Any Good Tips for Hood Adjustment-1966 Mustang

jdstefan22 · 07-31-2009

After having my hood fly open and causing the prerequisite damage- minor bending, luckily, I managed to get the hood back in pretty good shape.

However, I need to realign some of the side spacing on it. The drivers side between the hood and fender has about maybe 3/8 to a 1/2 inch gap and the passenger side is pretty tight, about a 1/4 inch or less.

I tried some basic brute things, pushing the hood while fully open from the passenger side towards the drivers side, but am afraid to put too much torque on it for fear of damaging the hinges more.

I also adjusted the hinges a bit, to get my vertical alignment back to normal. Also, played around with the bolts where the hinge actually connects to the hood, but my side to side spacing is off.

I have done some internet searching, but not comeup with some simple Mustang based hood alignment tricks.

I know someone here has some, thanks.

thetvirus · 07-31-2009

Try watching this video, you might need to buy need hood hinges if they are bent.

YouTube - Mustang "How to" hood adjustment (real easy)

jdstefan22 · 07-31-2009

thanks for the link, it give the ultimate basics, but what I am looking for more than that are:

What do you adjust to have the hood/fender clearance right? It is either the hinge itself, or the hood where it connects to the hinge, even the fenders I have seen.

The basic stuff I know, he really didnt get too indepth on the video, beyond what I all ready knew.

And, yes, I most likely will need a new Pass side hinge, as it is pretty bent up, which could be part of my problem.

tempoffroad · 07-31-2009

i think that you will need to get a new hinge. i have found that for me to get the right amout of space even one both sides i have to adjust the fender in or out.

Veronica · 08-01-2009

Hello.

This might help.

The Care and Feeding of Ponies: Hood adjustment

jdstefan22 · 08-01-2009

Veronica,

I should have thought to look in your blog first-

Awesome writeup, this is EXACTLY the type of info that I was looking for,

THANKS!

Ivy66GT · 08-01-2009

If you really have a 1/2" gap on one side and 1/4" on the other side of the hood it sounds like your fenders are too far apart. The first thing to do before adjusting the hood is to make sure the front fenders are bolted down in the right locations. That's not a trivial problem and I don't have any good advice except to adjust everything until it looks as straight and symmetrical as you can. If the fenders are not generally perpendicular to the cowl then you can never get the hood to align and look correct. Since the hood is tapered front-to-rear the fenders are not each 'exactly' perpendicular to the cowl but the two should meet the cowl at the same complimentary angle.

You likely can't get it all perfect - they never were.

Veronica · 08-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivy66GT

If you really have a 1/2" gap on one side and 1/4" on the other side of the hood it sounds like your fenders are too far apart. The first thing to do before adjusting the hood is to make sure the front fenders are bolted down in the right locations. That's not a trivial problem and I don't have any good advice except to adjust everything until it looks as straight and symmetrical as you can. If the fenders are not generally perpendicular to the cowl then you can never get the hood to align and look correct. Since the hood is tapered front-to-rear the fenders are not each 'exactly' perpendicular to the cowl but the two should meet the cowl at the same complimentary angle.

You likely can't get it all perfect - they never were.

Hi again.

That's why I always started by lining up the ridge in the middle of the hood with the matching ridge in the middle of the cowl, so that the sides of the hood lined up with the cowl correctly, got the hood sitting like I wanted it, and tweek the location of the fenders as needed. You actually can get them awfully close if you're willing to sit there messing with it until it's right. Sometimes that goes quickly, sometimes it takes all day, but, if you're committed to doing whatever it takes, you can get them right.

Ivy66GT · 08-01-2009

Its a fiddly job no matter how you go about it. Persistence is the key to success. Lining the hood up with the cowl first is a good idea although the crease in the center of the hood peters about before it reaches the cowl. The best you can do is sight down the hood crease and align it with the center element of the cowl. That of course assumes that the center hood crease is already perpendicular to the cowl.

I measured mine and the total combined spacing for BOTH sides of the hood should be just bit less than 1/2". More than that the fenders are a bit too far apart.