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Well, I finally found a replacement hood which is nice but I found out that the real issue is the hinges causing the misalignment. The hood was banged up from not being secured properly and the wind catching it in throwing it into the windshield, a pretty dumb mistake but one I learned from. Anyways, the hood was all kinds of misaligned and was hoping it was just the hood but turns out it is also the hinges. These don't seem like they will be easy to replace as I am not finding a single ounce of information on them (pictures, for sale, diagrams, etc.) Any advice and direction would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and it's a 1991 E-150 conversion Van. I can take any pictures if needed.
Well, I finally found a replacement hood which is nice but I found out that the real issue is the hinges causing the misalignment. The hood was banged up from not being secured properly and the wind catching it in throwing it into the windshield, a pretty dumb mistake but one I learned from. Anyways, the hood was all kinds of misaligned and was hoping it was just the hood but turns out it is also the hinges. These don't seem like they will be easy to replace as I am not finding a single ounce of information on them (pictures, for sale, diagrams, etc.) Any advice and direction would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and it's a 1991 E-150 conversion Van. I can take any pictures if needed.
Don't feel bad, I did the exact same thing two weeks ago. Talk about a shocker when that hood flew back and really did a number on the windshield! Fortunately the hood escaped any noticeable damage. It even opens/closes ok, just requires a bit more of a slam to close. Hinges are sprung a little.
Now I have PTSD when I drive the van thinking the hoods going to smash into the windshield again.
You could try placing a piece of wood blocks on both sides near the hinges, on the cowl and try closing the hood, just go easy as your could go too much.
That large a piece of hinged sheet metal deflected past its original design point will need more than a simple tweaking or adjustment if you're looking to NOT repeat this in the future. First question is why or how did the hood fly up in the first place?
I started to answer your question JWA but half way through it disappeared. All I can say is sheet happens. As for the OP I think there's not much to lose by trying the method I described. I did autobody work for over 20 years so I have a bit of experience at this.
JWA This happened because I didn't properly close the hood one day then went for a drive. Once I got to around 30 mph the wind caught it and it flung into the windshield.
As y'all can see here the hinges do seem to have some differences in shape, but I'm starting to think it might be the mounting points as well since these don't seem warped enough to cause the excessive misalignment that I'm seeing. I can close the hood and latch it still but I had to remove the cowl to hood weather-strip in order to do that due to clearance issues. Well, I would like for the van to be able to handle driving in the rain again so that's why I'm trying to fix this.
Jimbo, I don't think I fully understand where you want me to put wood blocks. It does seem like it needs to be lifted about a quarter inch.
Here is the way the old hood fit. Notice the massive dip in the center around where the cowl and hood meet. This is a rough fit since it is not screwed in, just kinda sitting on it and lined up the best I can get it, it is sitting a little further forward than it normally should but almost has to since it would make contact with the cowl if it didn't. The second picture is of the new hood, and you can see that there is no dip in the center... both of these shots also had a 1x4 piece of block where the hinges are to try and get it to where they would be naturally sitting.
If that's an aftermarket hood then you'll probably have to do some tweaking. Those parts aren't known for great fit up. It looks like your original hood might have been able to have been reused, depending on how fussy you are. If you would have tried the wood before you removed the hood first. I'm going to continue this in another post.
A pice of 1x stock, about 1" long placed on the cowl and gently closing the hood on it would probably fix that dip. Same with the hinges, blocks would go underneath the bend and same thing gently closing the hood on them. You might need to favor one side more than the other. Since you have them off you might be able to do it in a big vice. Think how the parts were affected by the hood flying up, and try creating the opposite force.
I tried banging that dent up from underneath but I didn't get anywhere. Now that I better understand what you were saying it sounds like it might work. I'll give it a go tomorrow.
I tried banging that dent up from underneath but I didn't get anywhere. Now that I better understand what you were saying it sounds like it might work. I'll give it a go tomorrow.
No banging involved. Blocks of wood and a little pressure should be able to repair repair this.
A pice of 1x stock, about 1" long placed on the cowl and gently closing the hood on it would probably fix that dip. Same with the hinges, blocks would go underneath the bend and same thing gently closing the hood on them. You might need to favor one side more than the other. Since you have them off you might be able to do it in a big vice. Think how the parts were affected by the hood flying up, and try creating the opposite force.
On that 1x stock, I meant 1' long. That's if you're going to try repairing the original hood.
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