major help needed with hood alignment

[87fox72mach]

so i finally got my aftermarket fenders lined up nice with doors and body line. now im trying to line up the hood. i have the hood centered between the fenders pretty darn good. now i have a huge problem. the hood is about 5/8 inches higher than the fenders in the middle of the hood. the back lines up nicely with tops of fenders near windshield but i have a HUGE 5/8 inch gap between hood and tops of fenders. also due to this the hood latch has been adjusted all the way up and still is not high enough for the hood to catch the primary latch. what is going on here did i get a crappy hood? my latch doesnt look bent etc. ive ehard that fenders need shims but how in the world do i close a 5/8 inch gap? i will try and get some pictures but this is driving me insane

 

[OMS]

Fenders always need shims - sometimes quite a few shims

 

[87fox72mach]

Not sure why the hood latch is still to low with the latch adjusted as high as it goes?

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

For some reason they got the crown wrong on the new hoods. I do not think you will be able to shim the fenders enough to close the 5/8" gap. Do you have the rubber bump blocks in the fenders? Also the rubber bumpers for the hood on the radiator support.

I would get all the rubber parts in place and take some pictures and send to who you bought the hood from and get their solution. If you still have the old fenders measure the step from where it hits inner fender to the outside skin and compare to your new ones.

I have never tried to change the arch in the hood. It would probably just give way all at once and put a crease in the hood.

I do not think the repo parts were hemmed in a press probably done with a programmable robot using a roller hemmer. When they were press hemmed the arch was held in place better.

Every picture I see of these new hoods on a car there is a miss match from hood to fender. Too late now but did you search for a good Ford hood? I found several great ones no rust for less than the repo ones last year.

No magic that I know of. Maybe someone has changed the arch and can help.

David

 

[87fox72mach]

I have a ford hood I can try on it i can feel rust inside of it tho and worry it may rust through one day. The middle of the hood maybe be a bit soft. . I have the rubber bumpers on rad support almost as low as it can go. Stock fenders I have need a ton of work.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have a ford hood I can try on it i can feel rust inside of it tho and worry it may rust through one day. The middle of the hood maybe be a bit soft. . I have the rubber bumpers on rad support almost as low as it can go. Stock fenders I have need a ton of work.

You can put the hood with the rust inside in a plastic kids swimming pool and get feed grade molasses and mix 9 parts water to 1 part molasses. Put the hood in and let is set a couple weeks and then pressure wash it and dry. Then order some of the aerosol spray cans with the extended wands and you can seal up the inside of the hood so no more rust. Or take it to your local Ziebart dealer and let them spray inside.

The good thing about the molasses is that is does not take paint or seam sealer off just the rust. If you take the hood to a place that dip strips it removes all the paint, rust, sealer and the mastic they put between the inner and outer hood. There is not way to put it back so it is gone.

Some cars that have been dip stripped do rust through after a few years because they did not properly protect inside the panels.

The new hood you have was ecoated but there is still no paint inside between the layers. They do not get any flow of material inside so no paint inside. You should take it to your Ziebart dealer after you paint and get the inside coated. You need to do after paint the material is a wax base and painting after coating is no good. You can wipe off any that gets on the paint after they do the coating. That is the only way I know of stopping the rust between the layers. Same in trunk and doors raw steel and it rusts.

I have a California vert and a Michigan vert and some areas on the Michigan car have less rust than the California car due to Ziebart being used.

If you put the Ford hood on and you still have the 5/8" you will know it is the fenders. Process of elimination.

David

 

[sdstang]

I have a dynacorn hood and they sit a little high in the middle. Mach71351c(Mike) had the same issue. You can get some with the fender shims but you might had to get a couple of wood block and start banging on the hood to stretch it. Both Mikes and mine came out perfect.

 

[87fox72mach]

Somethings gotta be off. The front of my hood needs to be like 5/8 inch lower to latch. I'm gonna swap hoods when I get some help later and go from there.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

The curve in the hood can be flattened out to some degree. I have heard of people doing some insane things to de-arch the hood. If it hasn't been painted yet, then you have some options. I am not a skilled metal worker, so I won't discuss them, except to say a search might pull up a thread on this issue.

Getting the hinges located properly can make a big difference too. an 1/8th inch out at the back will make a much bigger difference the further out you go. Get the front hood stops all the way down to start off with and then adjust from there.

Mine was pretty bad when I got it. A little shimming and some fender adjustment helped a lot. When shimming the fenders loosen all the bolts, even on the bottom of the fender and inside the door gap there is a bolt also.

 

[87fox72mach]

The hinges only go up and down on the backside correct?

 

[Qcode351mach]

Every picture I see of these new hoods on a car there is a miss match from hood to fender.

David

Not my cars one with a aftermarket hood and one with a oem hood.

You need to start with adding the fender shims as per the factory. 2nd You need to insure the hinges have no play are in excellent condition. I couldn't get my hood aligned using new aftermarket hinges or my sloppy originals so I sent my originals out to be rebuilt. Solved that problem. 3rd if you replaced the rear fender aprons you need to measure the old hinge mounting spots BEFORE removal..and Insure the new ones line up are in the same location before welding in the new aprons. Same for the front aprons any difference in height or location from the old will give you problems. That in it self is a major source of alignment issues.

4th the aftermarket hoods don't have the skin welded to the frame which actually is a blessing allows you to move the skin around tweak it some. Start with the above and see what you get let us know.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-todays-pics-hood-work?highlight=Hood+fit

 

[Qcode351mach]

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-todays-pics-hood-work?highlight=Hood+fit

Oops there it is ::thumb::

:wrench:

 

[87fox72mach]

So I muscled stock hood on my self. What a huge difference. The gap is now like 1/8th inch in each side. Hood still won't latch tho. I'm wondering if I somehow have to modify latch to move it up more. Unless there is a different latches out there and I got the wrong one

 

[Qcode351mach]

So I muscled stock hood on my self. What a huge difference. The gap is now like 1/8th inch in each side. Hood still won't latch tho. I'm wondering if I somehow have to modify latch to move it up more. Unless there is a different latches out there and I got the wrong one

Did you replace or repair any of the inner structure (rad support -aprons front or rear)

 

[87fox72mach]

A previous owner did that rad support. With some modification. I should be able to get it to latch correctly. Also discovered I have a 73 latch

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

The repo parts suck for sure. Look around before you buy them I got 4 NASA hoods 2 with locks last year for half what the Dyancorn cost. Also got three sets of fenders same cost. Craigslist has lots of stuff out there eBay is for the rich. I just do not understand how they can be so bad. I was an automotive tooling engineer for metal stamping so I know the parts.

David

 

[87fox72mach]

It's hard in the northeast to find any decent parts. I've parted many cars and most sheet metal was garbage. Thankfully the repo fenders are a decent fit. The hood is a disgrace. I'm gonna try and return it

 

[Qcode351mach]

Heres my take after being in the a/b biz repairing unibodys for over 25 years.

The aftermarket parts used to suck back in the 80's-early 90's as of today they are pretty darn good. The Issue I've seen time and time again is poor installation of structural parts and not checking to insure the unibody is in spec PRIOR to replacement of those parts. Also diyers and some so called pro's too thinking all it takes to install a rad support or inner structure piece is just cut it out pop the new one in WRONG. Theres a good chance your rad support is not installed properly out of square, maybe too low too high which then translates back to the inner aprons which of course the fenders sit on. measure for square and height would be a good start and tell you alot.