Hood Closing Alignment

[StephenJ]

Hi All. I notice that the hood on my 76 Z does NOT close without having to pull back the hood latch on the hood. I have tried loosening the bolts that hold the hood to the hinge..and pushing the hood toward the cabin. Does not seem to help. In fact, it starts changing the fit and finish of the hood to the fenders. I also tried adjusting the latch and keep...but remains off enough to still be a minor issue.

The pull release in the cabin seems to work fine. The hood pops up, then I pull on the latch to release the hood. Just coming back down...it hits the point of the latch on the latch-keep.

This appears to be the original hood to the car...and it has not been in any accidents. Perhaps I can just grind the latch angle down some.

Has anyone had this issue and tried to fix? I know my 78 Z dropped all the way down and closed without having to pull back the latch.

[Walter Moore]

That is how my hood works, I have to "release" the safety catch to get it past that point when closing the hood. I wasn't able to adjust this out, but I didn't try very hard because it seemed like it was better to have a reliable safety catch than to have the hood close easily.

That was a choice that I made. I suspect that you could enlarge the mounting holes for the safety catch and move it rearward slightly to make it skip past this point when closing the hood.

[Travel'n Man]

You adjust your hood by the hinged section of the hood by the front bumper. You really need two people to do this with ease.......sightly loosen the four screws on the hood near the front of the car - and ease changes. Be very gentle with and make sure your edits give you straight lines with all the hood and fender area's before you close. This will correct your closing issues.

Again, don't slam anything until your changes are final and correct.

[StephenJ]

Are you saying the bolts/screws that hold the hinges to the car or the bolts that hold the hood to the hinge? I have tried the latter of the two...but it did not move forward enough to move the latch beyond the catch.

Walter - Thanks for the thought. I think if the hood still closes by itself, it still can work to catch the hood when you release it. (that probably does not make much sense

[EScanlon]

Before you go adjusting the alignment of the hood, especially if it's ONLY the latch that needs adjusting, explain what's happening better.

Is it that the Safety Catch Latch is STOPPING the hood from closing all the way, or that the Latch doesn't catch the Hood Pin and it rebounds and it's the Safety Latch that catches it?

If it's the Safety Catch that's stopping the Hood Pin from entering and being trapped by the Latch mechanism, does the hinge pin need lubrication?

If the Hood Pin isn't entering far enough into the latch mechanism to be trapped, do you have to push the hood down harder to get it to latch? If so, does the pin need to be lengthened, or do the Hood Stop Bumper bolts need adjusting?

FWIW

E

[StephenJ]

Thanks EScanlon. The Saftey catch latch (fixed to the hood) is hitting the catch on the fire wall. The latch, as you know, is angled so that as it closed on the catch, it pushes back until the hood closes to the 1-1/2 in mark, or so.

However, in my case, it seems that the latch is too forward, making the "point" of the latch hit the catch. Isn't that confusint to say. I'll try to get some picks tomorrow.

The pin is going in fine, and the hood releases fine. Simply put, I cannot simply slam the hood shut from an open position. I must pull the latch back so that it does not hit the catch...then I push the hood completely closed.

[EScanlon]

Going strictly off memory:

The "catch" mechanism ON the body, has some adjustment forward/back and side to side and no vertical. The "pin" mechanism has limited adjustment in the X-Y axis but can be adjusted vertically (length of pin).

Have you checked that the catch is not installed at an angle? By that I mean that the pin is apparently entering the opening in the catch properly, but if the rest of the catch body is at an angle then the safety latch (which has limited diagonal adjustment) might hit the body of the catch.

In other words, adjust the Catch such that you do NOT move the location of the Catch Opening (for the pin) but you DO move the body of the catch such that you adjust the opening for the Safety Latch into position.

Follow what I'm saying? In simple terms, move the opening in the Catch to where the Safety Latch will enter it without hitting.

E

[StephenJ]

I tried adjusting the catch on the firewall...but it would not move out far enough. I have included pics that help show the problem.

Pic "As-Is" shows how the latch is hitting the catch.

Pic "S/B" shows where I think it should be if....without me having to pull on it.

Again, this pin hits perfectly.

[StephenJ]

Meant to add: It does not appear to be installed at an angle. I did take both pieces off (hood and body) just to clean. reinstalled, but same issue. I moved the latch as far toward the cab as I could, and the catch as far toward the nose as I could. What you see in the pic is each at its furtherst point.

Leads me to wonder if I should adjust the hood hinges that attach to the body.

Thoughts?

[Nutz]

stephen,

I dont really have any advice for you other to say good luck with the issue. I am in the process of getting my car ready for paint and can tell you that adjusting the hood hinges where they attach to the body of the car should be your last resort. It is quite a process to get everything to line up once you loosen those hinges. I can also tell you there is very little forward/aft adjustment available by loosening the hood hinges.

good luck

Matt

[StephenJ]

Matt- thanks. If there is not much movement in the hood by loosening those bolts, then I would agree that maybe I should not do it. It really is not a big deal...just looking to fine-tune the closure. Thanks All!

[mgood]

Stephen could the base plate be bent? If it is not then you could slot the holes to get more movement. Here is a picture of mine that fits perfect.