Rusty knuckles
Well-Known Member
Any ideas what's up with my hood? Is it bent in the middle? It latches fine and raises and lowers alright. The front and rear also seem to match the fenders but it's 1/2" higher than the fenders in the middle.
Well it's kind of a put together. The hood is from a different car. I'm wondering if others have seen this too. The 3rd gen hoods are quite long so I can see a stiff hinge and a little brute force could do this.Did you buy it that way? History helps to tell why its like that. I have seen hinges that were rusted tight and when trying to close the hood it got bent in the middle.
Sometimes you can examine the hoods under structure and see a buckle. Sometimes it is flexed and stretched over a larger area. Look it over closely and play with adjustments. If all else fails you can try to reverse engineer what caused the damage. This requires some out of the box thinking. Bad thing is stress stretching makes it weaker.Well it's kind of a put together. The hood is from a different car. I'm wondering if others have seen this too. The 3rd gen hoods are quite long so I can see a stiff hinge and a little brute force could do this.
I have found there are 3 different springs Light weight for AAR/TA hoods, Normal spring for 71-2 RR standard hoods then heavy Duty springs for A/G hood... That being said that hood is bent springs won't help.....also I recently learned in another thread that some hinges have different coil numbers in the springs.
I wonder if that is a difference between Charger springs and E body/Plymouth/4 door springs that all have shorter, lighter hoods.
That actually a body Bumper. The spring loaded plastic wedges are located further back behind the hood springs..I hope this picture helps. This is the spring loaded plastic wedge that helps the hood lay along the inner fender. I have cleaned and lightly lubed both sides and it helps. This is the only picture that I could find that shows this part.
View attachment 1428048
You are correct and I realized that after posting the picture. I don’t have any pictures on my iPad for that piece. Please disregard my previous message.That actually a body Bumper. The spring loaded plastic wedges are located further back behind the hood springs..
https://www.classicindustries.com/product/1971/plymouth/cuda/parts/md2601.html
I just posted a pic of the wedge location..You are correct and I realized that after posting the picture. I don’t have any pictures on my iPad for that piece. Please disregard my previous message.
That's why I said there are out of the box thinking for making corrections. I also have some of my own. Not seeing the hood makes it hard to tell whats best to try.Anyone ever read the factory service manual body section? There is info about correcting exactly this scenario...
It is suggested to place short lengths of 2x4 under either side of the high area along the edge & and carefully apply pressure to the top side, stay close to the edge where the hard 90 degree fold in the sheetmetal will help prevent denting the metal....