On my third header panel, second Hood.

[hullj21]

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.

Yup. That’s what I was procrastinating on I guess. Thanks for your response. I appreciate it very much. The more I hear it the better I feel about hacking into a new hood. Lol.

 

[hullj21]

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!

I appreciate the guidance. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Every reply helps.
I’m not willing to take it to a shop just yet. I’ve got some more elbow grease left in me tho ! besides, last time I dropped it off at a shop it didn’t go well for me. But thank you .

 

[hullj21]

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.

This is very true ! I seen some that ridiculous. I guess people just don’t pay attention when they know the car is new. And not any two of them Are alike. But from what I’m hearing, sounds like if you want perfect body lines and panel gaps there really is one way to do it. And that’s the right way. Cut,Weld,Grind,Weld,Grind some more. It’s only metal.

 

[hullj21]

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....

They are actually pretty darn close. Between 1/16”-1/8”
Which for as much work that’s been done to this car that really surprised me. It’s definitely the hood, and the header panel. The fenders are perfect as far as square go’s. I would argue the gaps now are probably as good as or about the same as it was when it left the factory. I’ve been really looking at gaps and panel fitment on every second gen I see and I’ve seen some pretty radical gaps. But thanks for the input. I Truly appreciate your response.

 

[hullj21]

It's still always a potential factor.

Thanks Doug.

 

[badazz81z28]

Though I would agree, the body panels were not perfect, some opinions go to the extreme. OE body panels fit together pretty darn well.

 

[firefighter_11]

I have my original hood that came with the car and the original header panel and mine looks about the same as yours in your first picture. With some tweaking of the front end you could probably get it a little better, but like others stated it didn't come but so good from the factory. If I ever had to swap hoods, luckily I was able to pick up an OEM hood at a swap meet at Rockingham drag way years back, for like $125, which I considered a steal. The second hood lines up pretty close to the hood I have on it now fwiw.

 

[ChevyReb]

Measure the hood both sides.I had one of those hoods years ago,and it was a 1/4" longer on the one side,and bowed in the middle on both sides so that you could see into the engine bay when the hood was shut.
The headers do get bounced around,so they can be pushed,pulled,and proped up at the support to make up any irregularites.
If you cant source oem,your going to have to cut and weld to make what you have look as good as you can.
I wound up cutting my 600.00 steel cowl and welding it onto a good stock hood,about a year before they released steel cowls,lol.
Good luck.

Wlm thinking wasn't that the Frankinhood? Lots of work but turned out great. Weren't you able to keep the vents too?

 

[krabben1]

Wlm thinking wasn't that the Frankinhood? Lots of work but turned out great. Weren't you able to keep the vents too?

Yes,its all stock with the cowl.Still wearing it.
The fender was frankinfender,lol.