Moparts

Warped hood or am I missing something?

Posted By: Steve Bryant

Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 06:48 PM

On my 1970 Barracuda, the previous owner replaced the flat hood with a Rallye hood and I can't stop the rear corner from creeping up. I replaced the wedges and have adjusted the hood to ensure it's square and I can't get the rear of the hood on the driver's side to stay down! I can press it down but within 10-15 minutes of driving it begins to inch back up again.

A guy I trust indicated it was probably a warped hood and suggested we put a block of wood under the other corners and try to force it down but that doesn't sit well with me.

The front two corners sit fine as does the rear-passenger corner but the driver's side just won't behave.

Is this a common problem..perhaps a worn spring or do you guys agree that I need to consider the more persuasive force?

Attached picture 8072640-hood.jpg
Posted By: 71birdJ68

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 07:24 PM

Try going from inside. loosen all the bolts, and put the hood down then go from inside the eng bay to tighten them up.
Posted By: Steve Bryant

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 07:48 PM

Can't do that unfortunately since the bolts tighten from the outside of the support brace. I was able to get inside and take some photos. There are two pivot points on the top of the brace and for what it is worth, it is the front pivot point that is allowing the hood to raise up.

Attached picture 8072693-hood2.jpg
Posted By: 70gtx440dana

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 08:13 PM

I'm just guessing here.....sounds like you have a hinge issue. I have seen this happen on a couple of 71-72 B bodies. A fresh set of hinges cured the issue.
Posted By: burdar

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 08:54 PM

If the hinges aren't worn, it's an adjustment issue. Look on Resto Rick's website for adjusting tricks. My Challenger hood did the same thing. It was an adjustment issue. You kind of have to adjust the hinges the opposite of what you'd think in order to get the back of the hood to sit down flush with the fenders.
Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 09:31 PM

Quote:

If the hinges aren't worn, it's an adjustment issue. Look on Resto Rick's website for adjusting tricks. My Challenger hood did the same thing. It was an adjustment issue. You kind of have to adjust the hinges the opposite of what you'd think in order to get the back of the hood to sit down flush with the fenders.




This ^^^^^ Too many hinges have been rebuilt for this reason and they did not need to be rebuilt.
Posted By: 71birdJ68

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 09:38 PM

Doesn't the hinge bolt to the inner fender? That was where I was talking about.
Posted By: Cab_Burge

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 09:42 PM

Take the hinges off the car and the hood and set the hood on the car, if it sits flat adjust the hinges as needed Don't be afraid to loosen the bolts on the hinges to the body and adjust the hinges on the body I normally will mark the hinge outline on the fender or body(with a removable marker) before starting to make sure I know where I started at
Posted By: Steve Bryant

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/13/14 09:52 PM

Sounds like I have a game plan here. I am going to give this a shot this afternoon.

Thanks everyone, I will let you know how it goes.
Posted By: skicker

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 12:39 AM

The 3 bolts for the hinge on the inner structure are tightened down with the hinge too high. walk the entire hinge straight down and you will get it close. You may have to slide the hood forward or backward once you have the height set.
Posted By: 469runner

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 12:44 AM

One more adjustment to consider...try rotating the hinges slightly, meaning allowing the rear of the hinge to sit lower in the adjustment slots than the front.
Posted By: DAYCLONA

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 01:16 AM

Quote:

Quote:

If the hinges aren't worn, it's an adjustment issue. Look on Resto Rick's website for adjusting tricks. My Challenger hood did the same thing. It was an adjustment issue. You kind of have to adjust the hinges the opposite of what you'd think in order to get the back of the hood to sit down flush with the fenders.




This ^^^^^ Too many hinges have been rebuilt for this reason and they did not need to be rebuilt.






....just another E body curse, rising hood corner (always the drivers side too ) rattling doors/windows, and C pillar telegraphing, having owned E bodies since the mid 70's, this is the most annoying symptom...Resto Rick has some great tips for those uninitiated with E bodies

Mike
Posted By: Steve Bryant

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 03:04 AM

Perhaps this curse cannot be corrected without more skill or a complete set of new everything! The only thing I have not tried yet is to take all the hinges off and see if the hood is warped. I probably should have started with that.

I loosened all the bolts, seated the hood where I liked it and then tightened what I could from the inside and then tightened the rest with the hood slightly raised. The problem persisted.

I then looked at Resto Rick's brilliant page but it did not solve my problem either. His page talks about the elevation of the hinges on the fender and the rotation of the hinges across it's three bolts. I tried lowering the hinge all the way on the fender, raising it all the way and then I tried to rotate the hinge forward and backward. So far ALL the way tilted backward is the best with the hinge highest on the front fender bolt and then lower the back of the hinge as low on the fender as possible. This combination may have improved my stance by 1/4" but that is all I can get.

For now I am going to sleep on it since I have a better understanding of how the parts interact upon each other. I am not sure I am going to be able to adjust it out. Maybe the hood is warped or perhaps the springs are worn or maybe I need to find out where Resto Rick lives and see if he charges by the hour!

Any else got any voodoo?
Posted By: screamindriver

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 05:28 AM

Here's a quick check...Open the hood and let it rest where it will against the springs...Now grab the hood and lift...Can you raise the hood a few inches but it settles back down on the spring when you let go ??? If so that's the slop in the hinges...If you've got worn hinges that needs addressed before you'll get the adjustments in spec...
Posted By: dan9

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 04:28 PM

I would loosen the front and bottom rear hinge bolt then raise the hood maybe a little beyond where it rests in the open position. In other words rock the hinge bringing the front up, it looks like that is your problem. As said before, it's opposite of what you would think.
Posted By: Steve Bryant

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/14/14 06:01 PM

Rick Kreuziger was good enough to spend some time with me over email and after I explained that adjusting the rotation all the way and all the way back didn't work. He asked me to measure the adjustment opening at the front of the hinge and it looks like this E-Body has the hinges from a B-Body car. Since the gap is narrower on the B-Body hinge, I do not have the adjustment range as I should which is probably the problem. I am now looking into getting some proper E-Body hinges.

Attached picture 8073717-gap.jpg
Posted By: RestoRick

Re: Warped hood or am I missing something? - 03/15/14 05:43 AM

My pleasure Steve...

For future readers of this thread, let me explain some details.

The '71-74 B-body hood hinges have shorter length adjustment slots in their base. (15/16")

'70-74 E-body slots are 1 1/4" long.

The rest of the hinge components are identical, so it's pretty easy to mis-identify them.
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