood base to form a bondo repair!
I bought a '63 swc once that had the back end formed from 1/4" plywood. Didn't know it until it rolled over the hill and crashed into a tree!I think what the poster means is to use a paint stick as a gauge around the perimeter of the hood to get the margins LT/RT and Fore/Aft equal.
We used to use match book covers to accomplish the same thing back in the day when everybody smoked. Now, nobody carries matches anymore.
Let me toss out another thing to add to what Mike posted.
After you have the hood shimmed around the perimeter, AND you have removed the male/female catches on the firewall..................
you can lay under the car with a LONG extension on your 3/8 drive ratchet and tighten the hood hinge bolts without raising the hood.
After you get it as "good as it gets", then re-install the male/female firewall catches and line those up so they don't **** things off kilter when you close the hood.
Chuck
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 26,118
Likes: 1,874
From: Greenville, Indiana
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 22,202
Likes: 4,187
From: Kannapolis NC
Not in the hinges, in the gaps between the hood and the fenders to space them. See the post above yours.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 3,596
Likes: 8
From: Grosse Ile MI
I think what the poster means is to use a paint stick as a gauge around the perimeter of the hood to get the margins LT/RT and Fore/Aft equal.
We used to use match book covers to accomplish the same thing back in the day when everybody smoked. Now, nobody carries matches anymore.
Let me toss out another thing to add to what Mike posted.
After you have the hood shimmed around the perimeter, AND you have removed the male/female catches on the firewall..................
you can lay under the car with a LONG extension on your 3/8 drive ratchet and tighten the hood hinge bolts without raising the hood.
After you get it as "good as it gets", then re-install the male/female firewall catches and line those up so they don't **** things off kilter when you close the hood.
Chuck
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 26,118
Likes: 1,874
From: Greenville, Indiana
You don't need the shims at all. All you gota' do is adjust one side at a time on the hinges and let the hood down to check. When you get it where you want it, put the latches on and don't let them pull the hood anyway but DOWN!
Same thing applies with doors and decks!
Same thing applies with doors and decks!
