Bart K

When Carl and I went to put the hood back on the 69 after it has been off and the car on jack stands for a few months it did not want to align correctly. We could not seen to get the hood to move far enough to the driver side in the front. Anyway, just wondering if there is a thread on C3 hood alignment I could read through or if anyone has suggestions/tips or tricks to get the hood properly aligned. Also, does anyone believe having the hood off and the car on jack stands for a few months could have caused the opening for the hood to change???


Thanks!!!

bazza77

If you have finished working underneath it , then I would leave it on its wheels for as long as possible then try again later.

If it has to go back up I would leave the wheels on and get some solid blocks(or frames) under the tyres so the frame is still in its normal (load bearing ) position.

That's what I would do , because I believe having the jack-stands under it can change it

Hayes69

I'm interested in this too. My hood fit better before I took it off. I had it on jackstands for about 6 weeks but it still closes fine. I just need to know how to fine tune it to get the levels and gaps right.

doorgunner

I would take the car off jackstands....bolt the hood in place and let it sit outside a few hours every day in sunny weather for a couple weeks to give the frame and fiberglass a chance to "move back into place"....then try to reposition the hood.

Alan 71

Hi Bart,
I think what makes the alignment and gap setting on 68-72 cars tricky is that since the hood needs to fit well on all 4 sides everything you do on one side to set a gap has an opposite effect somewhere else.

You don't really say what the fit of the hood was before it came off.
How well DID it fit before?
Is it possible that there was a misfit that you didn't notice?

I don't think that just having the car on jack stands for a few months should cause you a particular problem.
What were you doing to the car while the car was on the stands and the hood was off?

Was the core support loosened or moved?
Were any of the hood latches loosened or moved? Either on the cowl or on the hood?
Was the wiper bay grill moved in any way?

???
Regards,
Alan

Bart K

Alan, you ask really good questions! To be honest, I did not pay close attention to the hood fit before it was removed, but it open and closed nicely, and as I remember, the gaps did not jump out at me as an issue. I will look through "before" pics and see what I can see.


While the car was on jack stands, we were doing everything, suspension, brakes, fuel tank, fiberglass repairs underneath, engine removal and installation, new radiator and fan shroud, etc.


I do believe the core support was loosened.
All the hood latches were removed, we have NOT tried to latch the hood yet.
There is no wiper grill as all this was gone when I got the car, so this car has the long hood on it.