The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop hood closing

I've got a '66 GMC pickup. I tore all the front sheet metal off it about 12 years ago. It sat inside since then. Now my body guys (?) are trying to get the hood to line up with the fenders, with me doing most of the work. I'm a pure rookie at body work so it's hard to tell them what I think because I keep hearing; "How many jobs have you done?) Here's the problem: the hood opens and closes nice, but will stay up an inch or two, at the front, from closed position without a latch. They keep telling me to shim up the core support, Already added a quarter inch to passenger side). All that did was open the bottom door gap on the passenger side. Which was good. Now they want me to buy new hinges. I've studied those hinges from every angle. watched them open and close, no binding marks and I cannot see a problem with them. But it hit me yesterday that the hood sits up a little because of the spring tension (almost maxed out when closed). They claim I'm bending the hood but I can't see any metal moving on the o/s rear top. The hood and inner is pretty clean and solid. What's the story?

Same sheetmetal going back on as was removed 12 years ago? Not entirely understanding of your description? So what you are suggesting is that you cant push to the latched position without hinge problems and or without disturbing the fit line between fender and hood? How is the fit at the cab side of hood? I dont know that the hoods need to be shimmed at the hinges so i am not sure whathas occurred yet. Can you attach a picture?

Sorry, no pic right now. All pieces came off the truck. If you hold the hood down, with minimum hand pressure, all lines look good. But when you let go, it goes up about an inch and a quarter on the pass side, and about two inches on the drivers side. It does go down to the rubber pads that contact the tops of the fenders. I say there is nothing wrong but my body guys say other wise. One of them wants to spacer up the core support an inch, until I mentioned what that would do to the door gaps.

I dont think the neutral position is all the way down. There is some up force at the latch to keep the hood from bouncing. So if the holddown latch was installed what happens. You can adjust the latch height some with an adjustment bolt to put slight pressure onto the bumpers. Is it that simple or am i still missing the complexity.

Ok. I'll install the latch this weekend and see how that works out. Thanks

It sounds like your "body guys" are pretty incompetent. All sheet metal work involves making use of slotted holes, and making minor tweaks to assure everything lines up properly. There's some pretty complex geometry involved in those hinges' relationship with the firewall, the hood, the latch, and the rubber bumpers. If everything was aligned properly before you took it apart, there's no reason it can't be adjusted to have the right relationship again. Were any aftermarket parts installed during the reassembly?
Jerry

Did you replace the core support rubber? Are your cabs mounts in good condition as well? If you have new core support rubber you may need to replace the cab mounts also. This could be an overlooked factor.

Core support rubber is good and same thickness as new parts according to NPD. Never touched the cab supports. I'll get to the bottom of this yet!

Yes, they are not the genius' they think they are, but I'm stuck with them for now. Once we solve this hood "problem" we'll be close to blocking. I agree with the complex geometry thing. We tried adjusting the hinges side to side, but not much play there. There are no aftermarket parts or new metal installed. It did all align and work before dis-assembly. I just need to keep some forward momentum going to get this done. So I take it I can't leave this as is?
I appreciate any and all of the help I get here. Thanks again.

I had trouble with new fenders for weeks. I eventually got mad, enlarged a bolt hole and used a pry bar. Got things close, tightened the bolts and walked away. 6 yrs later i only see a pretty good result. Let us know how the latch works out.