Doing a total body off restoration on a 68. Had all doors,fenders,hood aligned perfectly. I mean the gaps and tolerances were perfect. Then I added the new seal that mounts on the cowl. Now the hood won't close all the way back down in the back.

The way I see it, its got nothing to do with the hinges. Just not enough clearance at the rear of the hood to the body cowl. Does this now mean that I've got to raise my fenders up? Won't this throw off my alignment with the doors? Won't this also change my front header height? Does this mean I have to raise my radiator support?

My neck aches from shaking my head!!

I just put the cowel seal on my 69 also.
I don't have the hood back on yet, so I haven't seen what you have, but I expect to.
The seal is brand new and not squished down yet. I would lower the hinges and let the spring tension push on it over a period of time. Get the car out in the sun also and let the seal heat up. Close the hood. Push down on is some to help compress it. Leave it that way for a while. See what happens.
That's about all you can do.
You can't raise the fenders past the cowel.

Dave

Not farmiliar with 68's , but if it is a foam type, I'd agree with SS Dave - let it compress before you take action. My foam door seals took a full month before they worked right.

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Make it the way you like it, forget what the other guys say!
http://chevelles.com/showroom/alelcaminofront.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/al4/alcamino64/index.html

A few days in the summer heat will do them good. Even though I prefer a stock appearing engine compartment, I personnaly like to leave the cowl seal off. It helps with cooling the engine compartment, letting the hot air escape through the rear opening.

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MY 69 (http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/xchange/xchange.cgi?search_and_display_db_button=on&db_id=22&exact_match=on&photo_size=full)

The new seal is made by Metro. Can't push the rear of the hood down any at all. It has Zero clearance.

Just finished putting a new one on my '69. Same issue, but its worse on the driver's side. The hood is about 3/8" too high on the left, just right on the pass side. Seems to be 'correcting' itself as it sits. I think the 120 degree heat will fix it.

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Dave Bradley
www.corvetteforum.net/classics/d1_bradley (http://www.corvetteforum.net/classics/d1_bradley)
'69 SS396 ragtop
'33 3W Coupe
'65 Vette BB Roadster