1963 hood adjustment

[Bob W.]

im trying to adjust the hood on my 63. the 63 shop manual shows a 16th to 1/4 on the sides the front is 1/8 to a 1/4. do i start with mounting the hinges on the inner fenders and then adjust at the hood to get a even gap. any tricks would be helpful.

thanks bob winters

[Dan M.]

Hi Bob, so here goes. I have done many of these and am known for gaps. When I walk up to a corvette I do NOT want to see a big gap on the nose, fortunately on a mid year you can slide the hood a little more forward and get away with a bigger gap at the wiper area. Take the rear hood pins completely out and put a pile of rags or similar on to the latches to make it flush with the upper panel as they will cause the hood to be pushed over with the spring pressure. Find some wood paint sticks or something that won’t scratch paint. Keep the hood hinge bolts just loose enough to move. Take the gaps that you have to work with and split the difference, paint sticks will lay on edge to act as shims. If no one has modified the hood you should be ok with the gaps. I have had to add up to 1/4 inch of material to many hoods to close a gap that was modified for bad repairs. Here’s the hard part, if the grill is in car I take the bolts out and slide it forward, so I can get my hand very carefully with a 1/2 inch wrench up to get to one or possibly two bolts to snug them without moving the hood. This might take a couple of tries and I’m sure other people have ways that work for them but I Always get perfect gaps this way. You must be patient and it might take me two hours to get a hood gap I like, but when I walk up to it or any corvette it’s what I see FIRST. Then headlight gaps. After you have gaps you like and all hood bolts tight put the rear pins in and they are easy to adjust for flushness. Good luck and most of this is trial and error and patience.

[Bob W.]

Dan, thank you for your reply. My grill is out and i didn't realize i could i could access the bolts from there.

Thanks again Bob

[Jim S.]

II used a bunch of regular wood shims wrapped up in masking tape . you can slide them in and out on all four sides untill you get the desired effect .

[Bob W.]

Jim, That is a great idea, i may have to try it.

Thanks, Bob