I was in the same boat, I installed different inner fenders and radiator support.

Josh

 

I will try this today. Thanks

 

Hood sits higher than the cowl?
try opening the hood, loostening the [3] lower bolts between the inner fender and the hinge. shift the forward end of the hinge UP, leaving the rearward end all of the way DOWN. this forces the hinge to rotate more fully when closing the hood, making your hood close all of the way, eliminating the misalignment.

I tested this theory on all 3 of my 73-79s, with excellent results.
Of course, dont over compensate, its possible to make the hood sit too low.

Usually one would try to adjust the hood hinge down all of the way in an attempt to get the hood down all of the way, this in incorrect.

 

I just noticed yesterday my truck has a gap between the hood and grill - I'd say about 3/4" or so... Never noticed it before because I have a bug shield mounted to the hood and the bug shield is flush with the grill when the hood is closed... If the hood had been flush with the grill, the mounting tabs for the bug shield would've dented the grill surround so, in my case, it was good to have the gap lol...

 

i tried that. Then i loosened the 3 bolts that bolt the inner fender bracket to the fender cab,and slid them down. That helped alot but the hood is still high, by about 3/8-1/2" It will go down flush but you have to push it down,guess the spring tension is holding it a touch

 

I hear ya there. These trucks aren't perfect by any means. I seems like I've put endless time trying to get things lined up only to find myself back where I started. When you have one gap or line looking good, it is off at another place. I've managed to get things lined up decent and called it good. As long as things shut nice and look OK that's about all you can do. When these trucks were built, appearance was not something that was 100%. Like what was said already, every truck will look just a little different.

 

Well, I adjusted the hinges as mentioned above and the hood shuts just fine and is all lined up. Never would have thought that forcing the hinges to open more would shut the hood!

Thanks for the help.

Mark

 

its possible your hinges are simply worn out. also try spray lubricant. my new hinges had this problem after i had them chromed (baked all the lube away), they made the hood sit an inch higher than the cowl. i lubed em up good and they work fine now. lowering the whole front clip in relation to the cab and doors only creates other problems. a way of doing the procedure is to loosen all of the above mentioned bolts, then lift the hood open as far as it can go, until the hinge rotates/slides up in the front, with all of the weight supported by one back bolt on each side, then tighten before letting go. its as best as i can explain.

 

OK, I've just spent several hours fighting with this... I finally got around to swapping out the hood latch with the locking latch out of my Econoline and noticed the hood was out of whack...

Problem is: I can get one side lined up perfectly, but the other side will be out of alignment. I can't seem to get both sides to line up with the cowl evenly at the same time. And, to top it all off, the forward edge of the hood doesn't want to be level - the right side wants to sit higher than the left for some odd reason.

I finally got it to where I just said "to hell with it, it's close enough" and called it a night but I think the hood itself might be twisted or warped or something - either that or all the other panels on the front end are out of whack...

As for the locking hood latch - the pull handle is pretty much resting up against the firewall at the moment due to the short cable but it works and will keep people from just walking up and popping the hood open (I'll re-cable it at some point) - it just bugs me that I can't get the hood lined up right on all sides...

 

It's hard to find a good set. They had a design flaw to begin with. They stretch and buckle over time.

People slamming it down to close from a foot didn't help any, either!

 

It's hard to find a good set. They had a design flaw to begin with. They stretch and buckle over time.

People slamming it down to close from a foot didn't help any, either!

 

You wanna know why?

At some point the hood flew up stretching the hood hinges. This is a VERY common problem with these trucks.

The only fix is to replace the hinges.

For years, people have slammed these heavy hoods down, over time the hood latch's lock support plate bends downwards.

It's EZ to verify this...when the hood is down, stick your fingers under the lip of the hood and lift. If there's an inch or so of play...watch out, because...

Sooner or later, usually sooner...the hood will fly up.

This problem first reared its ugly head in 1967, and was still a problem in 1979.

1973/79: F100/350 & F500/880 // 1978/79 Bronco.

D3TZ16796A .. Right Hood Hinge / Obsolete

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has FOUR = 800-543-4959.

JST AUTOMOTIVE in Lebanon TN has ONE = 615-443-3086.

PARTS INTERNATIONAL in Farmers Branch TX has ONE = 888-727-0418.

KINSEL L/M in Beaumont TX has ONE = 800-816-2894.

KLIMESH MOTOR SALES in Calmar IA has ONE = 563-562-3241.

MORLAN-SHELL FORD in West Plains MO has ONE = 417-256-3195.

PERRY FORD in San Luis Obispo CA has ONE = 805-544-5200.

FITZPATRICK & LAMBERT Ford in Dushore PA has ONE = 570-928-8184.
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D3TZ16797A .. Left Hood Hinge / Obsolete

DON SANDERSON FORD in Glendale AZ has 17 = 623-842-8762.

MILLER OBSOLETE PARTS in Binghamton NY has FOUR = 800-546-7278.

GREEN SALES CO. has THREE.

JST AUTOMOTIVE has TWO.