Been following along on this forum for about 3 years. Very helpful information is offered here and those that supply it are to be thanked for sharing their knowledge. Thank you.
I have spent the last 12 months working on repainting my 1973 corvette. For the most part it was pretty undamaged. A lot of block sanding and sorting out the door gaps, and she looks pretty darn good after her new paint. For some reason I cannot get my hood to sit like it did prior to disassembly. The left front corner sticks up about 1/4-1/3" high. I have taken out the spacers that were under the hinge. While dissasembled for paint, I did pull the factory radiator and core support. The core support looked fine and had no rust. The radiator was replaced with a Dewitt radiator. Could I have got the core support in incorrectly aligned? I am fearful that if I start playing with it now, I may crack the paint. I am open to any suggestions on how to get the hood to sit back down correctly. Thank you in advance.

 

 

Sorry I can't help you with the hood issue but WOW!!! The car looks great

 

The radiator support has NOTHING to do with this issue you have. The radiator support when attached to your inner skirts gives the front end more rigidity. That is basically it. BECAUSE.....your hood hinges bolt to the inner skirt and not the radiator support.

SO...if you have NO shims under the passenger side (right side) hood hinge. Your problem is EITHER the bonding area where the top hood surround actually bond to the INNER SKIRT...and it is loose and dropped.

If you bonding areas are solid...then your problem is in the support that attaches to the underside of the headlight support beam that is bonded to the underside of your hood surround. This bracket ALSO attaches to the front inner skirt where you can see the square steel plate with two bolts in it when you look in front of the right tire.

If you bonding areas are loose....then the same basic process is used to try to raise this corner of the top hood surround if the bonding area are solid or loose.

Not knowing if you got into any of your front impact bar structure while working on the car...this area MAY have to be revisited again to get this low area to raise up. IF the side impact brackets that bolt to the frame were loosened during any work...they also may need to be loosened again to allow the panel to move.

When you have located that bracket that is bolted to the outer end of the right side of your headlight support beam. You want to look and see if there are any shims BETWEEN the bracket and the end of the support beam. NOW...I am not there to make sure your bonding areas are 'whatever they are'....so I am letting you know this is what you can do VERY SLOWLY to raise this area. REPEAT------VERY SLOWLY. Now...do not get PARANOID....just be watchful....get my point.


Getting the car in the SUN and letting it get as hot as possible in this area....is something I would do. If it was during the winter...I would put my infra-red heaters on this areas to heat it up.

Now...you will sue a 1/2" socket or wrench to LOOSEN up the bolt from the underside of the headlight support beam. NOW...with whatever method you can SAFELY find to get in and apply upwards pressure to the outer corner of this support beam is what you want to do. So using a 'porta-power' or a floor jack with a piece of wood...bottle jack...whatever. SLOWLY start applying pressure upwards and WATCH your area. I mean with AN EAGLE EYE. Becasue you will raise up the front end a little before this area may change. When ti does....and you are not hearing 'clicking' sounds of the SMC/fiberglass being stresses....which is WHY I said SLOWLY and watching with an EAGLE EYE. If you hears sounds...do not FREAK OUT....this is going to be normal to some extent....but once again...it depends on how much you are applying pressure....how hot the body is...and how much it is trying to move.

NOW...you might find that you can close this distance by half comfortably. If so....then slide in a shim and tighten the bolt back up AFTER you have released the tension. and see what it looks like. Then...if the car can be pulled out into the sun for a day or two...try it again and get it that little bit more.

Now..I have had to do this many times on some Corvettes over the years of me doing this stuff. And a lot of it depends on what has been done and what all I have to loosen up if when I go in and try to raise it...I get very little to no movement. From 1969 to 1982...the areas that need to be possibly loosened changed and differ due top front end bumper designs and impart bar structure. SO...as I wrote...what it with an eagle eye.

Hope this was of some help. Just be patient and get the panels hot as possible. You might be surprised that when you go to jack it up it beings to move and you can see the area lessen. Remember...your front end will have to raise up a bit before this panel begins to move...which is dependent on the bonding areas because each Corvette is different and ...who know...it may move right away.

DUB

 

Thank you for the in depth response DUB, won't be able to take a look at what I have until this Friday. The on,y thing I had to rebond was the very bottom of the passenger side front liner there was a small crack in the bottom of the liner that was maybe 2" long and was not cracked all the way thru. I ground it down and filled with cloth and resin. Then sanded it smooth. Perhaps the liner dropped over the years. This gives me a direction to go and again I appreciate your input. Will report back when I have more info.

 

The liner can not drop. It is bolted to the radiator support ...and bonded to the fender and top hood surround. Your ONLY hope is where the top hood surround is generally bonded right near the hood hinge is not bonded well and you can gain some upward movement.

Just be careful.

DUB