1968 hood fitment questions please help

[1971short4X4]

i took my truck down to a bare frame and am now putting the front sheetmetal on, with a different cab and fenders.. so i'm basically building from scratch.

question #1
i am having a problem, the hood is fitting even in the front (gap to each fender from the hood at the grill) however at the back it is closer to the passenger fender (like 1/32 inch gap) and a normal gap at the driver side. i have tried shifting the hood over to the drivers side in an effort to make the gap to the passenger fender wider at the rear, by loosening the bolts that attach the hood to the hinges (all 4 of them) and shifting to the driver side, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. (hood still closer to passenger fender at the back)

so my first question is what is the correct way to open the gap to the fender at the back of the hood by the hinge?

question #2
the gap at the rear of the hood (at the hinges to the fenders) is less then at the front of the hood (at the grill to each fender). What is the correct way to widen this gap. (shims at the front fender to cab bolt or at rear fender to cab bolt or both?)
where i'm stumped is the doors are adjusted so they are flush with the rear of the cab and flush with the fender and rocker) so if i'm concerned that if i shim the fenders out the doors will now be in too far)

last question.
for the top fender to cab bolts. should there be shims here to space the fenders out? or from the factory is it normal to not need shims in this area?

thanks for any advise.

[67chevy1series]

i am having the same problems and my hood is from a 68 crazy huh.....

[bigsnookmaster]

They do shim just about everywhere. You might want to check the location of the core support, right to left. When my truck was mocked up for piant, they welded the correct shims in place, then they basically just bolted back on after paint with no need to shim. Good luck.

[chewychevy67]

I had this problem as well. i just figited with it for a while. one thing i did that seemed to work is make sure that the hinges (both sides) are most to the center of the hood where the hood bolts to the hinges. the holes are a little wider than the bolt there. I also bought brand new hinges from gm. not sure if that makes a difference. my gaps finally came out very nice.

[Classic Heartbeat]

i am having a problem, the hood is fitting even in the front (gap to each fender from the hood at the grill)

First off you need to make sure that your cab is mounted square on the chassis. The same dementions on the left as you have on the right. Once that is done you can move on to the front end.
The next concern is your hood hinges themselves. Are they old and worn out? Lift your hood, grab it by the front and shift it left to right a couple of times while you watch the hinges. If the rivets or the linkage move around then your hinges are shot. No amount of adjusting will fix that. Only new hinges will.
Now lets look at the hood pin & grill support/hood latch. When you close the hood does it get pulled to the right (or left) when the pin engauges the latch. If so, one or the other needs to be moved.
Now on to the radiator core support. This has to do with the radiator core support being square with the cab. If everything above is good you may need to move the support one way or the other. (in your case it sounds like the right) So loosen the radiator suport lift the hood and push it the direction it needs to go.
Remember, moving any of the above may cause you to have to make minor adjustments in other places, so be aware of that.

the gap at the rear of the hood (at the hinges to the fenders) is less then at the front of the hood (at the grill to each fender).

The above direction will fix that to some degree. However if you are not satisfied, then loosen all of the fender bolts at the care support including the little triangle at the corner. Pull the fender over, tighten and see if that works. If not, some shimming may be necessary.

for the top fender to cab bolts. should there be shims here to space the fenders out? or from the factory is it normal to not need shims in this area?

Yes, it may be necessary to shim there. Some trucks were shimmed at the factory and others were not.
One last thing that you want to keep in mind is these trucks were mostly hand assembled and a lot of prying and shimming took place on the factory line. Anytime you take one of these trucks apart and install new parts you may have to do the same to get it back to factory spec. (Remembering factory spec. was generouse because to GM these were trucks. Trucks were meant for work, and the gaps were not a priority in the manufacturing process. Meaning they were not roller bearing strait right out of the gate.
If you want to achive bearing strait gaps, lots of prying, shimming, wellding additional metal to parts and good luck will be what it takes to get it there.
Sorry for the long post, but gap issues are not easely explained in just a few words. WES