You should have loosened the male catch on the hood and let the female part
of the latch center it. I have done this on every car I have restored and it
never failed to work. Other cars besides Roadsters too.
You wouldn't have had all the grief.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pam & Paul Bauman" <plhbauman@earthlink.net>
To: "Autox" <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2001 1:51 AM
Subject: just four bolts and a latch...
> Jon Frampton and I worked on getting the hood on my car setting straight
> today. Ever since putting the hood on after it's restoration, it never sat
> quite right, being slightly higher on one side in the rear. it also had an
> annoying habit of popping open while buzzing down the freeway. I had the
> presence of mind to remove the grille before we started, so the rest of
this
> tale is not nearly as gruesome as it could have been.
>
> We loosened the four hood hinge bolts and checked to make sure the hood
was
> setting in the engine bay opening squarely. We then eyeballed level at the
> cowl side and tightened the hinge bolts up. It all looked pretty good, so
I
> pushed her down and latched it. That was when the fun started.
>
> The hood refused to pop open. Try as we might (and Jon lifts weights, so
it
> was not for lack of strength!) we could not release the hood latch. We
> finally resorted to taking out the hinge bolts and lifted the thing off
from
> the front. Did I mention I took off the grille?
>
> Hmmmm. The latch part on the hood appeared to be going into the mechanism
> slightly off center and no amount of adjusting of the cowl or hood parts
> would center it properly. It finally took a round file and a lot of elbow
> grease to elongate the mounting holes in the hood latch to get the
> adjustment we needed. Upon reassembly, the two parts fit together
> beautifully, so I snapped the hood shut again.
>
> Yes, you probably can guess what happened then--it stuck shut a second
time!
> Fortunately, just loosening the hinge bolts got us the slack we needed to
> open her up again and after adjusting and sweating (it was warm in the
sun)
> we managed to strike a deal that me and my 30 year old car could live
with.
> With a few shim washers under the round rubber bumpers at the back of the
> hood, we got it set. It still is not quite perfect, but it is level and it
> opens when I pull the release. Though not a truly fitting thanks for all
his
> hard work, we treated Jon to lunch and got home before 3 o'clock.
>
> Working on a roadster and getting home before dark. What a concept!
>
> Paul Bauman
> Westminster, CA
> 67 1600
> http://www.PictureTrail.com/bauman311
>
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