Hood alignment - need help!

[usraptor]

Okay, no matter what I do the rear of my hood sticks up above the fender quite a bit, on both sides but worse on the driver's side.  I've tried lowering the hinges with no results.  Today I read on the site where the shop that specializes in rebuilding the hinges said to lower the hood in the back to actually raise the hinges. So today with the wifes help I did that.  I managed to get the driver's side all the way up but for some reason no amount of pulling, etc would get the passenger hinges all the way up.  It still has about 1/2 inch in the slot???    I removed the ECM that I installed in the factory location for '71 and newer cars just in case it was interfering with the hood.  But that didn't make any difference.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I'm at a lose.    First two pictures are of the driver's and passenger's side of the hood with the hood completely closed and latched.  The second set of pictures is with the hood just closed on the safety latch.  The next set are of the hinges themselves with the bolts circled so you can see where the hinge is set.  The last pictures is of the firewall in case you see something that may be interfering with the back of the hood settling down that I don't see.  BTW, I can push the corners of the hood down flush with the top of the fender on each side, however when I do that the hood seems to pivot on the latch in the front and the opposite rear corner raise up.  However, as soon as I stop pushing down the hood pops back up. And yes the front corners are down flush with the stops.

[BFM_Cuda]

      I'm having the exact same issue...     

[1 Wild R/T]

If you read what Rick wrote closely he doesn't want you to raise the hinges all the way up... Just raise them 1/2-3/4"... Then loosen the rear bolts and have a helper lift the hood higher than it normally goes... While it's held up high tighten the bolts..... What your doing is rotating the hinge so the back of the hinge is lower than the front.....

Here's Rick's method cut & pasted from his website....I'd been taught to do this long before I knew anything about the internet so while Rick posted it he wasn't the first...

A common alignment problem on E-body & 71-up B-bodies is with the rear hood edge being up too high with the hinges being adjusted all the way down on the inner fender.
This is an adjustment problem! Start by moving the hinge up on the inner fender. (yes, up!)
Then, loosen the 2 rear bolts and leave the front bolt snug. Now lift the hood to make the hinge rotate (as viewed from the side). Retighten the rear bolts and check the fit. This procedure will get that tail to come down. Adjust the front-to-rear dimension on the hood side bolts.
It can be frustrating and take some time, but these hoods will fit correctly! I've installed them with the hood sitting about 2 1/2" above the fender...using this method, the hood was fitting perfect in a few minutes!

[dodj]

Yup. Rotate the front of the hinge up. It will bring the rear of the hood down.

[usraptor]

If you read what Rick wrote closely he doesn't want you to raise the hinges all the way up... Just raise them 1/2-3/4"... Then loosen the rear bolts and have a helper lift the hood higher than it normally goes... While it's held up high tighten the bolts..... What your doing is rotating the hinge so the back of the hinge is lower than the front.....

Here's Rick's method cut & pasted from his website....I'd been taught to do this long before I knew anything about the internet so while Rick posted it he wasn't the first...

A common alignment problem on E-body & 71-up B-bodies is with the rear hood edge being up too high with the hinges being adjusted all the way down on the inner fender.
This is an adjustment problem! Start by moving the hinge up on the inner fender. (yes, up!)
Then, loosen the 2 rear bolts and leave the front bolt snug. Now lift the hood to make the hinge rotate (as viewed from the side). Retighten the rear bolts and check the fit. This procedure will get that tail to come down. Adjust the front-to-rear dimension on the hood side bolts.
It can be frustrating and take some time, but these hoods will fit correctly! I've installed them with the hood sitting about 2 1/2" above the fender...using this method, the hood was fitting perfect in a few minutes!(quote)

1WildRT,  a few questions.  When he says "start by moving the hinge up on the inner fender" how do you do that if the bolts are still tight?  When he says to lift the hood to make the hinge rotate AFTER loosening the 2 rear bolts and make it rotate, which way is the top of the hinge rotating, towards the front of the car?  Also, when he say leave the front bolt snug, I assume that's not tight so that the hinge can rotate around the front bolt also and the front of the hinge would rotate downwards?  As always thank you for coming to my rescue.   

[1 Wild R/T]

Yeah the write up isn't perfect but the point is rotate the hinges, why he doesn't say loosen the bolts, raise the front edge till the front of the hinges come up 1/2" then tighten all the bolts IDK, six of one, half dozen of the other.... End of the day rotate the hinges & see if it works.. (It does)

[usraptor]

Thanks 1WildR/T.  My sons are coming over Sunday for dinner.  We'll give it a try and I'll let you know.   

[usraptor]

It worked,     just like you said it would.      It's not perfect yet, but it's dramatically better and will only take a little minor tweaking before it is perfect.     Thank you so much 1 Wild R/T .  Once again you saved my bacon.   

[1 Wild R/T]

I like Bacon...   Glad it worked!!!

[nsmall]

Glad to hear you made progress.  I had restorick rebuild mine (they were real sloppy) and the alignment is great now.  Do you have any slop in them once the hood is closed?  Maybe your painter can help with the final adjustment? 

[usraptor]

nsmall, no, once the hood is closed it's pretty secure with no sloop.  I spent quite a bit of time on it yesterday and the gaps are now perfect.  Can't believe the difference. 

[nsmall]

Yeah buddy.  Thats what we like to hear.  Im sure its as perfect as you can get on a 48 year old mopar.

[usraptor]

Took a few pics of the rear hood alignment today so you can see how it came out. I'm pleased that it lined up so well for a 47 year old car.

[culp71]

glad to see usraptor was able to get the hood to the proper height.

anyway you could post a few pictures of the hood hinge/inner fender bolts to show the difference slot position from before?

[usraptor]

Here's some pics of the hinges after the adjustment. It was a little hard to get pics of the rear bolts with the shaker in place, especially on the driver's side with the power booster also in the way.