98 Buick Century - Replace hood myself?

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xyzzyman@gmail.com - 12 Jan 2006 01:55 GMT

I had an accident, and I lost drivers headlamp, bumper cover, grille,
and dented in the hood. I ordered all the parts new from
http://www.partstrain.com, and they came 2 days ago, and since today
was so nice here in upstate new york, I replaced the bumper cover and
headlamps and grille and it was sooo easy.

The question now is wether I should try replacing the hood myself (with
extra hands ofcourse)? I'm going to have it all professionally painted
(the bumper cover and hood came primed), so I can always just pay them
to put it on. The hood itself is still aligned, not crooked or
anything. Even the latch is still in the right spot, just the front
corner got dented in, and it dimpled just above that spot. Seems pretty
straightforward, I can take bolts off at the hinge and rebolt to the
new hood. Only question is the hood lifts where they connect to the
little balls on the hood. The new hood has the balls that look like
they go into a balljoint, and I can't figure out how to remove the
lifts from the old hood. Worse case is I can always just pay $30 and
put in new lifts from advance auto, which would be cheaper than the
shop installing the hood probably but I'd like to save 'em. Any help
would be appreciated.

I'd also like to thank those that helped me a few months ago by
confirming that replacing my grandparents alternator in their '96 olds
regency didn't require removing the engine mounts, etc, like the
mechanic told them.

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Dave in Columbus - 12 Jan 2006 04:16 GMT

>I had an accident, and I lost drivers headlamp, bumper cover, grille,
>and dented in the hood. I ordered all the parts new from
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>regency didn't require removing the engine mounts, etc, like the
>mechanic told them.

Replacing the hood yourself is something you could do, but since you are
going to have the car in a shop for the paint, I would let the body shop
replace the hood. Aligning the hood can be tricky to an amateur and could
lead to scratching the paint on the fenders. Let the pros do it.

Signature

Dave in Columbus

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HLS@nospam.nix - 12 Jan 2006 18:36 GMT

> Replacing the hood yourself is something you could do, but since you are
> going to have the car in a shop for the paint, I would let the body shop
> replace the hood. Aligning the hood can be tricky to an amateur and could
> lead to scratching the paint on the fenders. Let the pros do it.

> Dave in Columbus

Dave is right, xyzzyman. You can do it, but the alignment and handling
can be more than you bargained for. I have even seen professional body
men struggle to align new panels and hoods.

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xyzzyman@gmail.com - 13 Jan 2006 20:45 GMT

I did figure out how to disconnect the lifts from the hood, but I think
I'm going to take your advice and just let them put it on. All I need
to do is disconnect the a bolt on each side, and pop the lifts off each
side, but I'm assuming that the bolt at the bottom of the lever can
slide back and forth to align? The new hood could be that much
different? Anyways though, probably can't add more than an hours labor
charge, and probably not even a full hour if it all goes well,
especially since I'm having them do whatever it takes to get the whole
car looking new. So thanks for stopping me from getting myself into too
much trouble. I'm suprised I got the bumper cover replaced in 2 hours
and everything aligned. I thought since it was plastic or whatever it's
made out of, it would be a pain.

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