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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / November 2005aligning hood
This past weekend I put a new hood on a 1996 Acura TL. I tried my best to get it lined up, but it is not quite right. Are there any tricks to getting this done right? TIA ----------- Alex What is the problem, no one here can see what's going on!!?? > This past weekend I put a new hood on a 1996 Acura TL. I tried my best to > get [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > ----------- > Alex You bet there are tricks! It's basically why body men get paid for doing bodywork! I've watched my buddy (old school bodyman, apprenticed doing Rolls Royce stuff) align doors and hoods, the use of a two by four was required... Don't be afraid to take the fenders off or at least loosen them to get it right. Brian > What is the problem, no one here can see what's going on!!?? >> This past weekend I put a new hood on a 1996 Acura TL. I tried my best [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption > =---- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian" <brian.evans@mci%%%.com> Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 4:41 PM Subject: Re: aligning hood > You bet there are tricks! It's basically why body men get paid for doing > bodywork! I've watched my buddy (old school bodyman, apprenticed doing [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Don't be afraid to take the fenders off or at least loosen them to get it > right. This sort of stuff was true for mid-60's US built cars and is probably still true for anything made in England but for an Acura???? I have never worked on a late model Honda product where the parts didn't fit properly with minimum adjustment. Assuming nothing is actually bent, then getting the hood to fit should just be a matter of patience. Prop the hood in the open position, centered between the fenders, with the latch removed. Attach the hinge bracket to the hood and lightly tighten the hood so that it is as far forward as possible on the hinge brackets. Close the hood and bump it to the rear until it matches the front fender line. Be sure to keep it centered between the fenders (small shims made from wooden strips can help here). When the hood is properly lined in the fore-aft direction with respect to the fenders, carefully open it and tighten the screws. Carefully close the hood and check the alignment. You may need to loosen the screws slightly and bump the hood into place to get things perfect. If you can't match the hood line and fender lines, then you'll have to adjust the fenders as well. In this case, try to figure out which fender is "right" and match the hood and other fender to it. After you get the hood aligned, attach and adjust the latch. Ed >Assuming nothing is actually bent, then getting the hood to fit should just >be a matter of patience. Prop the hood in the open position, centered [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >try to figure out which fender is "right" and match the hood and other >fender to it. After you get the hood aligned, attach and adjust the latch. Thanks for the tip. I didn't think of using wooden shims to help keep it centered makes a lot of sense. I may try this one more time. ------------- Alex >You bet there are tricks! It's basically why body men get paid for doing >bodywork! I've watched my buddy (old school bodyman, apprenticed doing >Rolls Royce stuff) align doors and hoods, the use of a two by four was >required... Can you share the method used? Or do I need to know the secret bodyman's handshake? :) >Don't be afraid to take the fenders off or at least loosen them to get it >right. We did do that to get the gap on one side to where we wanted. --------------- Alex > This past weekend I put a new hood on a 1996 Acura TL. I tried my > best to get it lined up, but it is not quite right. Are there any > tricks to getting this done right? TIA Was the car involved in a collision? Honda (and of late, Hyundai) use razor thin panel gaps. If the shell has been distorted, it will be impossible to get things aligned unless you also loosen and adjust the upper fender bolts, and perhaps the headlamps and bumper as well). And even then it'll never be /perfect/. I've watched bodymen do this. It's an art, really. A very organic art. >Was the car involved in a collision? Yes. The car rear ended another vehicle. Grille, lights, and hood were all damaged. Bumper was scrathed up, but the fenders were not damaged at all. >Honda (and of late, Hyundai) use razor thin panel gaps. If the shell >has been distorted, it will be impossible to get things aligned unless >you also loosen and adjust the upper fender bolts, and perhaps the >headlamps and bumper as well). And even then it'll never be /perfect/. Thanks for the tip. >I've watched bodymen do this. It's an art, really. A very organic art. I was never very good at art. :( I'll have to find an artist to guide me. :) ------------- Alex > > Was the car involved in a collision? > > Yes. The car rear ended another vehicle. Grille, lights, and hood > were all damaged. Bumper was scrathed up, but the fenders were not > damaged at all. You'd be amazed. Distortion wil be invisible...until you try to get all the gaps right again. > In article <gYidnTojy4ZLu-TenZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d@magma.ca>, > invalid@invalid.c0m [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > all > damaged. Bumper was scrathed up, but the fenders were not damaged at all. Not good. Chances are you warped the front radiator support and pulled the fenders (one or both) in so that they are no longer parrallel. You need to measure the distance between the fenders at various points and comapre the profile to the hood. I'll bet the profiles don't match anymore. You'll probably need to adjust the fenders to the hood. Ed >Not good. Chances are you warped the front radiator support and pulled the >fenders (one or both) in so that they are no longer parrallel. The radiator support is definitely not straight. I was thinking of replacing it, until I found it it is welded in place. I don't have the tools to do that and the car is not really worht putting that much money into it. We straightened it the best we could, but we eyeballed everything. I don't have specs, so I wouldn't know how things are supposed to measure out. >You need to >measure the distance between the fenders at various points and comapre the >profile to the hood. I'll bet the profiles don't match anymore. You'll >probably need to adjust the fenders to the hood. Good idea. I'll do that too. ----------------- Alex > This past weekend I put a new hood on a 1996 Acura TL. I tried my best to get > it lined up, but it is not quite right. Are there any tricks to getting this > done right? TIA > ----------- > Alex Factory hood OR some funky bolt on "power intake" hood? If it was some oddball hood your probably never going to get it exact. If it is a factory panel it shouldn't be very hard. If the car has been hit then it gets MUCH more interesting because even a slight body twist will throw everything off. Then it comes down to playing with shims and getting it as close as you can. >Factory hood OR some funky bolt on "power intake" hood? Factory hood from a donor car. No one makes aftermarket hoods for this car. At least I could not find any. >If it was some >oddball hood your probably never going to get it exact. If it is a >factory panel it shouldn't be very hard. >If the car has been hit then it gets MUCH more interesting because even >a slight body twist will throw everything off. Then it comes down to >playing with shims and getting it as close as you can. The car did hit another car. The radiator support was bent, but from eyeballing everything else, no other damage was obvious. I straightened out the radiator support as best as I could, but it is probably not exactly right. The hood position is not that bad, but I was hoping to do better. After playing with it and the fenders, we got the gaps to be pretty even, but not as good as the original, even after the crash. You are the second person to suggest shiming things, so I will give that a try to see if I can do better. Thanks to you and all others who gave me good suggestions. --------------- Alex |
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