My 87GT has a gap of probably 1/2" at the nose. If I make it fit closer, it catches the front upon opening and closing and chips the paint or worse. I'm going to try adding a shim between the hood and the bracket to raise it a maybe 1/8" and see if that helps. Is there some trick to getting it to fit proper?

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my 86 2.8 intercooled turbo


[URL=http://s16.photobucket.com/user/francis44/media/69ba83f6-9cfd-4291-88fe-5a4ea85369e4_zpsd980ade4.jpg.html]
my 87 norm aspri but highy modified 2.8

The hood hinges adjust vertically and horizontally. You shouldn't need to shim. The front bumper fascia has a "bracket" that aligns it also (at the top). So... could be many things (without seeing it in person).

All hinge bolts have adjustment I think...
front/back for bolts in the hood.
up/down for bolts in the car frame.

Notes:
If Fenders have never been removed... Check rear edge of hood match up w/ fenders body line.
Should be very close or exact. If so then could be hood is fine but front face is sagging etc where face is bolted to frame.

Could be have bent the hinges. GM made them "weak" for crash safety and can bend fairly easy.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

Thanks for replies guys.
I will give it another look and I did try adjusting the height too from the bracket. It's been a good while since I looked at the problem. Lol, I'm not sure why I decided to try shims?
If I cannot resolve the issue, I'll post some photos.

The hinge bushings can have play due to wear. I bought Rodney's bushing re-build kit. I haven't installed them yet,
but will be very soon. I have an extra pair to put on while the current hinges will be re-built.

My current hinges have excessive play. Not much, but very noticeable.

We all know these cars are hitting more than 30 years old. Many parts need to be re-furbished, re-built, or replaced.



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fierogt28

88 GT, Loaded, 5-speed.
88 GT, 5-speed. Beechwood interior, All original.

[This message has been edited by fierogt28 (edited 09-28-2016).]

It can take a lot of "playing" with the hinges (both frame and hood bolts) to get things right. After repairing some minor accident damage to my silver Formula, it took a few minutes to put the hood back on, and two hours of adjusting to get it right.

[This message has been edited by TopNotch (edited 09-29-2016).]

Or it is a possibility that at some point in the 30 years of the cars life, the front fascia bracket got tweaked causing alignment issues. I know mine was all messed up and my hood would catch on the lip of the nose because the lip was deformed due to the bent bracket, which also caused a large gap where the nose meets the hood.

[This message has been edited by zmcdonal (edited 09-29-2016).]

I remember it took me a while to get mine right one problem is leaving the hood up for a long period as the hood expands and shrinks coefficient expansion it tends to twist as it is only supported on one side when in the open position. Always leave it on locked postion and keep adjusting it till it settles into place.

quote Originally posted by zmcdonal: Just a tip that I found useful when adjusting my hood, take the headlight doors off first. You can access the bolts through the holes and get it right where you want it, then just snug them enough to hold it in place, open the hood and tighten. Saves you from having to open and shut it a million times and trying to hold it in place while tightening the bolts.

Yes also did that and it is much easier to work on with the doors off, and in this case, the headlights removed.
We discovered a few things:
1- As suggested here, the nose had dropped
2- Moreover, before I bought it, the car had been hit in the front; and was fixed by someone with no knowledge of Fieros; likely not a body shop.

It looks a lot better now, still needs a little tweeking. Whereas we also had to slot most of the upper fender bolt holes, so we could get the fender tops where they belonged -IE closer to the lid. We also adjusted the metal lip on the front-facer to keep the hood from hitting it when opened or closed. It is indeed a PIA to adjust, but I'm confident we can get it perfect. I will post some photos soon.

Thanks to all.

My 88 GT has a hood gap issue and when I looked under the car and had the nose off I noticed that at some point in its life there was an accident and there was a bent support underneath. You'd only notice it when you look close and see the nose gap is a bit wider.

Here's how bad it looked. I will add a few photos Wednesday or Thursday with the fix and more done on the car.
[img]http://www.zamzar.com/download.php?uid=b2da4c8c21313d48a9ef181a09618db-11e072b 69e321ec&targetID=12Sr3NF0Ch_Yx3vtsGJoKyA_I_I&fileID=p1b044ks987rn6rc5h2h6t13cg5.png[/img]

[This message has been edited by Francis T (edited 11-01-2016).]

I've been wrestling with my hood for a good minute now and was wondering if anyone could lend some pointers. Thinking maybe slotting the holes as some suggested above would be the best move?

(Mind the paint, lots of body work still in progress)


Basically it's favoring the left side a good bit. As it is in the picture, the height from the bumper there is perfect just the spacing is off. The passenger's side is the exact opposite of pictured here, very close to the bumper and fender. I had it wiggled around in a way that the sides were even but was far to high above the bumper and clipped it when moving up and down.