Hood Alignment Issues

[wheee!]

They are on the way back now, cost me 500 euro incl shipping, then again i will most likely be taxed again by our greedy goverment , so i think a total of 570 or so.
Hope it was worth it..

[emoji15]

[charliekwin]

6 hours ago, wheee! said:

 

I'm in the wrong line of work....

[wheee!]

$800 Cdn for hinges? Not even new but your own set rebuilt? That takes a special kind of deep pocket...

[bartsscooterservice]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:47 PM, wheee! said:

 

 

Yep. But I had that experience with many classic car parts repairs in the past. Some things you just can't do yourself. Lately I ordered a rebuild steering box for my mustang.. that was around 400 usd, still cheaper than 600 for one from summit. I knew this guy from Ebay.

Our goverment here is also crazy, they charge tax on everything. The hinges I first got from somebody in Canada ( forum member here ), then I had to pay tax.. now they will come back to Netherlands again, and for sure they will tax me again

They shouldn't put tax on second hand parts...

[bartsscooterservice]

On 1/4/2020 at 12:55 AM, wheee! said:

$800 Cdn for hinges? Not even new but your own set rebuilt? That takes a special kind of deep pocket...

tell me all about it...

Classic cars take DEEP pockets.

I couldn't find anyone here who could rebuild them, and I don''t have the tools myself.. ( riveting machine etc )

[bartsscooterservice]

[BoldUlysses]

Boy I hate bodywork.

All the mechanical parts?  Done.  No issues.  Wiring harness and dash back in last weekend?  No problem.

 

 

Every piece of bodywork has been a struggle and REFUSES to align.  Everything is an hours-long losing battle.

/rant

First it was the hood, and I was advised to start with the doors and work my way forward, so I removed the cowl, loosened the doors and fenders and set to work.

The door wasn't aligned before, and still will not align.  This is with the striker on the door jamb all the way inboard and there's still a 1/2" gap.  What is going on?

As for the hatch, the front driver's side will not stay down.  I used the technique earlier in this thread to align it, and it stays aligned the first time I close the hatch, but then it drifts back up again.  Also, the rear lip of the hatch isn't aligned and all the shims have been removed from under the hinge.

 

So discouraged.  I'm preparing myself to having to drive around in a Z with janky-looking bodywork.

Edited June 21, 2020 by BoldUlysses

[Patcon]

If the hatch will align and then slowly move, then I suspect the mounts are moving because of seal pressure. You could get it adjusted and then put a faint pencil outline around the mounts. Check them after it moves to confirm the slippage.  I would use a sealant between the mounts if thats whats happening to increase resistance

The door is more difficult...

Worn latch, worn striker are easy fixes.

If I couldn't solve it any other way I would add adjustment to the inboard but I wouldn't think that should be necessary

I believe the latches have two sequential locking positions. Maybe move the strike further out and see if you can get the latch to lock better

[grannyknot]

On the door, as Patcon says, 2 locking positions, it looks like only the first is engaging. If the door seal is new you may have to slam the door to get it to close then park it out in the sun and let it get hot.  It's unheard of today to have to slam a car door, in the 70's, not uncomom, hopefully the suns heat will loosen up the seal.

The hatch, is there a possibility the captive nuts or bolts for the hatch hinges are stripping the threads or maybe some grease got between the hinge and roof flange?  A properly torqued hinge bolt should easily resist the pressure from a seal.

[BoldUlysses]

Thanks guys.  FYI I posted the above in the wrong thread; it should be here:

I've let a mod know.

Anyway.

So I adjusted the hatch hinge so the driver's side sits flush and I didn't open the hatch.  I'm going to leave it there for a while and see if seals relax.

Re:the door; you're absolutely right that it's only engaged at the first detent.  I moved the striker outboard as far as it could go, and it still would only engage at the first detent, and this is with me giving the door a decent shove.

I put the striker right in the middle of its range and slammed the door REALLY hard—which I've never done before—and it actually closed flush (except for the bottom of the door which is still 1/4" or so out).  I'm going to leave it like that and hope the seals relax to the point where I don't have to slam it that hard any more. 

Before the restoration we never had to slam the doors, and the hatch was flush.............  Really hoping stiff seals are the only thing wrong here.

 

 

[Maritimer]

I had that same hood issue several times and I fixed it by rotating the hood where it bolts to the hinges. Basically you open your hood, loosen the bolts holding it on the hinge and try to rotate it away from the car, pushing the nose towards the radiator and pulling the top away from the car. You wind up having one hole at the bottom of its adjustment and one at the top. Be gentle and don’t bend the hood, helps to have many hands. Might not work on all cases but worked well enough For me on two different cars, definitely worth a try.

I can’t remember what forum post I got the advice from. Only issue I’ve noticed using this method is you have to close the hood a bit to use the prop rod.

edit:

oops I mean what sheen said, no idea why it works different than the push-down technique

Edited June 22, 2020 by Maritimer

[87mj]

Regarding your doors, I aligned mine with the seals and latches off the car.  The window frames were on the door.  That gave me a good starting point.  It allowed me to make the gaps as accurate as I could.  Then focus on the latch afterward.

BUT, I wish I would have taken a black sharpie pen and outlined the door latches.  Then replaced the factory ones with cheap aftermarket Taiwan parts.  Then tell the body shop to paint over those cheap aftermarket ones.  Also, when removing the doors from the car, unbolt the doors from the hinges.  Leave the door hinges in their factory locations. Then when I got the car back from the body shop, install the original factory door latches (the factory positions should now be easy to see).  And the hinges would still be at their factory location. 

I wish.  But too late now.