Hood alignment woes stripped bolt in hood

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snowmobiler7c

snowmobiler7c

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After re installing the hood on my 70 swinger I have had issues trying to get the alignment correct. I got to the point where the passenger side looks very good but have been fighting the driver side. The alignment side to side looks good but I couldn't seem to get my height correct. I have been close but looked to be about 1/8" too high above the fender. After loosing and tightening the bolts 100 times I stripped the rear nut inside the hood. The way these hoods were put together it looks like my only option is to tap the nut inside the hood. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions what what size tap should be used?
Also once I correct the nut issue what is the best way to adjust the height. The rubber bumper stop is not pushing the hood up. Thanks for any input
Mark
 
If memory serves me, it a 3/8"-16 thread and the nut is trapped inside the hood walls. Can the screw be part of the issue...but by now they're both probably screwed. Heli-coils are a pain in this situation, but could work out.

You might consider tapping the hole for a 10mm x 1.5. Tap drill size is a 8.5mm (.3346") or "U" (.332) or you could go to "R" (.339). Perhaps the hole is already that size or larger...in which case you have nothing to loose, a Heli-coil tap drill size will be larger than that. The difference between 3/8" and 10mm is almost .020" and that's a significant amount for a thread.

As far as the height issue goes: can you shim the fender up and still look good?
 
It's too late to use this trick for your hood, but a buddy taught me how to avoid this. Before removing the hood, draw around the washers with a sharp pencil, so you know where to re-set them when putting the hood back on. Then, before you loosen the bolts, drill a small hole in between them just the right size to slip a nail in. I cut the nail off to about 3/4" long and taped over the head to keep it in place and reduce the number of things I had to fiddle with. When reassembling, you line the little holes and reinstall the nail and tape, which holds the weight of the hood while you tighten down the bolts on the previously drawn circles for the washers. It worked well for me last time I had to do this.
 
depending on the severity of the stripped nut you might be able to restore it with a thread chaser/restorer
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As mentioned above - have you tried adjusting the fenders instead of the hood?
 
snowmobiler7c said:
After re installing the hood on my 70 swinger I have had issues trying to get the alignment correct. I got to the point where the passenger side looks very good but have been fighting the driver side. The alignment side to side looks good but I couldn't seem to get my height correct. I have been close but looked to be about 1/8" too high above the fender. After loosing and tightening the bolts 100 times I stripped the rear nut inside the hood. The way these hoods were put together it looks like my only option is to tap the nut inside the hood. Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions what what size tap should be used?
Also once I correct the nut issue what is the best way to adjust the height. The rubber bumper stop is not pushing the hood up. Thanks for any input
Mark
Click to expand...
Maybe the hood is a little bend or the fender is too low. Starting from the back, door alignement to the rear fender and rockers,
then adjust the fender to the door and parallel to the passenger fender. There are shims under the front attachment point of the fender. Try to get all gaps parallel in the back. A gap misaligned door /fender results in 1.5 - 2 times height failure in the front of the fender!
 
Last edited:
Thank you everyone I Heli-coiled the hole today. I still have no clue how the heck I overtightened it enough to strip the threads inside the hood. Oh well done and over with. Luckilly I had a heli-coil in my tool box and tap for 3/8-16 hole mentioned above, left over from fixing a mustang cylinder head. Just had to run out and get a 21/64th drill bit.

I really didn't want to adjust the fender because everything else looked perfect. I installed this 340 hood before paint and never had it aligned before paint. Next time ill do that so its right and can be marked before removal like mentioned above. After reading a couple other threads where guys had my same issue I decided to slightly elongate the hole back hole on the bottom of the hinge. I may have opened it up 1/16" or so. It didn't take much at all and allowed the hood to now sit flush. After a few hours of that today, adjusting hood pins, latch, and front hood bumpers it sits almost perfect. Im stopping now before I make it worse lol. Im sure besides myself only person to notice its not exactly perfect is a body guy.
 
I had the same issue with the hood height on my Barracuda. I loosened the bolts a little and held the hood as far open as I could and had someone tighten the hood. So now the rear bolt is at the top is it’s travel and the front bolt is at the bottom of it’s travel.
 
Can you post a picture of the nut that's stripped and where it is?
 
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