Gapping a hood properly?

[RJK]

Hi all-so I have my 240Z almost completely blown apart to prep for paint, and most of the gapping looks pretty good to me, however, I have one outlier: the passenger corner of my hood sits about 1cm high, and about .5 cm forward, from where I'd like it to be. Looking around, I don't think I can shift the headlight panel without displacing the gapping somewhere else. If I could get the hood to just sit LOWER at the front right corner, that'd mostly do what I want. I have the bumper and grill off, so I can access the hinge bolts with the hood closed easily. I tried gently to loosen the bolts that hold the hood to the hinge(can't shift it), as well as the bolts that hold the hinge to the body(also, wouldnt shift), and had no luck. It's possible I didn't loosen them enough-Maybe 2-3 full turns?-I didn't want the whole hood to start swimming. Any tips for gently sliding the hood hinges around a bit? Thanks!

[grannyknot]

I have had problems with that same corner of the hood myself, it was the torsion spring rods that were pushing it up. I had to notch the adjustment holes on the hinge a bit to get the extra room then while pushing the hood down in that area tighten the bolts.  You may want to remove each bolt one at a time and make sure it is not just over layered paint that is keeping things from shifting.

[RJK]

thanks. If I pull the entire hinge mechanism by itself, am I screwing the pooch, in regards to resetting it? If I'm not in danger of opening a rats nest up, I might as well try pulling the bolts all the way out, and seeing if I can get it to seat properly by hand.

[siteunseen]

I had a fit with mine to.  I tightened or loosened those 4 bolts as tight as I could get them and still be able to move it.  Closed the hood, gently shoved it around and down and all that until it was square.  I used a soft plastic Bondo squeegee to get the sides spaced right.  Then carefully pop the hood and tighten the 4 bolts back down.

 

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, RJK said:

thanks. If I pull the entire hinge mechanism by itself, am I screwing the pooch, in regards to resetting it? If I'm not in danger of opening a rats nest up, I might as well try pulling the bolts all the way out, and seeing if I can get it to seat properly by hand.

As long as you have not loosened the fenders or cowl then you 'll be okay, you don't have to pull the hinges unless you are cleaning and painting them, really you just need to back off the screws until you can shift things.  A tiny bit snug is good so you can do a shift and it will stay there. 

[sweatybetty]

i played with mine for a couple of afternoons and couldn't get everything to line up right. right now it is close enough for the girls i go out with. you can drive yourself crazy