Hood gap??

[OVERBOOST]

After spending an hour ajusting the hood it still looks like crap. It's 1/2 in high on the left side and about 1 1/2 in high on the right side. Is it just the aftermarket hood? I think I am going to have to live with this. I have tried just about everything. Am I missing something?

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[wastntim]

That doesn't look good. Is the paint bubbled up over the headlights?

 

[OVERBOOST]

No the paint is good it's just the low rez from the camera. There has to be some thing it can do to fix this gap.

 

[Mopar Steve]

Did the hood fit before it was painted? I know this may be a silly question but, before the hood was painted it could have been worked to fit. It is "flaired" too much outward at the headlight. the fascia can be adjusted to the hood, but it is already fit to the lights. The center section matches the front fascia correctly, and if you adjust for the ends the middle wont match. I think you have a bad hood. It can be corrected but after all the work needed it will need to be repainted.

PS those sure look like blisters/bubbles at the headlight opening.

 

[plumcrazy]

im guessing this hood wasn't fit to the car BEFORE it was painted

 

[kcobean]

Care to share what hood you have? I don't know how you'd "make it fit" being that far off. That looks like a bad mold to me...really bad.

 

[thebigsnake]

I know this crowd is of the perfect hood gap persuasion, but my solution would be the following.
The cheapest way is to remove the front end, and re-enstall it and the headlight higher on the left side. Just play with the shims.
If the hood is currently functioning ok, I wouldn't doctor it.

 

[OVERBOOST]

The paint is good...look. Bad pic before. It does that when I make them smaller.
It's an AutoForm Hood. I think your right about it wasn't fit to the car BEFORE it was painted.
I think I got screwed with a bad hood.

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I think I could move the fascia up and in from the bottom. What do you think?

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[YouWish]

I wouldn't mess with the facia. I think you should call the guys that painted the hood and see what they can do to fix there screw up. Man that gap looks bad,good luck and keep us posted.

 

[JUCD VPR]

OOh good god that hood gap looks horrible. I'd be getting my money back from someone! Seriously i'd be pissed, who sold you that hood?
Do something but don't leave it like that.

 

[kcobean]

I don't understand how any paint shop can be held liable for that. The whole drivers side of the hood from the inside of the headlight out needs to be "bent" down about an inch. It's not like the hood can be shaped "post-molding" can it?

If anything, I could see them test fitting it and letting you know how poor the fit is so you could deal with it before the "no return once painted" policy that probably exists.

From that last picture, it almost looks as if the the headlight is too low, but not sure if that's just camera angle or not.

 

[carguy07]

That’s not a stock facia either. Did you have a stock hood on there before that lined up correctly?

 

[V 10 MAFIA]

You can't possibly live with it like that because if I see you on the road I will take your keys away, call a flatbed, and throw a blanket over the car.

Seriously, you have to find someone that can possibly remove and re-align the front facia, headlights and hood.

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[JUCD VPR]

Yah it looks so bad in that last picture i would have thought you'd been in a front end accident!

Get your money back now, and go buy a diamondback hood!

 

[dansauto]

it is not the hood, it is the fascia. It needs to come up. All the A/M fiberglass fascias are kind of hard to fit. It may not be as tight as the OEM probably 1/2-3/4" gap is the best you will get. The next one I do I am going to add material in on the top. Roger is adding a little extra material on the diamond back hoods that can be sanded off to help with this inconsistancy between fasicas

 

[OVERBOOST]

carguy07 That’s not a stock facial either. Did you have a stock hood on there before that lined up correctly?

The fascia and the hood was done at the same time.

V 10 MAFIA You can't possibly live with it like that because if I see you on the road I will take your keys away, call a flatbed, and throw a blanket over the car.

LOL… Thanks I already feel crap. I think I am going to throw a blanket over it in the garage. The Shame!! Shame!!

dansauto it is not the hood, it is the fascia. It needs to come up. All the A/M fiberglass fascias are kind of hard to fit. It may not be as tight as the OEM probably 1/2-3/4" gap is the best you will get. The next one I do I am going to add material in on the top. Roger is adding a little extra material on the diamond back hoods that can be sanded off to help with this inconsistency between fascias

I am going to take it to my shop here in town tomorrow and see if he can raise the fascia to make it match a little better.

 

[kcobean]

it is not the hood, it is the fascia. It needs to come up. All the A/M fiberglass fascias are kind of hard to fit. It may not be as tight as the OEM probably 1/2-3/4" gap is the best you will get. The next one I do I am going to add material in on the top. Roger is adding a little extra material on the diamond back hoods that can be sanded off to help with this inconsistancy between fasicas

Not that I don't believe you, but that doesn't address the HUGE gap over the headlight (which presumably wasn't removed to install either the hood or the fascia). I don't see there being a way to fix the alignment of the hood/headlight with it being that far off.

I wish you the best with it though OVERBOOST. It ***** to spend that kind of money and end up with something that looks like that. I personally would be calling autoform and asking them which window they'd like their hood thrown through...but that's just me.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

I'm thinking the hood itself is crooked, seeing as the other side fits a whole lot better.. plus I think there's something wrong with the lines on the driver side they don't follow the head light as nicely as they should.

 

[plumcrazy]

I think your right about it wasn't fit to the car BEFORE it was painted.

if it wasnt fit to the car, its not the hoods fault.

so you're saying you bought a hood, sent it to a shop to be painted and it was never tried on the car before painting it ?

 

[Jeff Lemke]

Did the hood fit before it was painted? I know this may be a silly question but, before the hood was painted it could have been worked to fit. It is "flaired" too much outward at the headlight. the fascia can be adjusted to the hood, but it is already fit to the lights. The center section matches the front fascia correctly, and if you adjust for the ends the middle wont match. I think you have a bad hood. It can be corrected but after all the work needed it will need to be repainted.

PS those sure look like blisters/bubbles at the headlight opening.

I agree with Steve. This is more a hood problem than facia. The hood does not fit the headlamp contour at all and must be cut, rebonded and shaped back into position. Of course this would have been less expensive before paint.

Jeff

 

[Mopar Steve]

Did the hood fit before it was painted? I know this may be a silly question but, before the hood was painted it could have been worked to fit. It is "flaired" too much outward at the headlight. the fascia can be adjusted to the hood, but it is already fit to the lights. The center section matches the front fascia correctly, and if you adjust for the ends the middle wont match. I think you have a bad hood. It can be corrected but after all the work needed it will need to be repainted.

PS those sure look like blisters/bubbles at the headlight opening.

I agree with Steve. This is more a hood problem than facia. The hood does not fit the headlamp contour at all and must be cut, rebonded and shaped back into position. Of course this would have been less expensive before paint.

Jeff

Thats what I was trying to say.

 

[snakebitdave]

I agree with the bad hood concept; it doesn't fit the curvature of the headlamp assembly as Jeff said. Seems too flat in that area resulting in the flair out as Steve said.

 

[pattymelt3605]

It is not the hood, all you need to do is shim the headlight and shim the brackets that holds the bumper on. If you pull the bumper off there is a bracket that can slide up and down and raise up that side of the bumper. I know it is not a bad hood or bumper, Autoform makes great products! If your shop cant fix it get some money back for the labor and take it to a collision shop that has worked on Vipers.

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[DAMN YANKEE]

Somebody measure the front extreme side "point to points" for the guy (I would but I'm not near my GTS). If his are close to these measurements..its not the hood and he can relax and get to work.

 

[ViperJoe]

HOLLY MOLLY........that ain't right by any stretch of the imagination.
I guess I have been very fortunate....both of my Vipers had symetrical and pencil thickness gaps at the hood / front fascia area.

 

[dansauto]

It is not the hood, all you need to do is shim the headlight and shim the brackets that holds the bumper on

RIGHT!!!! The stock facia and headligths come with shims/spacers no two vipers are alike, As I said before the fascia has to come up then adj the headlights to the hood. jeeze, not like I have not done this a couple times...

 

[RedEnuf93]

I had smaller gap and all I had to do was to shim the headlights. To do that you have to remove the facia, which is pretty easy. I took if off about 15 times until it evened out the gap enough.

I have noticed that after one summer with Autoform bumper, that the gap has enlargened again. I think it is the bolted spoiler that pulls the side of facia down a bit. Take your spoiler out, make sure it does not pull the facia (like mine does)and do shimming with facia, lights and you should be able to close the gap better.

 

[OVERBOOST]

Thanks allot guys!! Thanks for time and help. I am going to pull the fascia this weekend and see what I can do. I will post pics when I get it done.

 

[viprvenm]

Don't get frustrasted working on it... just take your time and something will work. Good luck!

Other than that ... car looks great!

 

[dansauto]

I had smaller gap and all I had to do was to shim the headlights. To do that you have to remove the facia, which is pretty easy. I took if off about 15 times until it evened out the gap enough.

I have noticed that after one summer with Autoform bumper, that the gap has enlargened again. I think it is the bolted spoiler that pulls the side of facia down a bit. Take your spoiler out, make sure it does not pull the facia (like mine does)and do shimming with facia, lights and you should be able to close the gap better.

hey Laurie are you out of hiding? No one has heard from you in weeks!!