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Hi all. I feel I need to reintroduce myself as I've been away from my car for about 2 1/2 years and I don't want to assume my project will be remembered. I got a 68 coupe basket case in 2011. It literally came in boxes and on pallets. Nothing was together. So where I have the car today is the most I've ever seen it together. If the body wasn't all the same crapy faded red when I got it, I'd swear at this stage that the car could not possibly have ever been together as a functioning unit! I'm fitting everything together in preparation of doing the body work and paint. Without complaining about all the fitment issues as a whole, this thread is specific to my hood. This car was at a local hotrod shop before they went out of business (that's where I got the car) and they had done some glass work that's made my head spin. I'll only mention the driver's side front corner where the hood meets the fender because you will see this "work in progress" in the following pictures. They had built up this corner so much that it was obviously misaligned with the rest of the body lines and prevented the hood from opening without binding. I cut the extra 1/4" out of that corner and lightly glassed the lip back into the correct area. I didn't use too much fiberglass as I wasn't sure if I was going to have to cut it and move it again. My goal is to get the hood in it's final home and then do the fine tuning body work. The pictures will say more than I can about where I'm at. (Side note: when I stripped the paint, it became obvious the the passenger fender had been replaced at some point in it's life). You'll see the largest of all the gaps at the top of the passenger fender and hood area. The gaps on the wiper door are good so I'm guessing the hood got sanded down on the edges at some point. I'm not afraid of messing with the gaps. What has me perplexed is how high the hood sits over the fender on the driver's side and one area over the tire on the passenger side. I don't see how I can lower the hood at the driver's side front corner to get it to sit lower, as the hood hinge is bolted to the fender? I would think they move as a unit up and down? Anyways, here's some pictures. I look forward to any and all advice on dealing with this. Thanks, Jason
Last edited by 13611; 07-08-2018 at 02:34 AM.
Reason: Added
Not knowing if the gusset supports that hold up the header bar for your headlights is there and installed. You have two choices.
On the drivers side you need to separate the top hood surround from where it attaches to the inner skirt above the control arm area. By doing this it will allow the top hood surround to be raised and bonded back into place so it is flush with the hood all along that side.
OR...fill it in with VPA and raise the top hood surround to meet the hood and make it flush that way.
And for what it is worth,,,I have used both methods that I just suggested successfully..
Jason, Dub beat me to the punch, he is correct (as usual) anyway before I started screwing things up I thought lets start looking at things. Since my 71 drivers side hood was sitting well below the fender I took a look at the inner fender. There I could see day light above the rubber top seal which should be tight to the inner fender. Okay, took my heat gun and loosened the adhesive to free up the fender. Now the fender could be brought down with a little pressure. The clip already had some screw holes in it with no screws. This is where I applied the SEM adhesive until it started to overflow. Since it is now dry I am very pleased with the line up. Check the inner fender to top locations.
07-07-2018, 10:22 PM
C3 Hood Fits AWFUL
