I have had a bunch of 40s over the years and have had good luck fitting the hoods.This one i have now fit fine when i waqs setting it up,then after paint and re assembly the rear hinges will not pull down like before.Some where an article was in one of the magazines that suggested shortening one of the arms to get the hood down.I have tried visuallizing which arm would do the trick but cant quite bring myself to cutting and rewelding a hinge until i am pretty sure it will solve the problem.The rest of the hood fits good and i always line up the fenders to the hood and have had really good luck with my previous 40s,but this one is being onry and doesnt like me.Any one with the same problem that figured it out?
I've fit two hoods to 40's, both Standards. On one I had a repro set of hinges that I could not get to work, so I ended up rebuilding the originals. Both cars required more filing of the adjustment holes in the cowl to get the hood to set down where it needed. On my sedan, I also cut the inner hood brace and took a little of the outward bow from the hood before rewelding. Kinda late for that in your case. Neither car had the arms shortened on the hinges.
Did you paint the hinges? Try closing the hood with the spring arms disconnected to see if it is the hinges or the spring arms.
As in the other post,i elongated the cowl holes. passenger side is livable but i will have to modify the rear of the drivers side hinge by moving the rear bolt higher,probably 3/16th or so.But that is for tomorrow,whipped me today
There was an article in the Goodguys Gazette about this. I can look it up and try to post what it said. May have been about a year ago.
I have a friend who relocated the hood piece where the hinge arms fasten. He moved this piece so it would match the position of the piece which was on the other side. This allowed the hood to drop into place. I believe altering the linkage arms will do nothing but mess up the geometry of the mechanism.
A trick that might help you... Once you have done all your adjusting on the car (before it goes to paint and gets taken back apart ), drill a couple of 1/8" holes through the base of the hinge, into the cowl. After its painted you line the hinge up with two 1/8" drillbits, tighten it down and remove the bits. The hinge will be in adjustment that way( or very close to it ) so you dont have to slide it around on fresh paint. Works on doors too...
I always slot the holes in the cowl also. Make sure that the ends of the hinge arms fit flat against the hood. A couple of crescent wrenches work good for bending the arms to match the hood. When you fit the hood during the build up, did you fit it with the rubber pads? Sometimes they can change things just enough to throw everything out of whack. To get the hood down in the back you might need to lift up on the front of the hinges and drop the back down. This also tightens up the hood gap at the back. A lot can be done by playing with the angle of the hinges. Hope this helps.
Subscribed - my least favorite task is aligning 1940 Ford hoods - it's always a bear of a job and I have my '40 Sedan Delivery coming up this winter....
Something else to check is sloppy hinge arms. Are the hinges originals, re-built originals, or aftermarket? Most of the aftermarket hinges I have ever messed with are pretty much junk and take a lot of work to get to fit. The geometry on them is wrong or something. With the exception of Vintique's stainless hinges, I have had several customers bring them in for me to use and they actually work pretty good.
vintique hinges work well for me--have done 5 40's and doing number 6 now--hood fit is always a pain--usually have to elongate the hood hinge hole FORWARD about 1/4 to get play to make the hood sit donw in the back--also if front sheetmetal is too low at the grille top, it will kick the hood up at the back--any way I can help--PM me--
guys ....i have a slight issue....i got the hood fitted pretty darn close to where it needs to be but when i open the hood-the back of the hood near the cowl wants to hit. its not raising up in the rear. is there something i can do ? i had the stock hinges rebuilt and bought new support springs ? thanks,Mike
I know nothing about a 40 hood. But on a 55 chev, the rear adjustable bumpers control the rear of the hood sinking before it pops up, keeping the hood from cowl biting. I don't know what a 40 uses on the rear. I do understand some vehicles go through a strange and complicated ballet when they open. And yes you can cuss. Lippy
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