hood hinge alignment

[GoMangoBoys]

I have reinstalled the doors, fenders and hood.  The struggle to align it all begins.  One problem that I have is the height of the hood in the rear when it is closed.  I have the adjustment of the hood hinges onto the inner fenders as low as the slots allow.  The hood is still too high compared to the fenders.  Also, there appears to be play in the hinges, as the hood moves down when I push it down in the back.  lastly the hood spring on the driver's side twists as the hood opens and closes.  The end of the spring makes a big bang as the hood opens.  Please help me understand how to resolve these issues.  The hood, springs, fenders and doors were all on this car and aligned properly before we took it all apart.  It has to go back together, but I have little experience in understanding what I am doing wrong.

[headejm]

From RestoRick...this should help. Worked for me. 

[anlauto]

The front of the hinge has to go up to bring the back of the hood down

[Dakota]

There's a little more information on the alignment process in this thread:

https://forum.e-bodies.org/body-shop/5/hood-hinges-and-alignment-issue/11929/msg162856#msg162856


I was fighting this issue on hood alignment a couple of weeks ago.   Once you think you're close, I'd suggest putting the hood pins in.   There was no wiggle room on the location of the plates for the hood pins on my hood, so either the hood has to be adjusted or the mounting hole for the pins has to be massaged a bit.  The small rubber bumpers that go on the front fenders (roughly in line with the grill) help lock the front of the hood in place, but these would have to be removed again when you do final paint work.

A word of warning:  I used a battery powered 3/8" ratchet to snug and loosen the hinge bolts on the hood while doing the alignment.  It was very convenient to used the tool but after lots of tightening and loosening cycles, one of the bolt holes stripped so I had to go rethread and go up in bolt size.  Not fun.  While fiddling with the position, get the bolts snug enough so the hinges don't move and keep godzilla away from tightening them too much.