hey all,
I bought this 1986 firebird, and I have had problems getting the hood to close. Looking through pictures I noticed my frount looks different. can some one tell me if the fount end is the right one for this car???

http://southeastwheelsevents.com/pho...1?context=user
here is aline of my car trying to get the pic to load on here

 

It looks like an early front. Some better pics would help, so we could see what is going on.

I dig the snowflakes.

 

what would you like in pics and the previous owner trashed them of the four only one is worth anything.

the latch is hitting behind the hole, and everything looks like it lines up right. if you hold the latch you can close it and it looks like it should.

 

Does the hood fit good other than the latching mech?

You can shim the latch a little, front to back.

A heck of a lot of things can mess this up. A pic of what it is doing or where it is hitting may be a place to start.

 

Ok I'll get some after I get off work, other than the latch the hood fits fine.

 

ok sorry about taking so long to get this up but here they are:

the first is where the latch is hitting when closing and the second is what it looks like closed and a better pic of the frount

 

any ideas here guys???

 

did you try shimming the latch front to back as suggested above?... hood does appear to fit correctly from the pic you posted tho

 

maybe just a dumb idea, just maybe those little rubber stopper thingys on each side, and holding it back possibly?

 

Haven't shined it yet look at doing it and The back would have to be raise about 2 inches just to make it fit, I wanted to see any other ideas because I want everything to look stock

 

It looks like the front nose is down some on the pass side-but that would not make the latch do what it does.
There is a panel that the safety latch hooks into. It is hard to see with it all together, but it attaches to the core support and has a triangular brace coming up from the bottom. This is the part that you see the hood latch is mounted to and the spring sits in a little cup stamped in to it. There is a hole in it that the safety latch or lever (in your first pic) goes into. I believe this is hitting the angle of the hook.
If you can correct the lever or ramp of the hole you should be able to close the hood with out using your hand on the lever to move it.

It is possible that the hook and or hole is worn and bent. This could be why it does not shut with out a little "help".
It should be easy enough to fix. HTH
Sorry about that late reply-I have not had much time for "board gossip" lately.