Hood Still Won't Close

[HotRodPC]

It's Bucket's fault.

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I figured that out. Bucket told him you can't ADD THICKER Shims to CLOSE UP a gap in a fender. So bucket is the one who made his butt hurt.


Dammit bucket. And we needed A good body and fender man around here. You bastard.

 

[bucket]

It's Bucket's fault.

You must be registered for see images

I figured that out. Bucket told him you can't ADD THICKER Shims to CLOSE UP a gap in a fender. So bucket is the one who made his butt hurt.


Dammit bucket. And we needed A good body and fender man around here. You bastard.

Lol, yup. And now I feel bad about trying to be nice in my response to his arrogant post. Shoulda let him have it right then and there, Pirate style, lol.

 

[HotRodPC]

Lol, yup. And now I feel bad about trying to be nice in my response to his arrogant post. Shoulda let him have it right then and there, Pirate style, lol.

Running off the newbies just might require a demotion from Mod and a 3 day timeout.

 

[bucket]

Running off the newbies just might require a demotion from Mod and a 3 day timeout.

Shoot, I didn't even have to be mean to him. I ran him off with my niceness, lol.

 

[benjaminearle]

Hood sticks up in the back

In a likely futile attempt to resurrect this thread I'll post a technical question since it seems all my best contributors are already in here and might have subscribed.

My '79 has the more rare "hood won't close" but not in a lame "I left a toolbox on the radiator support" way. It won't close all the way in the back - passenger side. It already had an all-too-common (i'm finding out) hood crease which i repaired for the time being with homemade straps (0.125 mild steel and self drilling sheet metal screws), see attached. Now the hood won't shut all the way on the rear passenger side - sticks up about 2-3". I can mash it down but it won't really stay. The springs feel of different weights as i can rock the hood left and right (if you know what I mean) while it's open.

I'll get a better picture later tonight or tomorrow of the "closed" hood.

While the exterior is slightly less important than the running gear at this point I'd love to know how to fix my wonky hood when i have the scratch.

 

[HotRodPC]

Ohhh there's beenjammmin !!! Haven't seen you on in awhile.

Took me a few minutes to realize what I was looking at. OK, I got it figured out. It's a hood support for the notorious 73-80 hoods that like to go Taco. So very common. What you did was put a band aid on it. They seem to never be right again after they fold.

As far as being higher up in the rear, or at the cowel, you need to adjust your hood hinge mount. IIRC what usually works, is loosen the bolts. Have someone open the hood and push it up and hold it up as far as they can. This pushes the rear of the hood hinge down in the back. Then SNUG the rear bolt. Let loose of the hood and just let it stay open. This should allow the front of the hinge to fall down lower, then tighten the front bolt, then tighten the rear bolt and see if it's any better. It's been a long time since I dealt with it, but did have 2 buds with the problem when they took off the metal hoods and ran fibreglass hoods for awhile. Then when they went to put the hinges back on, it was high at the cowel. What causes that hood Taco is poor spring lubrication. So lube your springs real good. And if you do get a new hood, I'd install those hood stiffners on the new hood too to help PREVENT the Taco effect.

 

[bucket]

Old hood hinges are a goofy thing. The first thing to do is try the first step of Hot Rod's suggestion, loosen the bolts and tighten them while someone opens the hood as far as it will go. Because of the hinge's linkage, doing this will often lower the hood further than lowering the entire hinge.

Also make sure the big tall bolt at the rear corner (fender/cowl bolt) is sliding into the hood rather than acting as a bump stop.

If no amount of adjustment takes care of the issue, the pivot points of your hinge are just plain shot. Just a little slop in the pivots causes a lot of misalignment. Removing the spring will help a bunch if you don't mind using a hood prop.

 

[benjaminearle]

I'm guessing no one makes an elegant hinge replacement with gas shocks?

I'll try the uber-lube (i did all the rotating parts, honestly didn't think to lube the springs themselves) and bracket loosening.

I knew it was a band-aid fix and when/if I get a new hood I'll cut the straps on a water jet so they look prettier. The "taco" area only goes in about 9" right now so i think I can live with it for a while while still working on getting her running. Getting closer all the time.