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I have a 71 roadster I am restoring. I am in the process of fitting the front clip which is from a 72. When I dry fitted the nose the front driver's side cover of the hood sits above the surround about a 1/4 of an inch or a little more. Is there any adjustment for this? Passenger side looks decent. Not sure if it's the pitch is my front extension brackets? I got a BB hood for the car. So I fit both to make sure it was wasn't the aftermarket hood. Both were high. Stock hood fit well before before my car.
thanks in advance Big block aftermarket hood gap Stock hood Stock hood gap
Looks like the inner guards are still bonded to the surround ? if so the only main adjustment is those extension brackets . You can shim the rad support to crossmember a bit ,also some shims under the hood hinges but your not close enough yet to "fine tune" anything .
Car is sitting level ? second pic shows the holes in the front of the inner guards are uneven ,confirming that the drivers side of the clip has to go up .
Have you tried just putting the rear bolts in the extension mounting holes (loose) and getting a jack under the centre of that front crossmember and using that to control the positioning of the whole front of the clip ? You should really have the chrome bumper on as well (bolted just at the middle) , as the nose "curves" up and down the gap around the bumper and front of hood changes dramatically.
Leave the hood bolted but loose for now , you can tighten those bolts with it down enough easily enough later.
How does the surround sit at the windscreen base ? ,that will change a lot as you move the front . If its moving too far away from the correct position you can try using two small bottle jacks (or similar) at the back of those extensions , that way they can just go straight up and down .
Good luck , take it slow ,make small adjustments to get the feel of whats happening ,check the gaps at the top A arm to inner fender as well .
When fitting a surround, I always have the brackets that tie the outer bumper lands to the frame in place as there is a lot of weight on the surround forward of the hood opening. I also ensure the center support rod is in position. Make sure you constantly watch your diagonals and keep them as identical as possible.
the nose is bonded to the inner fenders, they are bolted to the rad support. inner fenders can be beat and droopy. and raising the rad support to raise the nose also raises the hood hinge and mount point an equal amount. it can be difficult to lower the hood hinge relative to the top of the inner fender it is installed on. don't count on glue. it has to want to stay where it belongs before you bond it.
Looks like the inner guards are still bonded to the surround ? if so the only main adjustment is those extension brackets . You can shim the rad support to crossmember a bit ,also some shims under the hood hinges but your not close enough yet to "fine tune" anything .
Car is sitting level ? second pic shows the holes in the front of the inner guards are uneven ,confirming that the drivers side of the clip has to go up .
Have you tried just putting the rear bolts in the extension mounting holes (loose) and getting a jack under the centre of that front crossmember and using that to control the positioning of the whole front of the clip ? You should really have the chrome bumper on as well (bolted just at the middle) , as the nose "curves" up and down the gap around the bumper and front of hood changes dramatically.
Leave the hood bolted but loose for now , you can tighten those bolts with it down enough easily enough later.
How does the surround sit at the windscreen base ? ,that will change a lot as you move the front . If its moving too far away from the correct position you can try using two small bottle jacks (or similar) at the back of those extensions , that way they can just go straight up and down .
Good luck , take it slow ,make small adjustments to get the feel of whats happening ,check the gaps at the top A arm to inner fender as well .
Thanks for all the feedback. I believe it is sitting pretty level. You listed a lot of things to try. I will post my results after we try it next week. I definitely know the driver's side is low and not sitting right. Wanted to ask so I had some ideas on good ways to make adjustments.
Thanks was using that as my reference since the start. The 72 donor clip driver's side fender was replace at some point. When whoever did that repair when they remounted the inner fender they didn't measure the other side. So the the perch for the hood hinge is off by 1/4 of an inch. Which happens to be same height the hood is raised 😔 The front clip is glued on now and I'm not going to detach the inner fender. I am going to look at altering the hood hinge. I have seen a thread on here where someone has done that who had the same problem I do. I have exhausted all other options I can think of. Adjusted header mounts, front brackets, used jack to raise and lower front clip and front support bar. Hinge is my last resort I guess. Any other idea please lmk.
thanks for all your help!
the problem is, you can't lower the hinges any without grinding away the top of the inner fender. the glass is not as thick as you are too high. hood hinges. 25 bucks ebay. new or used. get a pair. don't cut up the orig ones. take the new hinge and cut through the base about a half inch below the pivot. then cut it again another 3/8 or a half farther down. then weld the pivot back to the base about 3/8 to a half inch lower than it was. so that the pivot is in the same spot forward back and left-right. people cut and bend them. or shim up the back which tilts the front down. but cut it off and weld it on in the right location only lower makes aligning the hood easier. go a bit lower than how high hood is. you can always shim it or add a layer of glass to raise the hinge. that will get the hood height correct at the hood hinge. and keep the hood in the right place otherwise.
the problem is, you can't lower the hinges any without grinding away the top of the inner fender. the glass is not as thick as you are too high. hood hinges. 25 bucks ebay. new or used. get a pair. don't cut up the orig ones. take the new hinge and cut through the base about a half inch below the pivot. then cut it again another 3/8 or a half farther down. then weld the pivot back to the base about 3/8 to a half inch lower than it was. so that the pivot is in the same spot forward back and left-right. people cut and bend them. or shim up the back which tilts the front down. but cut it off and weld it on in the right location only lower makes aligning the hood easier. go a bit lower than how high hood is. you can always shim it or add a layer of glass to raise the hinge. that will get the hood height correct at the hood hinge. and keep the hood in the right place otherwise.
Thanks that is exactly what in going to do. Thanks I'll post the results!
Thanks!
I have the same hood alignment problem, and I'm going to try the hinge modification. Did yours work out? Do you have any pictures to post?
I have a new hinge (passenger side) to serve as a donor, but it sure doesn't look like i have 1/2" to spare on the base. If I drop it that far the base bolts will interfere with the movement of the hood:
Update: It didn't occur to me until I hit send, but your car is a 71 while mine is a 77. Different hinges, maybe?
Front clip alignment
