Help! I am a new member restoring a '57 fuelie. I am taking great pains to be sure all panel gaps and alignments are perfect but the hood is driving me nuts. The leading edge has over one half inch gap and the pop up springs keep the front edge too high. If I adjust the hinges down they nick the body at full open position. There appears to be no alignment provision in the latches on the firewall. I need someone who has "been there done that". Thanks.... Terry
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57 hood alignment
OK- The rear latches adjust by moving the male pins on the hood or by placing the spacers between the catch and firewall. As for the front being too high, I can personally state the front of mine has always been 1/2" too high when the hood was closed- I've been around this car all my life. Close hood- push down on all four corners. Mine have always stayed down. -
Re: 57 hood alignment
Dave, thanks for the prompt response. This car has been hit in the front right corner at some time so I also suspect the integrity of the radiator core (hinge mount) and hinge pin slop. On the bench the hinges seem fairly snug, but mounted on the car I have quite a bit of up and down movement. By the way, I tried pushing down the front edge after closing but the pop up are doing their job too well, they pop it right back up! Perhaps I expect too much of a 46 year old fiberglass car. ha!Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment
You and most 53 to 57 Corvette owners gooo nutty while you are trying to ajust the hood. To many years ago I wrote an Article on the hood ajustment for NCRS. But to day people have forgotten it.I will try to simplify it.
1.The front hood latches have TWO arms, the straight one is to hold the hood to the Rad. support.
2.The curved arm is to pull down on the hood or go over center as you close the hood.
3.The latches have two holes ,a top hole and a longated bottom hole,( these bolt to the Rad. support).At the bottom hole you can move the unit up or down to increase the pull on the hood ( curved arm)
4.The so called POP-UPS is to push the front hood line up OVER the body front line so as to clear the body line.Usely needing no ajustment.
5.Also the front hood blocks are used to set the thickness of the hood when closed to the body line.
6.To bring down the hood PRESSURE on to the POP_UPS and hood BLOCKS , shiming the TOP hood bolt to increase the angle ( top bolt only)(the bolts that hold the hood)( between the bolt and hood) will increase PULL down pressure.
Adjustment of the curved arm up and down alonge with shiming the top hood bolt and the understanding of just what your doing in your minds eye will correct your problem.
You will know you got it right , when you pull the hood open and at the same time the front hood jumps up at the same time the back does.( also pushing down on the front you feel the spring pressure).
Both front and rear spring are working.
Just a little note-the 53 to 54 hood when opening and up works better then the 55 to 57 because the hood has a "X" brace where as the 55 to 57 only has one center brace.That is why the hood looks twisted when up and judgs think some thing is wrong but not wrong.
I hope you understand and I wrote this right, after all I'm OLD.Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment
Dave if your having trouble keeping the back hood shut ( were the pins are) by removing a coil from the spring BUT not so that the spring CUP is loose will keep the hood shut and not pop open while driving. Shiming or cutting groves in the pin is not the cure.MICKEYMOUSE Most all repro's use to heavy or thick a spring.Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment
Terry,
Had a similar problem on my hood.
To bring the front edge down, I took the front pop-up springs apart and reassembled them with large washers inside the the springs, The washers cannot be seen and it compresses the spring so that the hood is not raised too high.
As I recall it took quite a few washers to get it just right. (disassemble, add or delete washers, reassemble... you get the idea!)Hood sets fine.
A word of caution, I always raise the hood from the passenger side since the Pop-up distance from the front edge of the hood/body front edge has been compromized. (You see a number of C-1 front ends chipped in this area)
Good Luck,
Bob Lemke
MCMLVIIComment
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55 hood alignment
Nah- the RR latch NEVER worked right, my Dad tried everything, including what you mention, finally cut down the spring. I put in an NOS catch, works perfect, nobody has a correct spring, so I had to make one from hdw store, used one with right twist, wrong length, wrong dia, spun out to right dia, cut to length, bent and ground end to square, now is perfect match to OE and both latches now work identical and perfectly.Comment
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Re: 55 hood alignment sooooo
Dave - So you did cut the spring and yes repro's are wrong? Right?Comment
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Yeah, the darndest thing...
The repro spring I got was perfect, except the spiral went the other way! I was able to modify a generic hardware spring into a perfect match for my intact original, right down to the square-ground ends. Took almost an hour, had enough spring left over to make another one if I needed it.Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment
Bob, Thanks for the info on massaging the pop up springs with washers. I am unclear on your last sentance which reads: "A word of caution, I always raise the hood from the passenger side since the Pop-up distance from the front edge of the hood/body front edge has been compromized." I guess I do not understand how the hood distance to body front has changed by adding washers into the springs?Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment BOB read
Bob you made your pop-ups useless, that is why you lift the hood at the front while you raise the hood. Your adjustments have no pressure on the pop-ups from what you did. You need to read my comments.Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment
Terry,
With washers in the Pop-up springs they do not push up as hard on the front edge of the hood. When lifting the hood from the drivers side, the front right side wants to drop, thus bringing the edge of the hood close to the front edge
of the hood opening. If they touch with any pressure, a nice paint chip occurs.
I always make a practice of releasing the hood latch, walk around to the passanger side and lift the rear of the hood from that side. The unit that holds the hood open (located on the drivers side) prevents the front edge of the hood from dropping. I do not lift the hood from the front, the front fits fine, I do not have to push down the front of the hood to get alignment, and nothing pops up while driving.
I did have a problem with the rear latches popping loose when hitting a major bump, but those were fixed with shims as Roy suggested.
Best of luck,
Bob Lemke
MCMLVIIComment
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Re: 57 hood alignment BOB read
Roy,
I did read your suggestions.
The suggestion I passed on to Terry worked for me. The front Pop-ups still apply pressure to the front of the hood. It just takes a little expermentating to get the right number of washers inside of the Pop-ups to achieve a satisfactory result. I do not have to lift the hood at the front while raising the hood. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Regards,
BobComment
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Re: 57 hood alignment BOB
BOB Have you checked to see if the R/S of the hood back side ,that the two pieces did not come part ( the bonding of the two to geather).This can cause the hood to bend out of shape even more then normale, because the 55 to 57 as I said only has one cross support, were 53 to 54 is a X fram support.Comment
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Re: 57 hood alignment BOB
Roy,
There appears to be no structural problems with the hood on my car. I do not have problems with it. I am happy with it. It does not stick up in the front, it closes well and stays closed when I am driving.
I cannot ask for much more than that.
Thanksfor the concern,
BobComment
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