I'm having trouble aligning my hood on our 73 Maverick. Seems no matter how square I get it, it still hits the cowl when raising it because it sits too low on the drivers side. Is this a hinge problem or do I need new rubber bumpers or what? Even adjusted as high as the hinge will allow, the hood sits down in the hole on that corner. Any ideas guys? Thanks for any help you can offer. Brad Georgia
new rubber bumpers the ones on the fenders keep it centered the round ones keep it from droping.....the hinge dont do much when the hood is closed at least this what i found
If it is hitting the cowl,, bring the hood forward in its position till it doesnt. These hoods have wider clearance from hood to cowl than you see on most cars. Check how the front of the hood compares with the front of the fenders, if it is behind them at all then you know what the problem is. Body panel adjusting is tuff sometimes for sure. Dan
Worn out hood hinges can make it come down in a variety of positions. Close the hood and attempt to move it side to side and back and forth. Open it a few inches and pull forward and push back on it. If it moves around you have a hinge issue. Seth
Guess its time to replace my hinges then. I have to pull forward on my hood as I'm opening it to keep it from rubbing.
I found that if you rotate the hinge instead of just moving it forward, up, or down this may help. The back of the hinge up and the front of the hinge down this should help the hinge to move up first when opened. Once you get it to open right then ajust the gap with the hood to hinge bolts. I also shimed the rear rubber stop to make the hood level with the cowl.
I had only one NOS hood hinge for a while. I took my worn out hinge off and heated and pressed on the rivets with a vice. It tightened them up quite a bit. Shortly thereafter I located another NOS one to give me a matched set so I did not have it long. It worked better than before doing this while I had it on the car. Seth
Brad; when you figure this out, let me know. I have had a hood alignment problem since I have owned the car. Works ok, but never just right. Good luck!
