On my third header panel, second Hood.

[hullj21]

Has the car ever been hit?

 

[hullj21]

Not that I’m aware of. When I bought the shell I asked the seller and he said no, all the metal I’ve replaced was due to rust.

 

[badazz81z28]

The metal is repop, this is normal

Has the car ever been hit?

 

[DougD]

The metal is repop, this is normal

It's still always a potential factor.

 

[budro6968]

Measurement time. See if you have a Diamond?

 

[hd_cat]

Anyone have any advice on how to approach this. I’m not a body guy, but I believe that this is a common problem in this area. I’ve bought three header panels and now two hoods trying to get this roughed in. The hood hits in the front right and the gaps are all over the place. My gut tells me to start cutting and welding on the header to meet the hood. But again, I’m not a body guy. The hood is centered side to side and lined up front to back. It’s pretty close along the fender height wise. This hood and header is by far the best fit out of all of them so far. View attachment 140675 View attachment 140676 View attachment 140677 View attachment 140678 View attachment 140679

How square are the corners between the fender and header? How square are the corners of the hood? If your corners are not square, you'll be chasing alignment issues until you solve that issue. Does shifting the hinge bolts improve the alignment? I have an Unlimited Products Cowl hood that will likely cause me to slot the hinge bolts to rotate the hood a bit, since everything is painted, I have no choice but to improvise....

 

[xten]

These cars didn't fit together well when they were new. I worked at a Chevy dealer when they came out. Funny, people didn't notice how bad they fit till they were hit. When they came out of the body shop, they better be perfect, or close to it. I remember fixing one hit in the rear (not hard at all) and the customer complaining about the front sheet metal alignment. Said it was never like that till the accident. Some people are still like that today. We still spend hours chasing gaps with O.E. parts sometimes when everything is square. QC still leaves a lot to be desired. A/M has its work-arounds, but hard to know what to expect.

 

[FooFighter]

I have an OEM hood and header panel on my car right now that are worse than that. Came that way from the factory. My Thumb fits in the gap. Take it to a body shop that knows their sh1t. Cut, weld, grind, paint, its all you can do. Or get a fiberglass hood and add fiber glass to it, grind it down, build it up, work it till its presentable or until you're sick of messing with it. : ) Good Luck!

 

[dcozzi]

Looks like weld a bead to fill the gaps and get out the flap discs.
Sounds like a pain at first but it will probably save you time in the end.

 

[hullj21]

Measurement time. See if you have a Diamond?

Yes, I’ve measured it every way I could. It’s actually pretty squared, with in a 1/16” and 1/8”. I had it at a really good body guy but after $17,500 I just couldn’t do it anymore. That’s all just panel fitment. He got the rear done, up to the front of the doors. It’s ready for bodywork.
For that kind of money one would expect a finished painted car. I learned some lessons there. Everything else I have done myself. The car has new everything. The only original sheet metal is the rear package tray and inner wheel houses and the firewall. I did new one piece floor, new trunk floor, rear quarters,whole new roof and pillars, new cowl and patched in lower A pillar post where these cars always rust out. I’ve done a lot. And I’ve spent a lot. I learned so much i actually enjoyed it up til this part. I’m just dragging my feet on cutting into the hood I guess.. but I fiddled and fiddled and now have it the best it’s going to get I think. It just needs cut and welded to make it perfect. But I appreciate all the comments and all the advice from everyone. Sometimes you just need to hear how someone else got through a problem I think.