Side to side hood movement

[Solarguy]

70 Cuda, Rallye Hood, all rubber bumpers and spring loaded wedges in place.  Actually raised the spring wedges up about 1/4 inch with spacer to better contact hood sides.  All hinge bolts tight.  Hood is moving enough that it chipped paint at back corner of hood and fender. The hinges feel tight to me .  Body gaps are very good.   I can see back of the hood wiggle side to side when going over RR tracks.  can't move it side to side by hand when closed.  Is this a sign of worn out hinges?  I know I have typical body flex but I've had this car for 20 years plus and this just started happening. 

[RUNCHARGER]

Missing body bumper that goes on bottom side of hood in back I would guess.

[Solarguy]

Missing body bumper that goes on bottom side of hood in back I would guess.

Thanks.  No, its there.  With hood raised and pushing/pulling side to side on the back edge of hood, I get side to side movement with hood open.   When closed, It's contacting the 2 front side bumpers and the raised spring wedges and cant be moved by hand.  I put a piece of paper between side bumpers/wedges and with hood closed, paper is tight and can't be pulled out yet when going over RR tracks, I see enough wiggle that it will make contact.  Would worn hinges cause side to side movement with hood closed? 

[Cuda Cody]

Post some photos of the gaps and all the rubber body bumpers that you have in place.  Do you have to push the hood down in the back after it's closed to get it to sit flush?

With all the rubber bump stops and side stops the hood should not move from side to side very much. 

[Solarguy]

I do not have to push down on back of hood, sits flush with fender tops on both sides.  Grabbing the back of hood and push/pulling side to side, I can't move side to side by hand when closed.  Chipped repaired touch up area this morning pass side rear corner.  I can see back of hood wiggle side to side when going over large bumps enough that it will sometimes make contact.  Thought I had it fixed by adding spacer under spring wedges on both sides as seen in pic 2.  Before adding spacer, doing the paper test between spring loaded bumper and closed hood, paper would pull right out indicating no contact.  With it raised 1/4 inch, it makes good contact.  Paper test between hood side and all 4 side bumpers with hood closed cant pull out paper. 

[7212Mopar]

I have the same problems and observations. The DS rear corner will make contact and chipped the paint. The plastic spring wedges seems to last a year or so then comes apart. I don't have rubber bumpers at the back of the hood. Where are they located?

[anlauto]

Interesting that it "just started happening"  ....Those are some really nice gaps...pretty tight 

[Solarguy]

There are 3 bumpers along the back of hood although they have no bearing on side to side movement. 

[Solarguy]

Interesting that it "just started happening"  ....Those are some really nice gaps...pretty tight 

By that, I mean just started making contact.  Hood always wiggled a little before. 

[B5fourspeed]

If you remove the hood wedges is there any difference.Is the gap where the wedges go the same as the front and rear.It looks like the gap where the wedges go is a little tighter.If everything is the same then I would say the issue is the hinges.

[Solarguy]

No, the gaps are the same without the spring wedges.  In fact, they have been on for the past 15 years and apparently not doing much as I just recently while dealing with this issue had to lift them 1/4 inch to contact hood side properly.  I put them on after the car was painted way back then and never checked them using paper like I did since chipping paint. 

[dodj]

There are 3 bumpers along the back of hood although they have no bearing on side to side movement.

They do actually. When you close the hood it should be compressing those bumpers which aids in reducing side to side movement.

[Solarguy]

There are 3 bumpers along the back of hood although they have no bearing on side to side movement.

They do actually. When you close the hood it should be compressing those bumpers which aids in reducing side to side movement.

Thanks,  Mine don't make contact there,  I just double checked using the paper method and they are not even close to touching.  I always thought of those as bump stops not needing to be compressed but I can see how they would help if they were.  I have the tall one in the middle and the shorter ones on the edges.  How can I make those compress  without messing up my body lines?   I have the crumple zone hood using the 1970 Body bumper kit and see that there is a kit for 72-74 Cuda's that has some different looking bumpers in it.  Anyone know if the hood area bumpers are different in those 2 kits? 

[dodj]

The only thing I can say is, I know the rear of the hood will come down if you raise the 'nose' of the hood hinge. As you know, this will mess up your panel alignment with the fenders. Maybe as a test, put some kind of rubber shim in there on top of the existing bumpers and go for a drive over some bumps?

[jimynick]

"Those are some really nice gaps...pretty tight" Yep, and that is why it hits. These cars are "flexiflyers" and they came from the factory with gaps that averaged 5/16- 3/8" and there's a reason for that, as you're discovering. The unibody structure is :loose" enough that the addition of subframe connectors is common, in an attempt to tighten them up. At the end of the day, either the fender or the hood corner have to move OR the substructure becomes stiff enough to fight the wiggle; your call.