I had the hood off my 76 to repair the radiator, and the repair went well. I put the hood back on yesterday and went for a rip, etc. I'm not happy with the hood gaps though - I never really was. It's back where it was when I bought the car, which is with about 1/4" too much gap between the hood edge and the nose. It also sits a bit high at the latch pins. So, I'd like to adjust the hood forward about 1/4" and possibly have it sit a little tighter when closed at the latches (there's some "spring" there). It's the stock hood and all the hardware is present.

What's the best way to go about this?

 

Rookie suggestion for a starting point reference......with the hood open----measure across from inner fender edge to inner fender edge in 6 different places and mark the measurement spots with masking tape/write the measurement of that spot on the masking tape to see how well the fenders are positioned on the frame.

Then lower the hood and place a piece of masking tape on the hood edge to match the tape on the fender inner edges

Then raise the hood and measure across the bottom of the hood where the tape pieces are and write each measurement on the piece of tape.

Compare each fender measurement to the hood measurement next to it to see how much gap variation there is.

 

And remember when you move the hood forward on the hinges you need to move the post latches at the same time or your next post will be how to open the stuck hood

M

 

Thanks guys. What I'm really after is a way to go about actually moving the hood. Do I loosen everything and close it and tighten from underneath somehow?

The latch pins look like they have slots in the top that could be turned by a screwdriver - but they don't move (no rust though) - does this adjust the height of the hood when closed?

Also, know of a way to rig up some temporary release cables for the hood in case I screw up the alignment of the pins?

 

The hinges are slotted (well oversized holes on the hood part, slot on the body part) and the latch pin brackets are the same.

I did mine with the engine out so I was able to get into the compartment to unlatch and check everything so I don't know about any added cable.

Being bull headed
Marked the fenders to the hood (as mentioned above) with blue tape

I removed the latch pins, lowered the stop pads out the way and used wedges, playing cards, popsicle sticks as shims at the rear edge to hole it at the correct height and shim the hinged on the body to get the height at the hinge point correct.

Tighten down the hinges.

Looking at where the tape marks were, I moved the latches (on the firewall) by the same amount and reinstalled the pins without the springs.

Marked the pin domes with black marker, tied the locking mechanism open with a wire and slowly lowered the hood until it touched the pins, checked which way they needed to move and kept playing until they just barely touched the pins at the back (opposite the latching mechanism) and then moved them ahead about 1/8" (or less) which is where I figured would be the center and the hood should go down without touching anything.

Then I untied the latches, here's where it can go wrong, if the pin is too far forward the latch will engage and the movement in the cable isn't enough to get it to unhook, so go easy on the 1/8" number above.

With the hood latched, lift up on the back edge and see if it pops open, if it does, move the pins ahead a little more (small steps) until it's firmly locked and yet still unlocks

Reinstall the springs and adjust the heights, I had a real issue here since there was a real fine line between getting the hood low enough and the spring being too compressed to let the latch lock it down

I tried to make it more complicated but this was all I could come up with

HIH
M

 

There should be a lock nut on those that prevents them from moving


The castellated cup on the bottom of the spring is the locking nut, use a drift to unscrew it slightly and you can turn in the pins

The latch catches under the domed head and the spring pushes the hood up tight so that's what actually holds the hood up/down in that area. The rubber stop pads are just there to prevent you from pushing the hood down too far (possibly damaging the hood by hitting the top of the dome?)


M

 

Cool Mooser, thanks. Great pics and explanation. I'll have a go of it and report.