Okay this is very frustrating..

Ive had 2 different hoods on my car with the same issue.
At first i thought it was just my first hood being warped or something but i recently got an ss hood and im having the exact same issue.

No matter how much time i spend unbolting and rebolting hinge bolts and hood bolts to hinge bolts i cant align these hoods.

If i get the hood to sit properly with the bumper my driverside hood area sticks up and it looks as if my hood is open.. See for yourself



Now if that wasnt bad enough one of the corners of the hood seems to pinch itself against the fender when lifted. This is an on and of issue it seems like if i fix it, over time it shifts itself and starts pinching again..

My car is pretty much forcing me into getting hood pins because opening my hood is a pain..

Heres how it sits now, any tips on aligning these things would be OH SO GREATLY appreciated.

 

First of all let me say I've never had this issue, but I'm willing to offer some suggestions:
1) Have you tried removing the gas struts and seeing if the hood lays flat?
The 82's had different rate (lighter) struts for the 'glass hoods.
2) You could also unbolt the hood from the hinges with the struts removed, and see if it lays flat in the opening. If not, it may very well be the hood(s) are warped.
3) A common problem with first and second gen cars are the hood hinges become loose causing the problems you are having with their steel hoods. The fix for this is to put the hinges in a press, and "squash" the pivot rivets tighter to remove side to side play. I would think there are still good used 3rd gen hinges available in the recycling yards.
Hope this helps.........good luck.

 

I'd bet the latch and the vertical support are pushed up too much. Headlight mounting panel may be broken also.

 

How does a factory hood fit? Same issues?

 

I recently had the same issue. I had to cut a few coils out of the spring to lower it due to the lighter hood.

 

Not sure if this helps, but in the front photo it looks like the center on the front bumper cover is raised higher then normal. The gap right above the nose emblem looks tighter then on the sides moving outwards towards the lights. Alot of guys have had problems(including myself) were the nose(mainly the header brace) loosens over time and sags causing a gap directly in the front area of the hood. The side would be fine but you could get your fingers under the hood easliy without popping the hood latch. The easy fix for that it to loosen up the header bolts and have someone pull up on the nose and retighten the bolts till the gap is gone.

Looks like you kinda have the opposite problem where the nose is too high and its not allowing the sides of the hood to come down and rest next to the fender edges.

 

Hey all thanks a lot for all the help on this. It seems to me the shocks are working fine thr hinges dont look too bad. I think firehawk is really on to something with his suggestion im assuming ill have to remove the whole cover to access the header panel? Not sure exactly on what piece that is.

As far as the stock hood fitment ive never had a stock hood with this car so i have no clue.

Im gonna mess with the bumper this weekend and post back with an update.

 

You won't have to remove the bumper cover at all. If you raise you hood you will see the header panel(its dark grey which attaches the lights and the bumper cover to the radiator core support. You will have vertical brackets on both side in front of the radiator. Loosen up the side bolts on both brackets and the center hinge bracket. This allows you to raise and lower the entire nose assembly. It might be a 15 minute job depending on how many times you adjust it.

 

Great! I was not looking forward to the cover removal. Sounds easy enough ill give it a shot and post back with an update thanks a lot.

 

Have you looked under the car? I've had a few cars that someone had jacked the front up by the core support. The vertical support is bolted to it and when the lower tie bar of the support gets moved up it moves the vertical support up as well. Could be a quick fix for someone with the equipment.

 

UPDATE: Hey guys just wanted to let yall know i got the bumper issue that firehawk suggested fixed. The only issue i have left is that the hood is still pinching on the fender corner but thats a battle for another day.

I tried and tried and no matter what i did if i got it to the point where the pinching would stop the hood would end up too far back.

I loosened the vertical support and headlight brackets, then had a friend stand on the pumper and apply pressure while i re tightened the bolts. The results are way better!

Thanks again guys!