I'm gearing up to get my car back this coming week, and I did a search but couldn't find anything. The hood on my sheobox isn't really aligning. The passenger side is there, but the drivers side is a huge gap. Is there some adjustment that they are missing? Any tricks I should know about, I've never had to align a hood, so I'm a FNG at that. Thanks -Rick
If you havent done so already, check your gap beetween the driver's side fender and door and compare it to the passenger side, maybe its the fender thats out of alignment.
All bets are off if there was major damage and hopefully the car has parts that fit together well. You might give us a brief history of the car, is this a car that was on the road before and you disassembled it and are just putting back together; or is this a new build with a lot of pieces from other cars? Hood alignment would be done after the rest of the car is together; as least the doors installed and aligned. As a starting point, you align the back of the hood to the cowl, with a uniform gap. I'm not familiar with the cowl section on these cars so any pictures would be helpful. Next install and align the fenders. Here is where you'll probably have to provide some pictures of the hood and fender gaps, so we can see what might be happening. The more pictures the better, from the sides (showing the fender/door gap), from the front, cowl/hood gap and the top of the hood/fender gaps. Don't force anything, just put a couple of bolts in (loosely) to hold the fender in place. If you bolt it in and force it into position, you'll probably create a twist and other problems. What we are trying to do is see how close it might be initially.
the car got a banged up door, its a different door on the car, but the fenders never left. The problem is it's hitting the cowl, and the whole thing just got painted and we don't want to have to repaint anything. The car has been straight for years, but now it's just not working out right.
if you look at the underside of the hood where the hinge arms attach....that cross brace has some adjustment to it , not much but some. you loosen some screws and slide it back and forth the reason i asked about how the hood fits the cowl is because that is where you start . i just went through this on a `49 ford woodie and getting it all right was kinda a pain in the ass . that was my first experience with a shoebox . one thing i did find out was that on a normal shoebox those hinge bolts have the shoulders centered , on a woodie those bolts are offset and give you a bit more adjustment
no , i didn't say that....they are the same. what i said was the 4 bolts that attach the hinge arms to the hood are different. the woodie hinge bolts have an offset shoulder to them that gives you a bit more adjustment
Thank ya Jesus!!!! Almost had a heart attack, I have a hood off of a Woodie that will be goin on my sedan. OI was just concerned that my "they've gotta be the same" assumption had been a very expensive one. Thanks!
don't forget about the adjustment on the cross brace on the underside of the hood where the hinge arms attach....you can slide that about 3/8"
Just had a similar problem with the hood on a customer's 49 Meteor. The front clip is now 1 piece (fenders,grille shell,lower pan,hood latch panel) and it provided MANY hours of entertainment. The gaps are a little wide, but that's better than too tight.
......what 3window said, <TABLE class=tborder id=post3363178 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_3363178 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid">Step back and look at another angle just for perspective, When I hang a front clip, I hold the hood so it meets the cowl like I want, next the doors in the holes, then the fenders to meet the front edges of the doors and the hood, then move everything else to match that. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Hey, O.K., jus' so were clear, the door was replaced, the old LT. fender was R&I and that's where the trouble started? Align the doors first, hang the fenders & than the hood panel using the door gaps at the fender to door as your guide. Don't tighten the fenders at the core support until you've centered the hood panel between the fenders with a good gap at the cowl to hood panel area. Anywhere where you may have to pry against painted metal, be sure to take a couple of pieces of low-tack tape and cover any areas you would pry against. This will offer some protection to the paint, but not much. As mentioned above, some Ford Motor Co. products of this era used cam- type bolts to tighten the hood hinges, check to see if your's is one of them. Shoeboxes and Merc/Lincoln vehicles of this era didn't have great panel alignment from the factory. These were built in the hundreds of thousands with parts stamped all over the country, and bolted to a vehicle with "passible" fitment. I've had these where even with a pair of fender straps and a come-a-long still, needed cuts and darts to secure an exceptable fit up. Swankey Devile C.c. "meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
I've heard you need these(no I'm not the guy selling them) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HOOD...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
shoebox hoods just suck....more than likely slipping the inner brace around will fix the problem. its always nice when the little 1/4" bolts break off in the brace and then creates a new project
all thr tri 5s ive worked on have had dicked up hood alinment they rub in the front corners we cant tell you how to adjust it hell you could tweek and move and shim stuff all day ..thats part of the fun right ? ive even cut the core supports and add to them so it takes away from having a bunch of shims in there ..is the clip even on the car strait?.
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/DD4DF%7E1.9B5/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> Sheet metal alignment can be a frustrating and rewarding experience. There are so many factors involved. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> There is a relationship between the door, cowl, quarter panel, top and rocker panel. If the car was in an accident or built questionably at the factory (from parts that dont fit well), or parts have been changed, all of these factors enter into the equation. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> There is a relationship between the hood, cowl, both front fenders, the core support and the frame. These are all part of the equation as well. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Usually the best way to put one of these together is align everything, then do you bodywork and last do the painting. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Sometimes a body will shift on the frame, creating an alignment problem. So if you get to a point where you are having a problem, some pictures might help. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
what year shoebox is this? 49's have really bad hinges and a wimpy hood support. they are garbage. if its a 49 , get 50 or 51 hinges and hood support. i was having this same problem with my 49. installed the hinges and support from a 50 and couldnt belive how much better the fit was. any way you look at it , lining up the gaps is a real pain in the butt.
after its fitting properly dont forget an additional safety to keep it from flying open, this seems to be a well known problem on these cars.
my hood fits like crap too,the sides have good gaps but it hits the cowl.I'm gonna try the bolts with offset shoulders,hope it works
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