Hood to fender fitment

[cwalker509]

Looked for this but didn't see anything. I have long wondered why the hood to fender fitment on our Mustangs is not the best. Are the fenders not shimmed correctly? Are some of the parts made poorly? Perhaps a sign of non-Ford parts? Anyways....how does one go about fixing this?

 

[turtle5353]

Are you talking about the gap or the arch not being right? I know the arch is usually out of whack. I worked on a car with an aftermarket hood and it was really bad. I layed it on floor on 2x4’s and re arched it with my fat ass. Took some trial and error but I got it. The aftermarket hoods have a pinch seam under neath and it’s easy to re-arch because it’s not welded. The 2 panels of the hood are just pinched together and not very well. Once you have the arch where you want, I would recommend a few tack welds around the perimeter of the pinch seam. That will help it hold the arch.

And yes the factory hoods fit way better and are much heavier.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

It is an area that has to be tweaked on every car. My friend that does restorations blocks the hook up like in the pics and also uses progressively shorter block in the middle to prevent going too far. 

They do leave the hem not welded for that reason. He stacks bags of blasting sand on the hood to push it down and also steps on it. 

When I tore my all original 73 Mach 1 down there were 2 shims under the front fenders from the factory on each side.

If you ever got to see the guys in the body shop fit these you would understand that even factory metal is not perfect. I cannot get the pic now on dead computer but the door assembly fixture used at Ford was very complex and could bend and twist the doors to fit on each car. They did not just bolt them together and they be right. 

Even today they tweak them. My son is head inspector on one of the BMW assembly lines in Spartanburg, S.C.. He said the guy that fits the lift gates on the sports activity vehicles is like a weight lifter. He grabs the gate and twists it by hand to fit. BMW quality is like all cars, hit and miss.

 

[7173Vert]

Sometimes, they got it spot on at that factory...

 

[cwalker509]

Ok. Thx everyone. I only have had coupes complete before my new one. The vert doesn't count. It was a basket case. Both my coupes seemed to fit well. I recall fender shims on the vert (ram air). Guess. I will be tweaking some hoods

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Sometimes, they got it spot on at that factory...

So is this car never painted factory original? They were never perfect from factory. Can't tell how good this one is from pictures. Pictures make them look 300 % better. That is why you need to go look in person.

 

[7173Vert]

Sometimes, they got it spot on at that factory...

So is this car never painted factory original? They were never perfect from factory. Can't tell how good this one is from pictures. Pictures make them look 300 % better. That is why you need to go look in person.

You will just have to take my word Sir... Maybe it wasn’t produced on a Monday or Friday... Not everything has to be negative about these car’s. Next.