hood alignment question

[tim bob]

i took my car out today and had to check oil when closing the hood very very carefully i noticed the passenger side the bottom of the hood where the corner meets the headlight assembly it is actually touching the headlight assembly am afraid of damaging hood or light 94 rt/10?? thanks tim

 

[tim bob]

how hard is it to algn.the hood ????? thanks

 

[dave6666]

Assuming you're talking about vertical alignment (touching top of light) and not horizontal (touching side of light) there are rubber stop bumpers located near the front latches, at least on the Gen 2's. You can screw that out to prevent the hood from closing so far. I would write down everything you do, like # of turns unscrewed etc.

There's a write-up on this in the Illustrated Upgrades section I think. Gotta be a VCA member to access that...

Any chance you can post a pic of your problem with your hood? And if you can, post pics of the fitment all around. There may be other problems?

 

[tim bob]

yes i will take some pics and check out the rubber stoppers thanks dave i wont have time till alittle later today

 

[Venomiss]

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/575287-hood-alignment.html

This thread has some pictures in it-is this what you are experiencing?

 

[tim bob]

thanks for the reponces i am having a problem with my computer i called chuck tater he informed me also about the rubber stops and also the latch on the low side of the hood needs to be adjusted.i will try tomorrow and post results thanks

 

[tim bob]

i rasied the passenger side latch a liitle bit at a time. i finally got it off the light ass.and hood is below the front clip.but now on the high end of the light ass.the hood is much higher than it was before and its higher than the drivers side.one of these days i will have to bring my car to doug levin for a few things.

 

[00VPRGTS]

Becareful raising the rubber stop too much. When you shut your hood it may seem to fully latch but when you drive the car and hit any sort of bump it will pop the latch. It happened to me several times trying to align my hood. I had to raise the latch slightly as well as the rubber stop.

 

[PDCjonny]

My hood has lightly touched my headlight assembly for years with no ill effect.
There is some flex there in the headlight, It won't harm it with light touching.
The hoods can sometime need a lot of tweaking to get them just how you want.

 

[tim bob]

i did mark the latch were it was should i put it back to were it was. i have not driven it since i adjusted it????????

 

[tim bob]

i put my latch back down to almost right were it was i feel better also looks better even on both sides.

 

[Craig]

Becareful raising the rubber stop too much. When you shut your hood it may seem to fully latch but when you drive the car and hit any sort of bump it will pop the latch. It happened to me several times trying to align my hood. I had to raise the latch slightly as well as the rubber stop.

+1 for that. My hood pops up occasionaly after closing. You can hear it latch, but sometimes it still pops up. Mine also gets very close to the highlights.

 

[-FROG-]

You can adjust about everything on the hood. I had my RT/10 front bumper off about 30 times working on my hood/bumper alignment. Basically you need to just pop the front part of the hood and pull up a chair and a few sockets. You can adjust the latches up inside the bumper (raise or lower to a desired height). Don't open the hood all the way.. just the front part.

The bumper is pretty easy to pull off actually. Just ALOT of bolts under the very bottom, sides and a few plastic tabs that can only be seen when laying on your back, looking up (these are located in the center open section of the bumper). Also about 5 plastic tabs on the top part of the bumper, on the inside of the engine bay area.

Once you remove the bumper cover, it's easier to make adjustments. It's all a big puzzle like game you will play for a few hours. You adjust this and then that don't work... you move that and this thing over here now doesn't match up.... insert curse words when needed.

 

[sniper1]

If I'm not mistaken there are 10 adjustment points on the Gen I and Gen II hoods not to mention the hindge attatchment points. It is a teadius sometimes frustrating ongoing process but take your time if you end up doing it yourself. Some things to watch for is the alignment lines with the doors as well as the the front facia corners and top front of the facia and finally the the spacing between the hood and the cowl. I'm still tinkering with mine from time to time when I get really bored. Good luck

 

[dave6666]

+1 for that. My hood pops up occasionaly after closing. You can hear it latch, but sometimes it still pops up. Mine also gets very close to the highlights.

Although good alignment is key, be sure your latches are well lubricated. A squirt every now and then with some WD will help them pop closed if marginal.