Need help fitting L88 Hood
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 184
Likes: 13
Need help fitting L88 Hood
Need some opinions. My 1974 is in the shop for paint. It needed quite a bit of body work including a new front end, door, rear quarter panel (drivers side) and both bumpers. I purchased a one piece front end from Corvette Central and an L88 hood from Ecklers. There are two problems with how the hood fits (sorry no pics). The first is at the front of the hood right at the center. The center line of the hood is sitting lower then the center line of the front bumper. The second problem is on the drivers side. The contour of the hood does not match the fender line. The side of the hood is visible, it sticks up above the fender line. The hood fits well everywhere else. Is there any way to correct these problems? Another hood is not an option at this point and the new front end is already on the car. My body shop guy is suggested building up the front end to correct that problem and breaking the hood on the drivers side to try to fix the contour line to better match the body. They are a very experienced shop that works on a lot of vettes but I'd like some other opinions. Any suggestions on how to fix would be appreciated.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,173
Likes: 5
From: Paducah Ky
shimming the front end will affect the alignment of the front end to hood and the side alignment. If the center ridge of the hood is low try raising the front end, it flattens out the top front of the nose a little. Also on the rear alignment play with the placement of your rubber stop blocks as this will affect the front to rear curvature of the hood. Adjusting these blocks along with adjusting your latch shimming should fix your problem. I would not break the hood.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,752
Likes: 4
From: Austin Texas
If the front end 'glass was correctly installed and the hinge area of the hood is flush with the surround, then you may need to build up the hood at the low area at the front. As far as the side of the surround beign lower than the hood, the horizontal fender-well bond at the surround controls the height of the surround. Break the bond and temporarily set the surround height with a #8 self-drilling screw to hold the drip-ledge to the inner fenderwell. Close the hood and insure correct fit prior to re-bonding the fender-well.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 40,380
Likes: 788
From: Redondo Beach, California
My 68 SB stock hood fits very nicely. However, the new ZZ4 intake manifold and air cleaner doesn't allow the hood to close. So, I installed a stock 69 BB hood. It matches the body at the front and at the rear, although the 69 BB hood arches up above the body lines about 1/4 inch at midpoint. As I recall, the 69 BB hood did fit on its original car well. However, I took that 69 BB stock hood off originally to install a aftemarket L88 hood on my 69. The L88 hood also did not fit and I had to get a Corvette bodyshop to get an acceptable, but not perfect fit.
Seems like there's a noticeable variation in body/hood shapes.
Seems like there's a noticeable variation in body/hood shapes.
