The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Hood and hood latch issues

I have a 58 1/2 ton. The original hinges were shot, so it has repro hinges as well as a repro latch assembly with the original striker plate attached to the hood. There is considerable "up" tension on the hood when it is latched. It "works" on the latch, and after five minutes of driving it has worked itself up off the proper height by 1/2-3/4" or so. Question--when the hood is closed and latched, should there be "up" tension on it? What bolts were used to attach the latch mechanism? Thanks

My experience is with 60-66 but i suspect about the same. Hood stays down unlatched and takes 5-10 lbs to lift and is close to neutrally balenced throughout range. Can stop it at any place and it stays put. Latch bolt are 1/2 body bolts.

Thanks for the answer. The hood will stay put wherever you stop it but requires quite a bit of force to move it the last 2 inches to full latch position. Then it works itself loose by either deforming the latch or flexing the sheet metal. I cant see what is happening when it's shut, but the mounting bolts remain tight. I did notice the driver's side rear corner of the striker is hitting the head of the driver's side latch mounting bolt leading me to believe i had the wrong mounting bolts. The gaps are pretty good when its latched, so i think its fairly well aligned.