Need help adjusting the hood!

[eliems]

The hood closed perfectly when I bought the car this summer but has been gradually going off center and now will not close properly as it is encountering the fascia at the passenger head light. (See pic) Also the gap on the drivers side is bigger and touching on the passenger side now. It actually cracked the paint above the pass headlight closing it last night!

There are supposed to be 20 adjustment points to this? The local Kirmac Collision shop says they can align any hood but should I let them?

How do you adjust such a large hood a fraction of an inch by your self anyway?

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[dave6666]

Probably one of the rubber stops off the front has vibrated itself loose and moved. Check to see if they turn easily and if so they need readjusting. Also check the latches to make sure they are solid and hose them with a little WD to make sure they are fully moving when closing/latching.

 

[JonB]

The hood / Lights / Fascia is NOT that difficult to adjust / align. Year?

HOWEVER: Many owners close their G1-2 hoods incorrctly and cause the breakage you highlight. (your hood IS off, but closing it wrong makes it worse)

To close the hood you should align your hands / palms / fingertips atop the transverse support that the hinges are bolted to. ie if you have a NACA, your hands are aft of the NACA. Close the hood in ONE, Smoothe, Ka-CHUNK motion.

If your hands are foward of that support, you'll flex the hood and it will hit the headlights and break / chip as yours has. If you stop mid-close, and then push each latch down, that bends the hood, too.

 

[plumcrazy]

fascia might need the adjustment

 

[dave6666]

Aren't you supposed to align the hood to the fascia under normal circumstances?

 

[FlashFyre]

Can anyone provide a pic showing correct hand placement?

Thanks

 

[GTS Dean]

First, you align the hood to the doors and side sills. Next, you align the cowl cover to the hood. Next, you align the fascia to the hood. Then you fit the headlight buckets to the hood/fascia. Lastly, you aim the headlights.

 

[eliems]

fascia might need the adjustment

Body shop looked at it this afternoon and said the Fascia needs to be re-aligned a little. How does the fascia get out of alignment?

 

[dave6666]

I've had my fascia off many times. There is absolutely no adjustment in it unless you move the rebar to do that.

 

[sdaddy]

I have seen some bad hood gaps before, but this is the worst ever!

Dodge : Viper:eBay Motors (item 270476683602 end time Nov-17-09 20:22:50 PST)

 

[dave6666]

I have seen some bad hood gaps before, but this is the worst ever!

Dodge : Viper:eBay Motors (item 270476683602 end time Nov-17-09 20:22:50 PST)

Definitely not a year correct hood, and if a later factory hood, well molested.

 

[jdeft1]

Maybe I'm mistaken but I thought a gen2 hood would fit a gen1. Having only owned gen1, I don't know for sure.... That one def needs some work!

 

[sirhc76]

I had my fascia off last year for a re paint and it went back on with no issues. I also had the hood off later that year to do the timing chain cover gasket. It was removed from the arms which were left in place. All lined up well but lately I have noticed more of a gap above my passenger HL than I like to see. In reading and searching my **** off I found this post useful.

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/583184-front-fascia-alignment-other-issues.html

Notice Deans example as he pointed out in this post.

 

[GBS]

The hood / Lights / Fascia is NOT that difficult to adjust / align. Year?

When I purchased my 02 ACR it had the infamous hood gap problem. The gap on the driver’s side is much larger than the passenger’s side. There’s nothing in the Service Manual on adjusting it. I have done a search and found bits and pieces of information in some threads. Is there detailed information on fixing the gap problem somewhere?