Hood Hinge Question

[gerahead]

I noticed the other day that when I try to close the hood, the driver's side bracket bows outward almost to the point where it contacts the fender. Then it works normally. :munky2: The bracket looks sound, no rust. The passenger side does not do this at all. What do I need to be looking at to fix this? Is it just in need of some lube on the pivot point? Thanks.

 

[mikess68]

i had the identical problem, the hinge would rub the fender as it bowed out. I took off the splash guard and took off the hinge. the two pices have this large bradded piviot that had a lot of play in it. i used a vice and hammer to close the gap and it works fine. still kind of loose feel(their nature) but does not bow like it did. pay close attention to the curve of the piviot point. its almost a cone shape and you need to close the gap on only the points that have too much. in other words, if you close it all around, the hinge wont be like a straight line, you will bow it more than it was. so all i did was close the op-cit side, a little at a time and got it down to a close tollorance. the hinge rest freely on the piviot points mounted on the body, don't mess with those. its close quarters but you can get to it. its held on by two small bite washers. save them to match the new ones. i also added a axil cap from the Home depot, 1/2 inch i think, just for a little added security. wish i had taken pics. ill help you more if i can. let me know

 

[Dartswinger70]

I installed a bronze bushing on mine, this entails grinding the rivet head off, taking the hinge apart, measuring the shaft diameter for the inside diameter of the bushing, drilling a hole for the outside diameter on the hinge that bolts to the hood. You then fit the bushing, and weld it together at the point where
the rivet head used to be, with a little grinding, you can even make the weld look factory