I have another thread started about how I hit a kid who ran aross a street well here is the pics If you see the fender to hood has a very big gap in it. i can easy stick my fingers in them that how bad it is. Also the hood is closed in the pics and looks like its not. Do you think a body shop would fix this on the cheap. I had a guy tell me that should not be that exspensive. few hundred.

 

Thats not the hood that was hit right? That just looks like it needs adjustment. If its centered, move the latch around. Looks also like you need to move the rubber stops on each side near the fenders.

 

Oh and is that a Harwood? If so expect the corners to rise and lower with tempature changes. I had one on my 84 and in the sun it fit fine (I installed and adjusted it when it was warm and sunny). At night when it cooled one corner would lift.

 

No this is not the hood that was hit. Yes this is a harwood fiberglass hood. I had to take out the rubber hood stops because the hood would not close. it would not catch the hood latch.

 

That makes no sense. If your body gaps are all even (which in the pictures they do look even) than it's the hood needing to be adjusted or it's shifting with change in temperature.

 

You will need one stop to go on the right to lift the corner of the hood. This will help the left to go down (may just also be a severly warped hood).

Try this, unbolt the latch and remove the spring. Intsall the riubber bumpers and see how the hood closes. Adjust the bumpers so when you put downward pressure on the hood in the center where the latch is it will fit proper.
You may also want to try loosening the bolts on the hinge and push up on the front of the right side while tightening and pull down on the left while tightening the left side. They will move a little at the hinges to the hood and that makes a lot up front.

Once its adjusted pretty good without the latch then bolt it and the spring back on. You may need to slot the holes to adjust the latch enough.

 

Oh and if the latch is all the way up and the stricker on the hood wont catch it you may have to use some washer and maybe longer bolts to shim the stricker down some. I had to on my Harwood cowl hood for my 84.

 

formula, how is the gap between right fender and door? Is it wider at the bottom? Hard to tell from pics but it looks like the right rail is up. If you can find something on each side on the bottom check it on level ground. Bottom of bumper reinforcement would be good if you can get to it and keep ruler straight. And yes any decent body shop should be able to fix that.

 

i think its just the latch mechanism it self...mine looked like that but then i moved the latch down it looks good now

 

Yeah I doubt a teenage hitting bent the rail.
Any hood is going to need some adjustments, even a factory replacement. After markets more so. The Harwoods don't help by being so light either. They take a good flick or even a follow through with your hand as the hood is being closed to latch.

 

Didn't have to bend rail. Could have bent and rolled fender and brackets up. Was trying to give him some help in measuring himself instead of taking shop's word. I've seen stranger things happen in 30 plus years of building wrecked cars.

 

How hard was the tap?
I'm wondering if the bumper // front end got enough jostle to break a few tabs underneath?
Headlight buckets binding?

 

That would be like hitting a baby dear at 30mph, it can happen.

 

yes it is alittle wider at the bottom of the door. right after the accident happen i had to use a screw driver with a rag and pry the fender outward so the door would not hit when opened and closed.

 

In thge 25+ years I have been doing auto body repair, and for many of those years in a shop located right next door to a two company I have seen MANY vehicles that made contact with humans and animals. I know exactly what could happen thank you very little.

 

Calm down there chief i was joking.

 

I'm always calm. Just kicked back with my shoes off, watching TV and drinking a Dr. pepper. Plus with my heart pills it gives me a slow heart rate and low blood pressure.

 

That sounds about right. It may be an easy fix for a shop. Can't really tell from pics that's why I asked the question I did. It's not likely that you bent the lower rail but as someone else said it's possible. Saw a 9 year old hit a dump truck head on one time. Kid lived, slight concussion, broken leg. Dump truck was towed away, kids head went into radiator enough to bust it.

Back to your car, there's not much room for movement on that fender up and down like that. Really need to measure height some how to repair damage. There are some other things that may need measured also but I'd start with height. Keep us posted.

 

Well lets see the picture of the whole front after the accident with the hood sticking up like the cowl hood does.
All I remember seeing is a small pic in the dark. From what I remember of that one, the old hood, That was HIT, sat level at the fender. It looed as if there could have been a larger than normal gap in the center and maybe the cover slightly pulled away from the fender.
That would tell me that the center support could be bent which would also make the hood latch go down. Any of the plastic support that attaches the bumper cover to the rest of the car broke. All of which can be fixed at home with little to no out of pocket expense.
A picture may be worth a thousand word but seeing it in person is priceless.

 

I don't have a pic of it but i can tell you it was not sticking up like this cowl hood does. your right the hood before the cowl hood did sit level with my fenders but there was still a big gap in the driver fender.

 

Did the kid roll off the fender? Like I stated, the center support where the latch is could be tweaked and something just put pressure on the fender to misalign it.
I just don't think you need to worry about frame rail damage and taking it to a shop, especially if its out of pocket right now. If the parenst are going to pay for it, by all means, make them pay for a front wheel alignment as well!

 

looks to me like the adjustment on the hood is way too low on the pass side and maybe too high on the driver side. the pass side is difinatly too low. chances are the hood is warped being it is fiberglass. once you get that figured out, then you can worry about your gap on the driver side fender to hood gap. sometimes you can tweak the hinges over by pushing the hood over to the drivers side, but depends on your gap on the headlite covers, make sense? Front end alignment???? Seriously dude?????