Hood / Fender Alignment

J

john roth

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Joined
Feb 16, 2009
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11
1969 convertible. I need some help with my Left Front fender.

1. Were the hinge bolts to the support bracket on the inner fender there is a space of about 1/2" between the top of the bracket and the underside of the fiberglas. I know it should fit tight.

2. The hood sits about 1/2" higher than the fender right over the LF wheel. I have 3 hoods here and they all fit the same. I know it's the fender.

3. The frame extension that holds on the front bumper with and additional litte bracket seems to be to long. I can't fit the small bracket in.

After hours of searches I have found one guy who cut the frame on the underside of the hood to flatten it so it flushed out with the fender.
I found a second guy who piled sidewalk blocks on the fender and heated up the under side of the hood to smooze it into place.

I really love my car and these remedies seem radical. I can't figure out were or how to make adjustments. Tomorrow it's going up on the hoist and I just do not have a plan.

Any help/ suggestions ?
 
Is this the area you are describing?

44ad1ec6548254.jpg

If so, you are correct, there should be no gap there. The radiator support also bolts to that bracket. Looks like you need to move some things around to get rid of that gap.

The extension bracket you describe could be from a 73-74. They are a little bit longer than a 68-72.
 
I was looking at your pix and something doesn't look right with the mounting of your hood support. Maybe that is interfering with the hood when closed?
 
Did you bolt the good support down with the 2 legged end on the fender? It should go the other way around.
 
john roth said:
From underneath with wheel off. Somehow I think the whole thing must go up 1/4" or so. Just don't know how to do it ?

http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h203/johnroth_photos/?newest=1
Click to expand...

From the look of my '72 driver's side hinge, it looks mounted correctly, and assuming you don't have the hood mount section lipped upside down....
it should fit....unless you have the rad cross support too far forward on the top , so it don't line up with allowing the hings to flip over backwards to the way it's shown....

resting the hood on the hinge with no bolts should line up with hood at THAT pivot point....

tough to tell without jacking my car up and looking really close...sorry man...

but your hinge does look in the correct position and orientation...except the hood mounts in the TRAY of the pivot piece, not on top of it...

:bonkers::beer:
 
I think my radiator support is sitting to low. I noticed with the wheel off someone was messing around with green adhesive, It looks like they refastened the inner fender. This explains why the hood fit before the paint shop 2 1/2 years ago and not now.
Do you think I should break the inner fender loose and move the rad support up then glue to match the hood ?
JR
 
The radiator support bolts to that bracket on the inside of the wheel well. If that bracket is low, the support will be low. Also the hinge is bolted to the same bracket so it will be low also.

SO, if you raise the support up, you will make your problems worse.
 
I took the liberty of uploading one of your pictures, hope you don't mind. This picture looks like the front of the hood is not gapped and the back of the hod is not gapped. That leads me to believe there is an interference issue (possibly the hood support) or the surround was not bonded properly. I see you have an aftermarket hood. That may be part of the problem also.

44ad27adb65f2e.jpg
 
Oh man, the fun never ends.I will sit and stare at it for a while, a little whiskey just to clear my head.

JR
 
I,ve been looking at your pics last night and i,ve seen two cars with similar problems as yours, first was a 68 that both side of the hood surrounds were too low (in same area as yours ) , new owner broke the bonding along those areas (plus a bit more along ) and the surround panel rose to the right level by itself.

BUT his hinge area didnt look like yours at all.
Is that a new inner guard ?

That reinforcing plate which the radiator support bolts to and hood hinges has been off the inner guard at one time (rivets ground off ) . To me without seeing all the inner guard I guess someone has broken the bond and maybe "taken too much " off the top of it while cleaning it up and just glued it back down (maybe without a hood on for referance ??)





I gotta ask, what were your instructions to the body shop 2 1/2 years ago ?
 
john roth said:
Oh man, the fun never ends.I will sit and stare at it for a while, a little whiskey just to clear my head.

JR
Click to expand...

John, I have spent some time looking at your pics and having a hard time putting my finger on your problem. I measured the distance from the inner fender base, where the hinge mounts, up to the fender drip rail. On my 69 it is around 1 7/8ths inches and under 2 inches. I couldn't tell exactly and my hood fits perfectly.

I have replaced both of my inner fenders a long time ago and everything needs to be in very good alignment, or there will be problems with fit. I suspect your inner fender bond has been broken and not set correctly. Remember, it is off this alignment that the radiator support and hood hinge alignment comes off.

If you need to break the inner fender bond and rebond, not to worry. It is another PITA job, but very doable. Measure the distance I gave you and see if yours comes close to mine? If yours measures 1.5 inches, you found your problem.
 
You know, in looking at your pictures, my hood used to sit high in the same places. I don't have an aftermarket hood, but still. I found the car didn't have the "bumpers" that sit along the fenders were the hood sits. I installed them, followed the AIM for adjustment and the hood sits flush now. Sounds strange that puting blocks of rubber under the hood could actually bring some areas down, but that's what it did. Just a thought to go along with a little Gentlemen Jack on the rocks!!
 
You are getting some very sound advice about exploring the bond along the hood lip to pop it loose and adjust. I have done this several times. HOWEVER before you get too crazy back to your first post where the rad support and door hinge seem "odd". "Someone noted they can not quite put their finger on it" and I suggest you do some simple measurements to get a solid base.

First I would level the car while sitting on it's tires (not jack stands) - I use scraps of 1/4" plywood and/or cheap stick-on tiles from HD as shims and roll the car on to them. Check for level along the door sill or frame under the door. For left to right you can use the front and rear cross member. The front is a little tricky because it is not flat but if your level can span the lower control arm bolts you can use that. Now the car is straight and you see if you panels have been hung wrong or otherwise tweaked. Put a level on the windshield top and it should be in the bubble too.

Put a level on the rad support in the middle. Is it level? If not someone may have put shims under the rad support to fix something and created a problem. Since the front end is located off this that needs to be positioned right. I would unbolt the inner fenders and get this correct first. You may need to shim it up or down to fix your hood fit but get it level/straight as a safe base. Bolt the inner fenders back on, you may need a jack with some towels to lift it into place or it may line up beautifully.

Then I take a 6 foot long piece of 1/8" angle iron and pass under the car so it sticks out on both sides near the front fender lip by the front bumper. Put a level on this angle iron and use a carpenters shim to level it. Now measure from the fender lip to the angle iron on the same place on both sides. Repeat step 2 for behind the fender lip and at the windshield where the fender stops. You need to transfer the top of the fender by the windshield out to above the angle iron using a level. This should be within 1/8" side to side. This will let you know if the front end is hung right side to side and front to rear. If all is good then I would align the front edge of the hood to the surround using shims under the hinges until the front edge is good but it may make the side worse. I would then "pop" the seem along the hood lip from the wheel well side and stick wood shims in until the hood edge lines up nice and squirt in some bonding adhesive. Pull out the shims when it dries and fill the gap with more adhesive and you are done. You will need to touch up the paint in the engine compartment.

If the fenders are off up front by the rad support you can shim one side of the rad support to lift it up. I usually slot the holes inside the fenders (in your pictures from inside the wheel wells) where it bolts to the rad support to give it some adjustment. Then once I have the front end level side to side I weld the washer under the head of the screw to the metal plate inside the fenders to make it stay in the good place. If you are off by the windshield area you are really in a tough spot to fix because that is not easily adjustable but you know what you have at least.
 
You guys are great, lots of good help here ! I have been on a road trip the last few days and just got back. Yes that inner fender is new. It was installed when I got it, but that very hood fit well
The guy that painted the car must have tried adjusting that fender. He was a down and out story with the right experience to paint the car so I got him the paint and materials and rented a spray booth. I'm sure his heart was in the right place but GD him anyway.
I will follow some of the instructions I am reading on here and report back.
ps
thanks for loading my pics, I am about as good at that as I am at adjusting fenders.
Vette Mod has my vote :thumbs:
 
John, I have spent some time looking at your pics and having a hard time putting my finger on your problem. I measured the distance from the inner fender base, where the hinge mounts, up to the fender drip rail. On my 69 it is around 1 7/8ths inches and under 2 inches. I couldn't tell exactly and my hood fits perfectly.

Red
I checked these dimensions. The drivers (Bad Fitting) side measures 1.5"
On the passenger (Good ) side it measures just shy of 2". I guess I will be breaking the inner fender loose. Do you think I should disbond it 100 % or just the front half ?
Thanks again for the measurements. I spent all last weekend trying to figure this out and didn't think to measure there.


JR
 
JR, I thought that measurment would be a good place to start looking. As far as breaking the inner fender loose, it is hard to say. Obviously, you need to start at the front and work your way back to the wheel arch. If it will yield to fit your proper alignment at that point, no need to go any more. In reality, once you go that far it isn't much more difficult to go all the way. You will have to be the judge on that on how it lines up. Before you break the front loose, look closely on how far forward it comes; maybe, take some pictures for orientation on re-bonding. Mock align and use sheet metal screws to hold position for when re-bonding along the drip rail. Rub a good coat of neutral paste shoe polish into the screw threads before turning into the bonding material. This is a release agent and let them turn back out after the material hardens. Good luck and keep us posted on results.
 
Last edited:
Progress

Well I have worked my way through this and made good progress. I now have a "perfect" fit. Thankyou:Red, pcf_mark,damoroso,bazza6977,BBshark and mrvette.
The fender adhesive came apart very easily and the hood popped up almost into place by itself. I thought the clip was blowing apart, what a noise. Now I just have to get it glued up and carry on. I hopefully have attached some pics.thum_9204ada16ab74003.jpg

I also learned that the inner fenders on my car are different. The one giving me a hard tome seems to be a 78 - 82, as is the hinge support. It fits (?)
 
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