Hood gap adjustment help needed!!..JonB. ???

scottgf

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My 94 RT/10 has a gap of about a half an inch in the area between the hood and front bumper running from behind the headlamp to the front wheel opening.
Any ideas on how the adjust this...
It has been this way since I bought it almost 2 years ago, but I gave up trying to figure out how to adjust it and went ahead and bought a nose mask for it to kinda cover the gap up.
Yesterday I took the mask off to wash the car and decided I like the "braless" look much better....And my Viper looks better without the nose mask on as well :)
Looking for help on this...
Cheers,
 

Viper Wizard

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Scott,
The book you want is "Body Construction,Dimensions&Joints" #81-699-96111.You should be able to order it from your local Dealer!
Hope this helped?
 

Ulysses

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Scott,

I can see from your avatar that there is a gap above the headlights and where the hood meets the facia at the wheel well that looks larger than it should. BUT it doesn't appear to have a large gap wher the hood meets the front of the facia. Is that a correct assessment?

If there was a gap in the front where the hood meets the facia as well, I would have said to adjust the hood latches and/or the hood stops.

If no gap, there is no room for adjustment and I would guess that your best bet would be to fill in the gap above the headlight. That would require shimming the headlight. You have to remove the facia to do that.
 

BigsViper

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Also please note that the side of the hood (where the badging is located) seems to be too high above the side sill. Could this indicate that the rear latch needs adjustment?
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scottgf

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The part I am talking about is the gap on the side from the rear of the head light to the wheel opening,..... where the front of the hood meets the facia, between the head lights,is fine, except it seems to have a lot of pressure on it when I release the latch, it pops up real hard....
What I think needs to happen is I need to lower the hinge assy...not the latches, but where ever the hinge assy mounts near the front of the car.
I cant see where it mounts and I am kinda afraid to take the facia off without some help from you fine folks.
Does anyone out there have the book "Viper Wizard" refers to, that they could maybe scan the pages I need and e-mail them to me? I know ordering books from Dyment takes a few weeks and I would like to fix this on the weekend coming up.
Thanks for all your help....sorry to be a pest...
Cheers,
 

viperdoctor

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Gee, I am no doctor, but the fact that the hood fits well in the front and lines up with the door feature in the rear means something is really wrong. The gaps by the front of the wheel well and the sill are huge!

I would guess that you need to rotate the front facia (and head lights) down in front and up in the back. Then lower the hood in the front. That will keep the rear matched up and close the gaps on the sill and wheel well while maintaining clearance in the front of the hood.

I can't imagine the car came this way from the factory? Was it in an accident or minor paint work that removed body parts?
 
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scottgf

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I am not the original owner so I cant say for sure if it has been in an accident, but you may be right about "rotating the bumper the solve some of the problem...
Are the headlights attached to the bumper, so as I rotate the bumper, the lamps will move as well to fill the gap between them and the hood?
thanks again all
 

Ulysses

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OH My my. I just looked at the big avatar and the spaces are huge. I can't tell how the fit is in the rear of the hood, though, next to the mirrors. I would say that rotating the facia down is a good idea and just requires a shim or two, BUT, if the hood is already touching the top of the headlight or close to it where the headlight narrows, you won't be able to lower the hood.
 

JonB

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I believe you have a headlight install problem first, and a facia core support or facia install problem second.

This may or may NOT be due to an accident. There are several reasons why a facia / radiator / wiring harness was removed, and the above bodyparts re-installed badly.
 

GTS Dean

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The gap above the side sill should be about 1/2" - and even from front to back. All the other gaps should be between 3/16" and 5/16". The front hood hinge bolts to the top of the frame rail. It looks to me like the upper front frame horns may be bent upward. Check for kinking of the rectangular tubing just ahead of the upper shock towers.

The fascia can move up-down and side-side in slots at the front of the frame rails, while the headlights can be adjusted by shimming below the pods and below the core support. Coarse adjustment of the headlight/front wheelwell area is by plastic shims on the outside of the frame horns and the slotted metal tabs visible from the wheelwells. The outer corners of the front fascia can be fine-adjusted up-down and forward-back by adjusting the inner and outer terminals of the tubular brackets below the light pods.

I would recommend discussing adjustments with a GOOD body shop. Begin by pulling the front fascia and headlight pods, and concentrate on the hood first - it controls everything else. Start at the door gaps and move forward. Then, reinstall the fascia and adjust it to match the hood. Finally, fit the light pods to the holes and shim accordingly. As bad as your car looks, it may well require 2 men and the better part of a day to get right. (And don't be to surprised at what you may find when you get the fascia off.....)
 

MES

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Is that hood original? There was a recent post here that had an aftermarket hood that looks just like yours with the big gaps. Seems like its just the way they fit, there may be no fix.


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scottgf

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Isnt that Waynes old car??
Ive seen that one in person before, it used to cruze near where I live...
Like I said before I have seen a few other Vipers with hood gaps about the same as mine..I dont know their histories but I wasnt all that alarmed with mine until today...reading all your posts...
I hope I am able to fix the gaps with no "major" (read frame work) hassles. If I can get a hold of a "body" manual I am going to start "massaging" the front end this week.
Thanks to all that posted... this is why I love this board...If others read this thread please throw in your 2 cents, if you know about these things...
Cheers,
 

Viper Wizard

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Scott,
You may have to do all the above Posts? Before you start you'll need the following:

Manuals-81-699-96111 & 81-270-4150
A FREE DAY!
COOL JAZZ PLAYING IN THE BACK-GROUND!
NO INTERRUPTIONS[Kids,Wife,Phone,ect.!]
LOTS OF PATIENTS AND DETERMINATION!

I have done a few- NO FUN!
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scottgf

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I think you are right, Wizard!!
I am going to attempt it this weekend or maybe sooner (tonite). I still need to get a hold of the pages from the book I need...How much are they and can you order one for me? Also dont they take a long time to get. ( I am a parts manager for a Nissan dealer, we get our manuals from Dyment, which I think is the same place DC uses and I takes us about 10 days to get them.)
Sorry for being such a pest...
Cheers,
 

Tom and Vipers

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Actually, I'm trying to "fix" Wayne's hood.

The hood didn't fit when new and grew worse with time.

Further, the hood as delivered needed filling. One layer of a polyester spray-on, block sanded, followed by two layers of DuPont ChromoPremium block sanded primer.

In time, the carbon weave became visible on the top of the hood - the sides were still block sanded smooth.

Opinion is that the filling products did not shrink, but instead, the carbon weave was coming thru. Perhaps the resin used with the weave was shrinking.

Currently, there are some areas where the outermost carbon layer is separating - a few longitudinal strips approximately 1.5" wide are slightly separated - you can push them back with fingernail, however not too bad O/A.

Car was stored for 1.5 months and 200# of cement sacks were placed on each side to creep hood back. This did in fact more the hood almost 1" per side, however, when removed, hood slowly went back to historic shape.

Latest approach is to remove rear hood pins which put some longitudinal compression in and a reduction of the hood lift mechanism springs which keep a substantial constant distortion force on the hood.

If the hood is allowed to "lay down," it may...

However, I need a little advice on the best way to reduce the hood spring loads. Does anyone know how many turns those springs are wound up? If it is 2 or more, I can remove 1 or more turns to get lower load.

Also, I met Ted from Valaya Viper (misplaced his card - hope I got it right) and he said there were early carbon hoods that were ruined during shipping. They were crated green and supported around the edges. During shipping, while in truck or during transfer, they would be subjected to a lot of heat and when the crate was opened, they were warped and ruined!

While that may have caused the initial bad fit, it may even explain the continuing distortion on Bad Viper.

I have no idea how long a hood could be Green, since the amount of catalyst would control this. I am not familiar with industry standards.

Anyhow, that is my 2 cents worth.

But I sure could use some advice on those springs.
 

Ron

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<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Does anyone know the official specification for the gap on the side facia top to side hood bottom clearance (behind headlight)?</FONT f>
 
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scottgf

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Ron,
I would like to know the same thing.
I have always looked at other Vipers "gap" and have seen some that are touching and others about as wide as mine...
anyone... anyone??
Gosh, I hope I dont have the wrong facia on there....!!
 

Ulysses

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Did they have foglamp covers on GenII's? If not then that point's to the correct facia.


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comparing the two, it looks like the gap from hood to side sill is correct.
 

viperdoctor

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I think we need a photo from ground level head-on to see if the front is gen 1/2.

We all really need to pull together as a team to fix your problem -- as it stands, it looks like you're driving a poorly designed, low dollar Viper replica based on a Fiero chassis!
 

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