0Mike69@ECS

Thanks to Bill (69ttop502) and the help of Chris NJ C5, The L-88 Hood is on!!! :cool:

The Only problem is that the alignment isn't the best. I tend to believe it's my fenders - or possiably the entire front end. Can Anyone offer any tips on how to get the front point of the hood lower, and match up the passenger hood line? I'm going to have to mess with the whole thing a little more, but I'm hoping somebody has a few tips that might save me some time!

Here are the pics!






See what I mean about the passanger side? Heres another pic of it~!


I love the View from Insidde the car now though! :cool:


Any Tips on hoe to get this thing lined up would be a huge help! (Then I could move on to getting the air chamber lined up with the carb!)

Thanks Mike!

PatsLs1vette

looks good on there, on the front not sure what to do,somehow id work on the fiberglass underneath to lower it like recess the glass lower so the hinges go up into the hood instead.But thats me.

Rolling Thunder

Mike - It looks like it sits up too high in the front. Check to see if the underneath side of the hood is hitting the radiator support. You can use ***** of clay placed on the top of the support, then slowly lower the hood. Check to see how much they compress. You may have to do a little trimming to the hood or the support. Another possibility is the hinge. Some have shims under the body half that can be removed.

Looks good!
Dave

foundvettelifeisgood

Mike,

Where'd you get the hood?

Was your original hood off on the passenger side also? Could this new hood be off? :cheers:

Jvette73

I just checked my hood hinges and found that there were shims between the hinge and inner fender. If there is any shims left on yours, if you remove them it should lower the front hoodline by whatever the thickness of the shims. How well did the other hood line up? It seems as though body alignment shows up more on a light colored car. Dont forget the job is only as good the quality of the product. Maybe others have had similar problems with aftermarket hoods?

kaiserbud

The front view and the photo from the right side indicate to me that the core support needs adjusted. There are 6 (?) bolts - 3 on each side I believe that allow the support to be adjusted. These bolts are located on the inside of the fender wells.

If the support can be lowered and still not create a space dilemna between fan and shroud, you may be able to get the front and side of the hood to match.

If the surrond panel is too low, this could be more involved. Adjustment on it would involve the same core support bolts and at least one more rod support at the nose of the top panel. It may also involve the larger 'U' shape brace at the nose as well.

I would be very hesitant to trim the hood - this is a last alternative or fine tuning adjustment. Also - it looks like your wiper grill is a tad low. Is the front edge of the wiper door also slanted down a tad?

It has been a long time for me - so guys you are gonna have to help out. Let me see how my time schedule is today and I will try to look at mine to better offer info for you.

Oh - by the way - the photo from the interior out - what an awesome view. I love my L88 hood !!!! :D :cool:


[Modified by kaiserbud, 12:18 PM 12/2/2001]

QuickVet

mike i dont have any advice to offer but i can tell you that the hood looks really cool :yesnod: my hood was raised in the front as well. the problem i had was the stock air cleaner assembly was hitting the hood. you dont have the same aircleaner assembly, so i dont think that will help you. sorry.

Alchemist

Another thing to check would be to see if there are shims under the hood ankors, both on the hood AND on the lip inside the engine compartment. When replacing the hood on Rosie's '79, i found shims on BOTH sides..top AND bottom to even up the factory hood. Going to narrower shims there fixed a similar alignment problem.

Check ALL these things out BEFORE you start cuttin glass!

7t2vette

I recently bought a used aftermarket L-88 hood, and it took me many hours of fooling around with it to get it to look proper. My hood also sat to high at the back on both sides. I was able to adjust the male hood pins and the hood stops down to lower the back of the hood, although I could only get the driver's side perfect, the passenger side still sits about 1/8" or less higher than the fender, and I have no more adjustment left. It is only at the back foot or so of the hood that is higher, and not very noticeable, but I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I am still pursuing it. One solution I have thought about is taking the whole passenger side lock plate off the car and into a machine shop to machine an 1/8" off the bottom. That reminds me, you have play in the lock plates side to side and front to back - just loosen them and move them to get the lines lined up.
Now I have a question for you......did you get your hood painted by itself to match the car? It looks like a perfect match. I have heard conflicting opinions about wether this can be done sucessfully or not.

C5kid

Now I need a hood like that , looks sharp!!!

Tomi72

I'm not sure if this is a "proper" fix or not (feel free to comment) but I used shims between the body and hinge only under the rearmost bolt holes to tilt the hinges a bit. The hinge point is forward to the two mounting bolts so tilting the hinge forward lowers this point and the front of the hood. If you try this first make sure the hood isn't hitting the radiator.

rgds Tomi

LT1driver

Did your original hood fit ok? If it did it is an adjusment or hood is bad, not your car most likely. :cheers:

0Mike69@ECS

Wow! Thanks for all the Ideas Guys. I bought the Hood off of 69TTop502 (Bill) here on the forum. He Purchased last week from Junkyard Warrior. After getting it home Bill found out that his Parents had just bought him a new hood so he sold me this one... which was already daytona yellow! How :cool: is that? The Paint is pretty damn close, it's got some oxidation on it, but once I clean it up, I expect it will be un-noticable. (And I think I might repaint the front of the car come spring time anyway)

The Hinges have no spacers in them. When ChrisNJC5 and I were putting the hood on ther car we had to completely remove the hinges in order to clean the mounting surface (fiberglass) and notch the fiber glass about 1/8 of an inch (towards the windshield) so we could slide the hinges towards the windshield a bit so the point of the hood would clear the nose of the car.

The Wiper door does look as though its tilted a bit so the whole front end might be a little outa whack. I have no Idea what this car had gone through before I bought it - so it might well be a poorly replaced front end.

My old hood fit pretty well but it still had a slight gap on the passenger side top of the hood (nearest the windshield) and it was raised a little bit in the nose. I did just put in a new radiator aned core support (which was a bitch to get seated properly) so it's possible that it could be hitting there. I'll run out there and try to check that now.

Heres a question.... if it is infact the aligment of the front clip (oh man I do I really want to get into this???) how difficult would it be to shim it up to make all the lines match up? (I mean from the body mounts) Would I have to break the bonding strips? or partially lift the body??? How big of a nightmare would this be?

Thanks for all the imput guys!

Mike

69ttop502

Hey Mike the hood looks awesome on there. That really shows you the differences in these cars. When I test fit that hood on my car it fit almost perfectly but the low spot was in the front. I rested it on a couple rags and it was perfect. I am sure you will get it right, after seeing yours I can't wait to get mine on.

Gordonm

Cool looking hood Mike. I had one on a 70 Camaro and had some small strips on it that accented the lines of the scoop. It looked real good. can't help on the alignment but am willing to lend a hand if need be.

0Mike69@ECS

Careful Gordon I just might Rope you in next weekend!

Bill thanks! See that the color is right on!

Well... I just went out and checked the Radiator core support clearance... looks like it could be hitting. I know when I put the support in the car, it's gonna be a PITA to get it any lower between the fenders... would it be easier to jack up the front end of the body the bolt it back in place??? I wonder if this would even work???

Jughead

Looks Good! I had the same problem after put my Ecklers hood on. You're not alone. Yours is a little higher than mine though. Mine now fits almost as well as the SB hood it replaced. But I'm not completely satisfied yet! Based on my findings every Vette is just a little different from the other and every hood is a little different. Zwede also had the same high front edge problem. Mine isn't painted yet so I'm saving the final modifications till then. Anyway Zwede said he bent the hinges a little and cut about 1/4 inch from the body on which the hinges mount. Last time I hade my hood off I cut a little of this area under the hinges and it looks like it is indeed do-able. The problem however lies in the are between the bolts is a metal circle! This is much more difficult to cut thru than the fiberglass! It seems that this will just take time and patience to get that custom fit.

BTW, my hood hit the Radiator and not the support in the drivers front of the hood. It's very dificult locating hood contact when you're trying to close the hood.

gearheadz

I have a Ecklers L88 hood. Mine is fine at the front but it sits too high at the passenger side edge (as yours does) from the rear of the fender rise back.

The remedy is to 1) separate the fender from the inner fender skirt at the drip rail. 2) align the fender to the hood by inserting a wedge (1X2 piece of wood) between the drip rail and the a-arm or frame. 3) when aligned, force some bonding adhesive in the gap between the drip rail and the fender skirt. 4) leave everything in place until adhesive cures.

Mark

0Mike69@ECS

:eek: Oh boy that sounds brutal... Is it a PITA or what? Should I just take it to a body shop and have them do it????

btw Eric I think this is an Ecklers hood as well!

gearheadz

It would definitely be a snap for a qualified body man/shop or one that specializes in Corvettes. It shouldn't involve much labor time/cost. It can't hurt running by a shop and see. I'm going to live with mine until I get the car painted.

BTW...Eckler's hoods have a visible inspection label embedded in the underside gel coat in the center of the hood. Obviously, if yours has been painted underneath it won't be visible...duh.

Mark