Road Runner Nest

I installed a different hood on my 72 Sat today so I could check all the panels and make sure everything fits right before I strip it back down and paint the car. The old hood was warped and unusable and the old hinges were worn out. I used some good working hinges from my 72 parts car and a good straight hood from a RR.

Everything operates properly now and lines up good with the exception of the side to side gap between the fenders. The left side (from standing in front of the car) has about a 1/16" gap and the right side has a 3/8" gap. I tried tweaking it and that does get the hood over pretty close to even on each side but as soon as you open and shut the hood again, it goes back to a 1/16" Left and a 3/8" Right gap.

Is there something I am missing here? I considered putting a washer on the 3 bolts, in between the inner fender well and the hinge on that left side to try and get the hinge to move over a bit but I figured I would ask you guys before I go through the trouble as it might not work anyway.

Any help or advise is appreciated. Thank You

If it's just the hood/fender gap on the one side and everything else lines up across the front, you can also loosen the fenders a bit and try to reposition them. There's usually a little play in the fender mounting, and it wouldn't take much to true it up in your case. It would be easier on a bodystyle without a header panel, but you may still be able to shift both fenders a bit. You'll just have to loosen more bolts to do it.

You may also need to move the hood latch a little bit to keep it from pulling the hood back to its old position.

Hey if it were easy everyone's panels would line up perfectly right?

Hahaha, ain't that the truth.

I actually tried all that after I posted this and was able to shift everything around and close up those gaps. And yeah it wasn't real easy. I was tired after wrestling that thing around all afternoon that I just now woke up from a ridiculously long nap, lmao.