The hood or the hinge? - Body & Paint - Classic Z Car Club Skip to content

The hood or the hinge?

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The passenger side front corner of my hood does not got all the way down when I close the hood. I can push down on the corner and it will go down but stay. It leads me to believe the hinge is either worn out or damaged or the hood itself is damaged. However when I look at the hinge I don't see any damage and none of the holes are enlarged or hollowed out. The hood appears to be straight to the naked eye. Is there some sort of adjustment I am possibly missing? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

There is some adjustment available to you with the bolts that attach the hinges to the body. Remove the grill to allow easy access to the bolts. Loosen the bolts a bit with the hood in full down position. If I recall correctly, the hinge position may block access to one bolt, so it may have to be loosened/tightened with the hood open.

Gently push down on the front corner of the hood and see if you can move it into better alignment, lightly tap on the hinge while doing this to encourage it to shift. Hold the hood in place and tighten the bolts. Re-install grill. If this does not work, then the hinges may be worn and need to be replaced. Also, try some dry-lube spray on the hinge pins to be sure they are not binding.

Jim

You may not have to reset the hood. Oil the hood hinge pivots and open and close the hood several times . I think you might get lucky .

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I have tried oiling and working it several times to no avail. I will try the hinge adjustment this weekend and see how it works. I appreciate the info!

Also look aty the rubber alignment pads along the fenders to see if one or more are set too far inboard. I had this same problem when I first got my 240, the pads were swolen from the application of chemicals by the PO. I replaced them with new pads, problem solved.

S
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The hinges can be rotated against the body of the car slightly if you loosen the bolts. That may help.

My z had one forward corner of its hood that sat high. After trying everything we've mentioned here, a trip to a local body shop and about three hours of professional work solved the problem - the hood and fenders had shifted and after a proper realignment all sat where they should. Not a DIY fix, but the car looked a million times better so it was money well spent.

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