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pointers on hood alignment adjustment 1986

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Old Jul 17, 2017 | 03:42 PM
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Default pointers on hood alignment adjustment 1986

hey guys. my 86 that i am refurbing again...

got my doors aligned perfectly. excllent sounding door strike and no more leaks after i resealed the various leak points.

now onto the hood adjustment and after that is the bumper. this car was dismantled fully at some point for painting and wasnt put back together quite right.

goal is to pull the passenger side forward about 1/8th inch. it is rubbing on the leading edge of the passenger side door panel when i open it.

im aware of the process:

loosen the hood hinges and adjust accordingly.

but some questions....

1. which bolts??? i see 6 bolts in total. based on the orientation of the slots, i can see that some are for fore/aft and some are for left / right.

i assume i have to loosen ALL the bolts for the assembly to articulate without binding?

do you just back them off a little bit and then gently tug on the direction of desired movement? (for me, forward on passenger side.

i also assume i need to loosen the driverside somewhat or i would have binding if i could even get it to hold the position at all.

guidence welcome!!

yes, i have searched and i see the basics but these details were not covered.

included are pics of 3 pairs of hinge bolts on passenger side, and the alignment gaps for the passenger side.

the door/bumper radius gap will be perfected at the very top after i get it moved forward an eigth or so.





gap at top was 3/8 until i learned the up/down asjustment from grumpy.

then i ran out of space to open the door. need to move hood fwd a bit on this side.
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Old Jul 17, 2017 | 09:03 PM
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It looks as though you will need a body shim under the hinge. The upper hood to door look good, if you just pull the hood forward that rear corner of the hood will move forward. If it's just a little bit you want, mark the fore-aft adjustment bolts as they are now then slide it forward the amount you want to move it-looking at the marks you made. I'm thinking that if you only move the hood that gap to the door may look a little funky. maybe just a 1/16 or so? Might look OK then.

Putting another small shim under the hinge mount (looks as though there's already one there) should tilt the front of the hood up, widening the lower part of the door gap with less impact on the upper gap.
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Old Jul 17, 2017 | 09:58 PM
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booyah. i can handle another shim if that is what you think it needs ill try that.

ill get some aluminum bar and make it myself unless that is a big nono.
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Old Aug 16, 2017 | 11:01 AM
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circling back on this after a summer vacation, it appears that the front shim needs to be placed while the hood is UP?

or should i remove the front bumper and then i can shim the front passenger side hinge from the front with the hood down?

anyone who has done this able to shed light on how to shim?
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Old Aug 16, 2017 | 12:32 PM
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Originally Posted by VikingTrad3r
circling back on this after a summer vacation, it appears that the front shim needs to be placed while the hood is UP?

or should i remove the front bumper and then i can shim the front passenger side hinge from the front with the hood down?

anyone who has done this able to shed light on how to shim?
I'm getting my 86 ready for paint and I Just finished adjusting my hood. I marked the bolts for reference and did it with the hood open, even though the front bumper was off. Ended up shimming the right side 1/4" and left side 1/8". To adjust the latches I rolled a small ball of clay for each side and closed the hood slowly just far enough to mark the clay. Then I adjusted the pins to center on the clay ball. Now I just need some thin bumper shims to adjust the bumper gap.
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Old Aug 16, 2017 | 01:04 PM
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thanks for that. clay ball a fabulous idea.


when u were shimming did you go theough a few "tighten hinge bolts and open/close the hood" cycles before you got it right?

i take it you are painting the panels on the car.
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Old Aug 16, 2017 | 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by VikingTrad3r
thanks for that. clay ball a fabulous idea.


when u were shimming did you go theough a few "tighten hinge bolts and open/close the hood" cycles before you got it right?

i take it you are painting the panels on the car.
Yes, a few cycles. I have a small Dewalt cordless impact wrench so the the bolts go in and out fast. Even though the car will be disassembled for painting, the shims should go back the same. I scribe around all the bolts so hopefully all I will need is a little tweaking after assembly. I want to handle the newly painted panels as little as possible.
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Old Aug 17, 2017 | 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by RWDsmoke
Yes, a few cycles. I have a small Dewalt cordless impact wrench so the the bolts go in and out fast. Even though the car will be disassembled for painting, the shims should go back the same. I scribe around all the bolts so hopefully all I will need is a little tweaking after assembly. I want to handle the newly painted panels as little as possible.
Not sure if this will help you but;

I had to remove the hood from my C10 pickup. I took a small drill bit and drilled some alignment holes through the hinge and into the hoods under carriage prior to unbolting it. During re-installation, I put nails into the holes using them as alignment pins guaranteeing I was back in the original position. You should be able to use a similar method to get your hood in place.

I hope that is clear. It is a simple concept that is difficult to articulate.
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Old Aug 17, 2017 | 10:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Iexpedite
Not sure if this will help you but;

I had to remove the hood from my C10 pickup. I took a small drill bit and drilled some alignment holes through the hinge and into the hoods under carriage prior to unbolting it. During re-installation, I put nails into the holes using them as alignment pins guaranteeing I was back in the original position. You should be able to use a similar method to get your hood in place.

I hope that is clear. It is a simple concept that is difficult to articulate.
Good idea. I did exactly that on my front bumper but never thought about doing it for the hood.
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Old Aug 18, 2017 | 09:24 AM
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another thing I did last year with my hood..

I removed the struts to help move the hood to align it
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