hood alignment
10-18-2009, 08:46 PM
#1
hood alignment hey i just bought a used ram air hood for my camaro. everything fit great but the front driver side where the hood meets the corner by the light sticks up about a quarter inch. the passenger side is fine. is there anyway to fix this problem? thanks!
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Irvin Sanchez (04-17-2020)
10-18-2009, 09:30 PM
#4
Hood could be warped or just need aligning. Way to check is unbolt it and just lay it on the car. This will tell you if it will go where it wants to. If it looks good laying there then you need to keep adjusting till it gets there. May have to drill the hinges.
11-15-2009, 05:34 AM
#7
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i realize this is an old thread....
but my STOCK hood seems to be goin outta whack, only recently i noticed...
the right side looks fine for the most part, but the whole left side seems to be pulled away from the fender toward the engine bay.... you could easily lay a pencil in the gap....
but my STOCK hood seems to be goin outta whack, only recently i noticed...
the right side looks fine for the most part, but the whole left side seems to be pulled away from the fender toward the engine bay.... you could easily lay a pencil in the gap....
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12-16-2009, 07:23 PM
#8
Wow.
Seems to be more questions, than answers in this thread. Oh well, I'll give my question a shot as well...
I've had the factory hood off my 99 Formula for over 2 months now because I will be replacing it with a Suncoast Raptor Hood. I should have the new hood painted and installed by now, but things don't always go according to plan. My painter is a young man who helps his dad farm and got busy with field work right after we test fit the Raptor and thats as far as we've gotten. Long story-short, with snow now on the ground the 'Bird won't see driving time until spring and I decided to reinstall the factory hood for the Winter.
My brother and I reinstalled the hood just an hour or so ago and can't seem to find the proper alignment to allow the hood to latch.
The hood seems to shut just fine, but no matter how much force is applied down on the hood, above the latch, it just won't catch. We tried moving the hood around, but, like I said, we can't find the sweet spot.
I want to mention, the only modification that has been performed was to the brackets that attach the hood to the hinges. I had to elongate the holes on the hinge side to allow for proper alignment of the Raptor Hood. (Its easy to see where the factory hood was set, though, with the paint missing from where the bolts were. That is where we began, thinking it was the most logical place to start.) Other than that, nothing has been touched. The latch was never removed from the car, and the same goes for the catch on the factory hood. Hood stops haven't been messed with. And there isn't a screwdriver stuck in the cowl or any other stupid mistake like that. (We checked.)
Is there something I'm failing to see? Could my latch have gone to **** with the hood off for so long? Or do I just need to keep searching for a spot that works? I know with the car not directly in front of you, it's difficult to diagnosis a problem of this nature. But if anyone has any advice or a direction to point me in, that would be wonderful.
Seems to be more questions, than answers in this thread. Oh well, I'll give my question a shot as well...
I've had the factory hood off my 99 Formula for over 2 months now because I will be replacing it with a Suncoast Raptor Hood. I should have the new hood painted and installed by now, but things don't always go according to plan. My painter is a young man who helps his dad farm and got busy with field work right after we test fit the Raptor and thats as far as we've gotten. Long story-short, with snow now on the ground the 'Bird won't see driving time until spring and I decided to reinstall the factory hood for the Winter.
My brother and I reinstalled the hood just an hour or so ago and can't seem to find the proper alignment to allow the hood to latch.
The hood seems to shut just fine, but no matter how much force is applied down on the hood, above the latch, it just won't catch. We tried moving the hood around, but, like I said, we can't find the sweet spot.
I want to mention, the only modification that has been performed was to the brackets that attach the hood to the hinges. I had to elongate the holes on the hinge side to allow for proper alignment of the Raptor Hood. (Its easy to see where the factory hood was set, though, with the paint missing from where the bolts were. That is where we began, thinking it was the most logical place to start.) Other than that, nothing has been touched. The latch was never removed from the car, and the same goes for the catch on the factory hood. Hood stops haven't been messed with. And there isn't a screwdriver stuck in the cowl or any other stupid mistake like that. (We checked.)
Is there something I'm failing to see? Could my latch have gone to **** with the hood off for so long? Or do I just need to keep searching for a spot that works? I know with the car not directly in front of you, it's difficult to diagnosis a problem of this nature. But if anyone has any advice or a direction to point me in, that would be wonderful.
12-17-2009, 12:36 PM
#10
hood adjustment I just put my Glasstek 4" cowl hood on about a month ago, and I had to fiddle around quite a bit to get it to fit "right". It had nothing to do with the hood itself, just adjustment. One thing that I ran into, and sounds like what you have going on "Mumbles", is when the hinges close, there is a tab on the lower part of the hinge that slides up in a grove on the upper (hood side) of the hinge. If that is hitting on one side, hit wont close right...... it took me about a half hour (put it on by myself) and a couple curse words to finally figure that out......... seemed like everytime I opened/closed it, made an adjustment, and would do the same thing.... In the end I had to drill out the holes in the hinge, make the top half sit even with the lower half, and add a couple fender washers between the fender and lower hinge to space it in a little bit (move the hinge in towards the motor) and then get the stops adjusted and it fits pretty good now. Gonna let the "body guy" fine tune what Ive got when I take it in for paint this spring.........
Hope this isnt too confusing and helps ya out..........
Hope this isnt too confusing and helps ya out..........
12-17-2009, 02:54 PM
#12
I just put my Glasstek 4" cowl hood on about a month ago, and I had to fiddle around quite a bit to get it to fit "right". It had nothing to do with the hood itself, just adjustment. One thing that I ran into, and sounds like what you have going on "Mumbles", is when the hinges close, there is a tab on the lower part of the hinge that slides up in a grove on the upper (hood side) of the hinge. If that is hitting on one side, hit wont close right...... it took me about a half hour (put it on by myself) and a couple curse words to finally figure that out......... seemed like everytime I opened/closed it, made an adjustment, and would do the same thing.... In the end I had to drill out the holes in the hinge, make the top half sit even with the lower half, and add a couple fender washers between the fender and lower hinge to space it in a little bit (move the hinge in towards the motor) and then get the stops adjusted and it fits pretty good now. Gonna let the "body guy" fine tune what Ive got when I take it in for paint this spring.........
Hope this isnt too confusing and helps ya out..........
Hope this isnt too confusing and helps ya out..........
On our first attempt, the hood seemed to shut just fine. No rubbing of the tabs on the edges of the grooves they sit in, the damn thing just wouldn't latch. We made adjustments and then the passenger side tab was rubbing on the outside edge of its groove. Still no latch. So we made another adjustment. The passenger tab no longer rubs, but now the drivers does. And, again, it still won't latch.
Presently, it's not 100% necessary that this hood latch, for two reasons. I won't be driving the car for quite some time. And this hood will eventually be removed again to make way for the Raptor Hood. It's just really frustrating that I can't make the ****** function the way its supposed to. And what's really messing with my head is the fact that this is the same damn hood that came off. Why would so much adjustment be necessary? I should be able to put it right where the paint is missing on the hood to hinge brackets and that should do it.
Again thanks for the reply. I hope installing the Raptor Hood isn't this much trouble.
12-19-2009, 03:29 PM
#13
Okay, I was able to get my hood to latch, but I don't know if I've solved whatever problem I was having.
I removed the bolts for the hood struts and let them rest in the engine bay.
Next, I carefully loosened the 4 bolts that attach the Hood-to-Hinge Bracket to the hood.
Okay, with the hood now free of any bind it was in, after a couple tries, I was able to get it to latch.
Presently, I've left the hood closed/latched. I'm gonna leave it this way for a while, in order to leave the hood pop spring compressed as well. I'm not really sure if this was my problem, but its been quite a while since the hood has been shut and the spring would have been sitting unsprung. Maybe the fact that it hadn't be compressed in a while made for some extra resistance, not allowing the hood to close completely and not reach the latch properly.
This is probably a stretch, but worth a shot in my opinion. Plus, as I said before, the car isn't going anywhere. So all I've got is time. I'll be sure to post another update when I get the bolts retightened and the struts reattached. Wish me luck.
I removed the bolts for the hood struts and let them rest in the engine bay.
Next, I carefully loosened the 4 bolts that attach the Hood-to-Hinge Bracket to the hood.
Okay, with the hood now free of any bind it was in, after a couple tries, I was able to get it to latch.
Presently, I've left the hood closed/latched. I'm gonna leave it this way for a while, in order to leave the hood pop spring compressed as well. I'm not really sure if this was my problem, but its been quite a while since the hood has been shut and the spring would have been sitting unsprung. Maybe the fact that it hadn't be compressed in a while made for some extra resistance, not allowing the hood to close completely and not reach the latch properly.
This is probably a stretch, but worth a shot in my opinion. Plus, as I said before, the car isn't going anywhere. So all I've got is time. I'll be sure to post another update when I get the bolts retightened and the struts reattached. Wish me luck.
05-14-2020, 09:36 AM
#15
