Lookin for some help.....

There is a one inch gap between where the hood closes and meets the fornt nose in the center. The rest of the hood fits perfect along the fenders and the corners of the front cover. Has anyone had this happen before. I dont want to tear apart the frontend unless I have to.

To me it looks like the front center got crushed down and now stayed pushed in, but the cover looks good and is not cracked or beat up.

Looks crushed to me. Is the headlight bar broken? That looks not only down, but back about 2"

I have a gap there on my RS, but not near that bad. I know some aftermarket bumper will leave a gap there, but not that much off one, seems there might be other issues going on. Hows the headlight bar and front core support?

I guess I'm going to have to do some exploring and see what it is. I will post what I find....

Thanks for the ideas.

There are some adjustment in the brackets that hold the headlight bar to the radiator support. You may want to try there. Loosen the four bolts that go through the headlight bar then see if the headlight bar won't move enough to close that gap. You don't want it completely against the hood as that will cause the paint to wear off both the hood and bumper.

I don't see there being that much adjustment there. There is a lot to make up and the ightbar is mounted to the fenders.

Make sure your bumper cover is aligned properly.

ive run into this issue a few times. i think theres 6 bolts holding the cover in that area? i unloosen them and stack washers under there to raise the cover. its experimentation. take your time and you can get it close.

Try it sometime. It will move quite a bit. That light bar is not that strong. It will give.

Understood, but we are talking inches, not fractions thereof.

Try the washer idea redneckjoe mentioned.

washers ftw

There is a good bit of adjustment in the headlight bar. The black brackets that attach it to the radiator support have three bolts with shims on each side where the headlight bar attaches. Loosen those up and pull the bumper up and retighten, keep trying until you get it right. If for some reason that still doesn't get it close enough you can go with the washers, but why not use built in adjustments first?

grngryoutmyway is right. There is some up and down movement there but if I remember correct they are a little tough to get to.

Joe, the op said one inch. I thought the same as you till I tried it on one that looked much like the op's. They get hit or even sat on with the hood up and move down. The bolts that hold the headlight bar to the brackets will let it slip down then not let it come back up till you loosen the bolts.

OP is just gonna stand by and let us do this, It's just the extreme overbite, if you will, That makes me think it may be the center part of the light bar broken. Up and down, there is plenty of play, but not much fore/aft. Plus it looks like the original cover. If it were a different color, I'd say sure someone just put it on wrong. I know every bolt on there done a few of these. Mine was fortunate enough to never have been wrecked so alignment would be easier.
Feedback from OP sure would help here.

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the advise. I hope to get on this some this weekend. Its gotta come up at least 3/4 of an inch an forward a good inch or so. I think it is going to be in the headlight bar. Just gotta get out there. I will have some pics and post the findings. Thanks

FIXED.

The two brackets that hold the headlight bar just to the inside of the headlight were bent in. I got another set of brackets and installed them but in no time they were bent also (probably too much pressure somehow?) I then straightened the brackets, gave them a little reinforced weld at the factory bend and put a small gusset to hold the bracket stiff. Then adjusted them up and the hood and gap are perfect. Thanks to all for the help.

Looks much better, making a mental note of that one. Something was crushed, just not what I thought. I'm man enough to say I was 50% wrong.

Glad you got it fixed. After my last post I got to thinking about and I believe there was or should be a third bracket in the middle of the headlight bar that attaches to the center vertical support. If that is missing, which IIRC they got left off quite a lot, it may allow the nose to move back down easily.

Joe, it ain't about wrong or right but trying to give people ideas on how to correct probllems with their car. I know sometimes people have some rather not so smart ideas but they are trying. And then there are some that are just not post.

Afraid my staement may have come off wrong, and it is about helping out. I just dont like giving bad advice But you can never tell who you are trying to help here, we run the gambit from some that never turned a bolt to full on fabricators and race engine builders.