docjim Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 HELP!!! The spazzes that did the engine swap managed to run the front of the car into a big tool box and ruined the hood. They bought another hood and put it on, but it doesn't fit right. the male part of the hood latch needs to be moved backward (toward the rear of the car) by about an inch. I tried all the adjustments I can find, but it still is short. if I manually move the latch male part backward and close the hood, it pulls up to almost where it is supposed to be but the front is about 1/2 inch too high. I'm considering grinding out the bolt holes on the hood bracket that attaches to the tilting mechanism or I could also just remove the torsion bar springs and use a broomstick to keep the hood open--don't really want to do that. if the hood was lighter, I would just remove the tilt mechanism and latch and use hood pins. anybody know a better way? Thanks Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I'm not sure I am seeing this correctly, but if you are planning on removing the hood hinge spring I may have something that will help hold your heavy stock hood at any position without the use of the prop rod. I have the now defunct, Zrace Products, gas strut kit that I will not be using as I made a more of a weld on deal for my car. This kit sandwiches two plates on the front frame rails and uses two 60lb gas struts to hold the heavy hood at any position. This would require a little bit of modification to your car however, such as welding on small ball studs to the center of the hood hinges and cutting two small holes for the gas strut to fit through. Here are some pics of the kit and some of how I hard mounted mine to the bottom of the front frame rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Did they remove the hinges as well as the hood? There's quite a bit of adjustment there between the mount to the body and the mount to the hood - but it does help to have some experience taking it off and putting it back on. If you're ever on the East side of town, stop by the shop and we'll have a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Post some pictures of the hinges,and torsion bars, hood release and hood in the open and closed position (side and front angles). In the meantime don't grind or force anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docjim Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 OK. Here is the best picture I can get of my problem. As I said, the latch needs to be moved towards the rear of the car by 1 inch. The male part on the hand latch has to be pressed in order to get the barbed part into it's hole. if you do that, you can slam the hood and the spring part of the latch will pull into it's hole. the hood fits the way it should against the wiper cover. However, you have to pull very hard on the inside the car hood release and then fight with the hood's hand release in order to get it to release. Now in addition, a Nissan mechanic doing the wheel alignment tried to be helpful and make it easier to close by rotating the spring/hinge up and toward the rear. now, the front of the hood sits up above the fender by an inch. HELP! PLEASE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88dangerdan Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Have you tried removing the hood by yourself yet and redo it? its really not that hard for just one person to do it I've done it several times by myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docjim Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 I've tried everything I can think of. I've taken it off, put it on, adjusted every bolt every which way and it's still an inch short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Need to show us photos of the hinges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I'd be concerned about the long-term reliability of the catch plate mechanism too since they removed the support gusset under it to make room for the distributor. Is it possible your hood is coming down on top of the air cleaner and causing it to rise in the front? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) See atch hood latch pictures. Edited January 12, 2015 by Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbias Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) It looks like the hood is adjusted all the way forward at the hinge in that picture. And, it might just be me, but it looks like the tab that the bolts go through might have been removed and then re-welded to the hood, maybe it's not in the correct position? Also, as above, have you tried removing the air cleaner? Edited January 12, 2015 by morbias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docjim Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Miles, the pictures you provided look exactly like my setup. It did have to be moved to make clearance for the distributor. it's present position is 2 1/2 inches from the firewall. I'll try moving it another 1/8", but I am not too hopeful. Answers to questions and statements above: there is clearance between hood and air cleaner--not much, but there is clearance. also, when the hood is closed, the latch mechanism does pull the hood back into the correct position, but it a extremely difficult to open again. the long term reliability isn't an issue since this car will never be driven more than a couple of thousand miles a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbias Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Whenever I've had to re-fit my hood I always start by putting it on the half latch position before bolting it to the hinges, it should bolt up without a problem. Maybe give that a try? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Remove the latch and catch mechanism from the underside of the hood. Set the hood down. How does the hood fit side-to-side? Gaps relatively even? How does the hood fit front-to-back? - What is the gap between the hood rear and the cowl? (normally about 1/8" or so...) - How does the front of the hood mate with the headlight buckets? How is the elevation at the nose? Does it mate with the height of the fenders properly? (personally, I would go so far as to remove the torsion rods as well and check the position of the hood...) Pictures of fitment would help a great deal. Pictures of the hinges would help a great deal. IF the hood sits properly in it's "hole" (without spring or latch), and the gaps are pretty consistant, and it doesn't "poke forward" at the front corners past the headlight buckets while it's sitting relatively even with the fenders in height - then your latching mechanism is wrong. IF the hood (without spring or latch) has too much gap between the hood and cowl, and the front corners poke out farther than the headlight buckets - then it's too far forward and the only adjustment for that will be in the hinges. I'm wondering if you may need different hinges - did they replace those too? The "Nissan Tech" loosened the 3 hinge-to-body bolts on both sides and "adjusted" them - as well as the 2 hinge-to-hood bolts on each side? Worry about the height fitment after you have proper gap and latch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 The question is: is the problem caused by hinge alignment or the latching mechanism? If you remove the latch from the hood so you can close the hood, would the hood line up with the fenders and fire wall? What do the gaps between the hood and the fenders look like ? What does the gap between the hood and the fire wall look like? Note there are some excellent threads on classiczcars.com web site that explain how to install and fine tune the hood alignment. There is a tutorial thread there by a member named escanlon that explains hood alignment. Paste this into Google: site: classiczcars.com "escanlon hood" etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I just noticed that your latching plate is mounted the reverse of mine. My latch is on the top of the bracket that is bolted to the fire wall. Look at my picture of the latch. The way you have the latch mounted on the bracket shouldn't effect alignment, but it could allow the peg on the hood to strike the distributor cap when closing the hood. The legnth of the peg is adjustable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Cgsheen beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing. Pull loose the hinges and wire them closed, then put the hood on and see where it's lining up. The hood is from the same type of S30 body I assume. Once you can see where it fits with the latch and it's "in the hole" as CG said, then it's a matter of getting the hinges to cooperate. There's a lot of adjustment there. just becareful because those tension bars have a bit of snap to them. In your picture, are the hinge to hood bolts all the way forward? (can you loosen these and see where the latch fits?) You can remove your grille to get in there for easier adjustment on the car itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/13726-hood-alignment-primer/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docjim Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 OK, after 3 hours of loosening the hinge bolts, the bolts that join the hood to the hinges, removing the latch mechanism, and adjusting, tightening bolts, loosening bolts, tightening bolts, here are pictures showing the results. after I hold down the hood in the correct position, and tightening the bolts, the front of the hood would jump up about a half inch due to the spring. this is not a 1 person job. anyway, here is the front of the hood: and here is the resulting rear hood gap: and here is the position of the cowl latch mechanism. as you can see it is only about 2 inches from the cowl. the plate the cowl mechanism is attached to is too short to allow me to move it forward. and yes, the pointed part of the hood latch does touch the wires of the distributor. Where do I go from here? PS thanks for all your advice. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) OK, after 3 hours of loosening the hinge bolts, the bolts that join the hood to the hinges, removing the latch mechanism, and adjusting, tightening bolts, loosening bolts, tightening bolts, here are pictures showing the results. after I hold down the hood in the correct position, and tightening the bolts, the front of the hood would jump up about a half inch due to the spring. this is not a 1 person job. anyway, here is the front of the hood: and here is the resulting rear hood gap: Pictures of your hood hinges showing how they are mounted on the inner fender would be helpful. and here is the position of the cowl latch mechanism. as you can see it is only about 2 inches from the cowl. the plate the cowl mechanism is attached to is too short to allow me to move it forward. and yes, the pointed part of the hood latch does touch the wires of the distributor. That pin is adjustable and you will need to reinstall the latch mechanism so it sits on top of the firewall bracket (see my picture above) which will give more clearance between the latch pin and the top of the distributor. Note that if you adjust the latch pin shorter you will have to cut about three coils out of the spring. Where do I go from here? PS thanks for all your advice. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help. Jim See: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/42496-hood-alignment/ To bring the nose down flush with the fenders see post 7. Edited January 23, 2015 by Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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