Hood Hinge Issue

[jlampka]

Howdy all! Just bought a 1972 GMC Longhorn. My hood sits high with hood closed and it looks like the hinges are new. Wondering if there is an adjustment to make or do I swap the hinges with my 1971 Chevy? Wondering if the new hinges don't fit like OEM? Any help appreciated.

[greystoke]

I believe Martin Sr mentioned that shimming the front hinge to hood bolt actually brings the back of the hood down. Give it a try.

[special-K]

Try opening it all the way, and then some more

[jlampka]

not sure I follow to open all the way and then some

[notsolo]

Loosen rear bolts, lift hood all the way. Hopefully the rear of hinge will go down, tighten rear bolt...if that's new or decent paint, Good idea to use some painters tape on the edges of fender s cowl and hood.

[ga-stepside]

I just went through this. I found this write up here, forgot to copy the poster's name.

Hood alignment: If you have a hood where the hinge mounts on the side of the fender or the side of the cowl like with an older car or truck, you want to "rotate" the hinge on the fender. Just pushing the hinge up and down will give you very little movement on the top of the hood.
This is the strange little trick that you have to remember, if you raise the back of the hood on the hinge or raise the back of the hinge on the fender the hood will go up. If you raise the "front" of the back of the hood ON THE HINGE or the hinge to the fender it will go down. What you have to remember is you are working with a pivot point in the hinge, not a stationary part.
If you loosen the FRONT bolt on the hood (where it bolts to the hinge) and put a shim, or washer between the hood and hinge, this will LOWER the hood on that side. If you put that same washer under the rear bolt it will RAISE the rear of the hood on that side.
So, if you loosen the bolts from the hinge to fender and close the hood, the hinge will rotate on down in the front right? This will raise the REAR of the hood like putting a shim in the back bolt between the hinge and hood!
What you need to do to lower the back the hood is to loosen the bolts (only slightly) and PUSH UP on the front of the hood. This rotates the hinges back, thus raising the front of the hinge and lowering the hood in the back.
If the hinges are worn out it won't change how high the hood sits when the wear, not by more than a fraction of an inch. And I have never seen a car with these style hinges that you couldn't put the hood a half inch LOWER than the fenders if you wanted to. The adjustment is HUGE on these cars. That is one of the things that is easy to do on them is align panels.
I recommend you remove the striker or latch from the hood so that you can move it up and down without worrying about the latch grabbing the hood. After you have aligned the hood, take a piece of dumb-dumb or clay or something similar and put it on the latch. This way you can see exactly where it hits when you do install the latch. You bring the hood down till you just tap this dumb-dumb but DON'T LATCH IT. Just so the hood makes an indentation in the clay/dumb-dumb. This tells you where you have to move the latch.
I do this at work every day, by myself so if you can't get help this is the trick. Always leave one bolt on the hinge tight. If you want to rotate it back, leave the front bolt tight. If you want to rotate it forward, leave the rear bolt tight. When you move the hood forward or back on the hinge, leave the bolts snug enough that you have to tap on the edge of the hood to get it to move. Or if it needs to go back, leave the bolts a little snug, and wiggle the hood up and down and the weight of the hood will make it slide down. Remember it only needs a 1/16" or so to make a 3/16" or more change at the front. To pull the hood forward on the hinge loosen them so they are still a little snug so you have to pull up on the back of the hood to make it slide that little bit. If you loosen it up so it moves anywhere you want it, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MOVED IT AND YOU WILL MOVE IT TOO MUCH, GUARANTEED.
Get the hood lying flat first, then move the hood forward or back on each side to make the hood fit the hole between the fenders. If the gap is large on the front right and small on the front left, then the hood needs to be moved back on the right side. As you move the hood back on a side it will close up the gap in the front of that side and open it at the rear of that side.

[PepperTreeGarage]

Here's a thread with more "Hood Adjusting" info.

http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...d.php?t=319778

[special-K]

Originally Posted by jlampka

not sure I follow to open all the way and then some

Sorry, loosen at the fender first, then tighten as you do what I described. If you still don't follow, I mean push hard once all the way open. This will 'rotate' the hinge in the direction you need.

[jlampka]

thank you