Gap where hood sits

[my51chevyrocks]

Is it normal for me to have this gap on my 51 where my hood sits? It looks strange to me and I was wondering how hard it is to adjust it.

[53GMC]

all of the hoods that i have seen usually have a smaller gap than that with rubber weatherstripping underneath the edge....does your hood latch close correctly or is the hood pushing the latch forward? if it's pushing it then you need to adjust it backward towards the windshield.

[mr48chev]

How does the hood fit in the other areas? Getting the hood to fit right can be a major project and everything from the cab mounts up needs to be right if you are going to get it right.
If the truck has had a frame change or has been subframed you may be in for realigning the fenders to get everything to fit right.

You should be able to slide the hinges back on the cab a bit to at least cut the gap in half. You still need enough room for the back of the hood to clear the lip on the cowl when you open and close the hood. Too close and it might hang up and chip the paint.

I'd take a pencil and mark the outline of the hinge on the cowl as a reference and then loosen the bolts and slide the hing back maybe an eighth of an inch and tighten it down and see what I had going. you will have to adjust the latch at the front too.

You might just want to remove the latch pin from the hood while you are adjusting the rest of the hood so as not to have to battle with it at the same time. Once you get the rest of the hood just so, replace and adjust the pin and align the latch.

[tobins 52 gmc]

Good advise ,i am about to do the same thing .thanks Robert

[my51chevyrocks]

That sounds like something I should save for my body shop. Thanks for all your advice. I appreciate it.

[fist5366]

good question and good advise Im having the same problem it seems like my hood sits too high. Like the springs are not tight enough but they are new sprins so I gues just lots of adjustments. I talked to a guy locally who has dedicated his life pretty much to rebuilding 47-53 chevys and he told me it can be a long painful project. So good luck and hopefully we can both solve our problems

[mr48chev]

It's been a while but one thought just popped up. You do have the correct shouldered bolts holding the hood to the hinges?

[fist5366]

Im pretty sure there the right bolts. I bought the hood bolt kit, so Im assuming there the right ones