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Lowering the rear of your hood or front of trunk: alignment

41K views 57 replies 16 participants last post by  LJChevy 
#1 ·
How to lower the back of your hood or front of your trunk.

I have seen this come up on forums for so long and lately there seems to be a run on it so I felt the need to explain this a little different.

There are a number of different hood hinge designs, but they all follow in basically the same general geometry.

Be it this 1965 GM A body.



This 1959 Rambler.



Or this 2003 Dodge Caravan which has only one part and one pivot.



They all follow the same basic geometry in that the pivot point is moved back behind and below the hoods top surface line.



As you can see by my crude drawings I too am in the dark about the exact geometry that is at play in these old hinges but I have the basic idea. Where the exact intersection (pivot point) I don’t know but it is something like this.

On my wife’s family truckster (the Caravan) it is very simple, here is the hinge with the hood lowered.




If you were to add a shim between the hinge and the hood on the front bolt like this. It effectively forces the hinge to go down lower right?



When you add a shim between the hood and front of the hinge the hinge is then forced to go down further because the front of the hood will only go so far right?
You can see by this drawing with my paper hinge how when it lowers further like if it is pushed by a shim, it lowers the rear too. You can clearly see that in this model, it IS lower at the rear.



Which results in the hood going down at the rear!



In both of these photos the hood is fully latched at the front and no other adjustments were made.

Now, I understand this is a last resort, you don’t want shims showing under your hood. I don’t think it is that big of a deal being there are a whole stack of them at your fender bolts not ten inches away, but they didn’t have them there from the factory so many of us don’t want one there now.
The solution is to rotate your hinge back. Lifting the front higher and lowering the rear. If you wanted to go as far as you could as an example you would loosen all the bolts on the hinge and with the hood open simply push it up in the front opening it as far as it will go while someone tightens the bolts to the fender. At that point the rear of the hood is going to be as low as you can get it without hogging holes in the hinge or shims. Notice how this will make the hinge go further down just as it did on the wife’s truckster hinge.

 
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#43 ·
#44 ·
Tell me, do you mean the "rear" of the trunk up by the hinges or the "rear" of the trunk by the tail lights? :D We all often mix these up. :D

The rear by the tail lights you lower the striker that is on the rear body panel, that pulls the trunk down tighter.

Tell me, have you replaced the rubber?

Brian
 
#45 ·
the rear near the bumper.I think the trunk seal has been replaced don't know the brand though.it sits very close now with the rubber bumpers removed and the trunk seal removed.I am going to try and remove the catch on the trunk and see where it sits ..thank you all for your help
 
#46 ·
I forget now, I would need to go out to my car but I think BOTH the latch and the striker both move quite a bit to bring it down. The rubber seal around the trunk will keep it up when new but if you bring it down tighter a little at a time over days with the new rubber it will compress it down and work fine. If you try to smash it down all at once when you put the new rubber in expecting the trunk to fit as it did before the rubber was installed, you are asking a bit much and I don't like to do that, the lid needs to be SLAMMED shut and I just don't like doing that. I loosen up the striker and leave it that way a few days then tighten it up over a few days until it fits well again. On the doors, if you leave them on the "first catch" of the latch a few days before shutting them completely that works well.

It's not a must do, I just find it nice to let them get slowly compressed down, it just feels right to do it that way.

Brian
 
#48 ·
Really there is nothing you would do at the hinge to lower the rear at the bumper. You need to move the striker down. But often the rubber bumpers are too tall (reproduction are "similar" to original not identical) or the lip of the jamb where the rubber goes is too high, or did you install new rubber? It could be folded over and holding the lid up too high there.


Brian
 
#50 ·
Awesome! Sometimes the things we do on these cars can be awful frustrating. If I played even a tiny part in ending that frustration for you, you made my day!

Brian
 
#56 ·
Think like an engineer and work with what you've already got. Trim down what is destined for the scrap heap. You are describing a common pattern of having to tweak repro parts. BTDT.
Perhaps a quick scuff on the bottom with a belt sander with light to no pressure. Are there clips permanently embedded on the bottom? Then it gets complicated.
Repro parts are a love / hate thing. You love that they exist, but you hate them when you install.
 
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