Hood Alignment

Loaded510

Member
Mar 9, 2016
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Having trouble aligning my hood, there's a big gap between the left fender and it's scraping against the right fender. I noticed the engine bay frame that's connected to the fender is a little bent in. Could that be the problem? And is that a pricey fix?




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Yeah, it's been hit somewhere in it's past.

Would you take more pictures of the front for me?

You will probably need to have the frame pulled to really fix it right.

Just hard to tell without more and better pictures though.
 
Yeah, it's been hit somewhere in it's past.

Would you take more pictures of the front for me?

You will probably need to have the frame pulled to really fix it right.

Just hard to tell without more and better pictures though.

These are the other pics I have, but I can take some more when I get off work.
 

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I just looked at it at home. It's easier to see on my iPad instead of that little 2" screen on my phone!

It looks better than I thought.

I can't see the gap at the back of the hood, what's it like? Is it even from side to side?
 
@Davedacarpainter you think he may have some room to move the fenders out for clearance?
There is a small amount of adjustment for that, but, based purely on the pictures we have, I think the hood just needs adjustment. It kind of depends what the gap at the back of the hood looks like.

Sure, the right side has been tweaked a little, but not enough to cause that misalignment, I would think. The latch probably has been knocked over a little to the left too. Easy fixes, depends on that back of hood gap.
 
right, but the front to back alignment won't fix the gap problem between the hood and the fenders, unless I am looking at the pics wrong. I don't see enough gap on both sides? He needs to adjust the fenders out a little, no?
 
The gap at the back will tell you if the hood is just misaligned. I'm thinking, if there isn't much problem from the wreck damage, that the hood gap will be tighter on the driver's side than on the passenger's.

It's pushed quite a ways towards the driver's side, if it just needs to have the hood and latch adjusted, the fenders may be alright except for that small buckle in the right fender.

It might just need the latch adjusted slightly to the right. That might fix it all.
 
The gap at the back will tell you if the hood is just misaligned. I'm thinking, if there isn't much problem from the wreck damage, that the hood gap will be tighter on the driver's side than on the passenger's.

It's pushed quite a ways towards the driver's side, if it just needs to have the hood and latch adjusted, the fenders may be alright except for that small buckle in the right fender.

It might just need the latch adjusted slightly to the right. That might fix it all.

Thanks for the reply! I will try adjusting the latch when I get off work. Hopefully that'll fix the gap issue. It's been such a pain in the *** lol
 

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Thanks for the reply! I will try adjusting the latch when I get off work. Hopefully that'll fix the gap issue. It's been such a pain in the *** lol
Wow, I looked at the hood picture. Your front end is tweaked to the right definitely.

It will need to be pulled straight again with a frame machine. If you lived close to me, I would do it for nothing for you.

You probably could adjust the latch a little, but even a little will cause the right rear of the hood to dig into your cowl panel.

Do you have any friends that work in a body shop? If you do, then you could probably get it pulled for a fifty (or a bottle of good bourbon @madmike1157 !).

It really will need this done though.
 
Wow, I looked at the hood picture. Your front end is tweaked to the right definitely.

It will need to be pulled straight again with a frame machine. If you lived close to me, I would do it for nothing for you.

You probably could adjust the latch a little, but even a little will cause the right rear of the hood to dig into your cowl panel.

Do you have any friends that work in a body shop? If you do, then you could probably get it pulled for a fifty (or a bottle of good bourbon @madmike1157 !).

It really will need this done though.

Dang, I was really afraid I would have to get it straightened out too.

Unfortunately I don't have any friends that work in a body shop. How much on average would something like that cost me?
 
Dang, I was really afraid I would have to get it straightened out too.

Unfortunately I don't have any friends that work in a body shop. How much on average would something like that cost me?
Good question, I've never had to pay full boat for it myself, I've always been on the inside. Let me ask and see.
 
I went and talked to one of our estimators about it.

Now, a few things to consider. First, you should take the fenders, bumper and hood off yourself to save you some money before you would take it to a shop.

Our flag rate for frame time is $55 per hour.

First you'll have two hours just for set up on the frame machine, then you'll probably have about four hours actual pull time. This is just a guesstimate from where I sit and look at your pictures too.

Based just on that, you have $330.

I would go to a shop and have a little talk with the guys there. Explain what you have and ask how you could keep the cost at a minimum. Bring the vehicle if it's running well enough.

Your flag rate may be more in your area as well. Just go talk to the guys (gals?) and see what they'll do for you.
 
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I went and talked to one of our estimators about it.

Now, a few things to consider. First, you should take the fenders, bumper and hood off yourself to save you some money before you would take it to a shop.

Our flag rate for frame time is $55 per hour.

First you'll have two hours just for set up on the frame machine, then you'll probably have about four hours actual pull time. This is just a guesstimate from where I sit and look at your pictures too.

Based just on that, you have $330.

I would go to a shop and have a little talk with the guys there. Explain what you have and ask how you could keep the cost at a minimum. Bring the vehicle if it's running well enough.

Your flag rate may be more in your area as well. Just go talk to the guys (gals?) and see what they'll do for you.

ok that's not too bad...thanks so much for your help. There's a shop down the street from my house so i'll talk to the guys over there next week. Hopefully they'll have a decent rate.
 
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ok that's not too bad...thanks so much for your help. There's a shop down the street from my house so i'll talk to the guys over there next week. Hopefully they'll have a decent rate.
The hourly rate will be fairly stable in a local market, so whatever they quote you will probably be parroted by the other shops.