The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Art Deco hood won't shut all the way

Maybe it's normal for these trucks but I can't get the rear lower corners of the hood to suck in close to the body when I turn the latch handle. The front locks in place no problem but the latch rod just seems to slide along the brackets on the firewall but doesn't seem to lock into anything that sucks the hood in in back. Does the rod need to be bent or something? Thanks for any help.

yes, sometimes a little judicious bending is needed after 50 years of folks being sloppy, but also examine the catch on that end to see that it isn't badly worn

Bill

Mine shuts fine and quite snug. Do you have pictures? Is the cowl lacing still on it?

I'll have to take some pictures. The truck has new cowl lacing.

I'd guess the thickness of the new cowl lacing is causing the latch to " just miss " the firewall catch. As red 58 said, perhaps a little tweaking is in order.

Isn't the latch rod supposed to slide below the catch on the firewall? Ours does but it still won't pull the lower section (the part with the louvers) of the hood in in the rear. My question is where is the rod supposed to stop on the catch? Is it supposed to go past the lower horizontal part of the catch to where it starts to curve up and then stop, or is it supposed to just stop on the flat part on the bottom of the catch?

I'll have a look at mine tonight , and get back to you

I got the right side to look better by moving the catch on the firewall inward, but when I did this on the left side it didn't help. Something must be worn out or mismatched. It probably isn't helping that our hood hinge lets the hood halves slide back and forth randomly, or maybe that's just the way these trucks are.

Latch rod lays flat against hood side panel when open. When closed, it catches the lower end of the slanted bracket and as it rotates against the inward slope ( moving up the bracket ), it pulls hood side tight against the body. Are you able to tweak the locking rod a little ( bend it in ) to allow it to hook the lower edge of the bracket ? I can't recall if the catches have a slotted hole to allow some adjustment or not, but sounds like you got yours to move a little. Have you tried pressing on the corner as you rotate the latch mechanism ?

My '40 does not fit right, but you can tell that somebody used to throw the hood over on itself like a model T!!!! This bends the hood at the weakest point, by the vent. I could remove the hood and gently hammer and dolly the area, but that would trash what is left of the paint. So, until I'm ready to repaint, I live with it. Best of luck!

Someone must have changed the catch brackets on the firewall because I got some off of a '42 (or '46) model truck and they were slightly more angled down. It seems to help a lot to use them. Also I took a pair of water pump pliers and carefully bent the latch rod toward the hood in the back. Seems to close better now, but not perfect.

I don't think " perfect fit " was ever in the assembly manual *g*
Expect a few gaps along the way.

Exactly, after spending several hours trying to get the hood on my '46 to fit properly, I came to the realization that the hood on a 66 year old truck never fit that well to begin with, and after 66 years it's not going to fit perfectly.