Restorer articles on '57 Hood Fit

[Garry E.]

Does anyone recall a good technical article appearing in a past edition of "Restorer" that deals with achieving proper hood fit/alignment on a '56-'57 (or an early C1....)? This would include the proper installation/adjustment of the pop-up springs and hood hinges.....

I can't seem to get the hood on my '57 to fit properly..... I've had to slide the hood back so it will clear the front edge of the engine compartment leaving a pretty good-sized gap in front..... also.... the pop-ups are not allowing the hood to go down far enough (level with the sides....) when closing it... I know there must be some "tricks" to getting it right and I would like to know them.

I know someone has written a good "how-to" on this, but I can't seem to find the article.....

Thanks

Garry Eastwood
#38705

[Peter R.]

Re: Restorer articles on '57 Hood Fit

Gary,

There's a pretty good forum post on this topic from Roy Braatz at: https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthrea...tment&uid=7666

Pete

[Steven B.]

Re: Restorer articles on '57 Hood Fit

Garry, I don't know the extent of your gaps and how high the hood is above the fenders but my '57 (then and now) and three other unwrecked '57's I saw in '64-'65 all had what I would call "excessive" gaps on the leading edge and all hoods were above the fenders in various areas front and back. Factory fit in that area was probably worse than any other area of the car.

Try Roy's suggestion in his post referred to by Peter. As Roy stated do not elongate the holes in the hinges. If you find a desire to do that you can pick some up on ebay with the holes enlarged. Hundreds of guys elongated those holes back in the day and untouched original hinges are getting rare.

Good Luck!

Steve

[Garry E.]

Re: Restorer articles on '57 Hood Fit

Peter/Steven....

Thanks for the input......!!

Garry

[Dan P.]

Re: Restorer articles on '57 Hood Fit

To get the hood to go down in the front you will have to shim the rear bolt that mounts the hood . Just looked at very original Car and it had shims under the rear bolt.Your hood has probably been repaired at the hinge mounting bolts and depening on the repairs the thickness of the hood mounting surface could be the problem.