Yet Another Hood Gap Thread . . . But . . .

[lilviv]

Hey Guys, before boo'ing me off the stage . . . I have another thread about the hood gap. However, unlike some others, I actually searched old threads before posting with questions. I used the following thread:

http://forums.viperclub.org/showthread.php?t=596375

First, I have my car at a body shop . . . I was just repainting that lower valence on the car from a scrape or two in the driveway. And, I asked them to get my hood gap cleared.

Having not worked on many Vipers . . . they assumed the car had been in a wreck before and/or had a bent frame (and the car had never been in a wreck). This hood gap is obviously a common problem, and I printed out that above mentioned thread . . . in hopes that the body shop can use those instructions and fix the gap on my 1999 GTS.

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That is a picture of my car and it's gap . . . when reading through the old threads, there were a lot of other comments, as well. I am, again, not the most skilled auto mechanic . . . and was wondering if you guys could think of anything else that I need to tell the body shop to get this aligned.

Please let me know when you get a chance, any help would be appreciated.

 

[dave6666]

Are you talking about the gap above the headlights? Every car I've seen has that including mine. I would guess that is for air to enter.

Is your different each side?

On the sides right in front of the tire there needs to be some gap there as otherwise the hood will bang the fascia when you do bump underneath.

Get a factory manual. It has all of the body dimensions and gaps. Take that with you...

 

[99 R/T 10]

If they have never worked on Viper before, DON'T LET THEM MESS WITH IT! It doesn't look that bad.

 

[KURT E]

Park next to another Gen II before you get too discouraged. I dont think you look too bad., unless there is difference between left and right side.

Kurt E

 

[lilviv]

Park next to another Gen II before you get too discouraged. I dont think you look too bad., unless there is difference between left and right side.

Yeah, the passenger side is completely flush.

 

[Blue Pilot]

That hood gap is a bit much in my opinion, and I would try to adjust it also. I know it is very difficult to do though. Maybe try calling Chuck Tator for some pointers. Here is what my hood gaps are like for comparison. I have however seen many cars like yours, none of them having an accident history.

Good luck in your adjustments.

 

[ViperTony]

I had a similiar gap likes your appear between the hood and bumper on the driver's side after I adjusted the hood hinge/latch on the passenger side. I lowered the latch a bit too much on the passenger side and it caused the driver's side to sit up a bit. I know what caused mine and if I find time I will take pics and document how to adjust it. It's slightly noticeable and doesn't really bother me. Your's looks normal...i've seen a lot worse. I'd say the latching mechanism located just in front of your driver's side mirror needs a little tweaking and/OR your hood bumper may need to be lowered a turn or two to allow that side of the hood to close tigher but as Dave said not too tight otherwise it'll rub and your paint will start chipping away there.

 

[Paul Hawker]

Getting these gaps looking as good and even as possible is a fine art.

I know Dan Cragin and Oly have it down pretty good.

It is kind of like a Rubic's cube. Just when you get one side all aligned, the other corner is messed up.

 

[sdaddy]

Hey Guys, before boo'ing me off the stage . . . I have another thread about the hood gap. However, unlike some others, I actually searched old threads before posting with questions. I used the following thread:

http://forums.viperclub.org/showthread.php?t=596375

First, I have my car at a body shop . . . I was just repainting that lower valence on the car from a scrape or two in the driveway. And, I asked them to get my hood gap cleared.

Having not worked on many Vipers . . . they assumed the car had been in a wreck before and/or had a bent frame (and the car had never been in a wreck). This hood gap is obviously a common problem, and I printed out that above mentioned thread . . . in hopes that the body shop can use those instructions and fix the gap on my 1999 GTS.

My local Viper Tech chipped the paint on my facia trying to adjust mine on the driver's side and getting it so close it chipped paint on th passenger side. Now I wish I had left it alone. They need to tape the potential contact points between hood and facia to prevent this from happening.

 

[Tom and Vipers]

I authored a long hood thread where I used every adjustment to make an asymmetrically warped carbon fiber hood fit with about 1/2" gap outboard of the headlights.

I couldn't reduce it because the "headlights were too small." (actually hood lost its curvature at the headlight cut out.)

What I remember is this:

1) Set the front hood height so the back is nice on the rockers and firewall.

2) Set the core support height to get the outboard headlight gaps.

3) Set the bumper height to get the proper gap height where the stripes are.

4) The core support wing adjustment rods vary fore-aft positioning but also effect the vertical height. So you have to solve 2 simultaneous equations to get that right.

5) Shim the headlights as required.

You can have significantly different "setups" on each side.

You will most probably have shim packs for each mounting stud of the headlights.

If you are working with a stock fascia, the flexy urethane is your best friend! If a fiber glass fascia, its the Work of the Devil. (Unless you have the style where you DO NOT have to pull it over the core support wings.)

For my particular situation, I had to enlarge slots and make insane shim packs to deal with the hood. At least 2 "professionals" were involved before me and I'm sure they didn't take the time to learn the adjustments because if they did, and charged $50 an hour to do it, there would have been over $1000 in adjustment labor.

Once the system is understood, it could be done in a day, however, if you run out of slot and need to make special shims, the clock is ticking.

I can only imagine how trivial it would be to align a stock car that was never hit. I was dealing with warped hood dimensions that were almost TWO inches out of spec!

While I was unable to get the gaps down to 1/4", I'm lucky that the car is BLACK!

See, there ACTUALLY IS an ADVANTAGE to having a BLACK CAR!!!!

Tom

PS. Just thinking of this project is making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

 

[BDZ1984]

If they have never worked on Viper before, DON'T LET THEM MESS WITH IT! It doesn't look that bad.

Contact me if you would like to bring your car by my shop and I would be more than happy to tell ya what I think.. Im a North Texas Viper Club sponser... And have been fixing these gaps for awhile... It is a art......Trust Me

[email protected]

 

[AviP]

This hood gap is obviously a common problem,...

Actually it helps in cooling and aerodynamic downforce on twisty low speed circuits.

 

[SquadX]

You can adjust the hood to get rid of the gap.

 

[dave6666]

You can adjust the hood to get rid of the gap.

Uh. OK. And your procedure with pics is over at the Alley?

 

[newredrt10]

Has anyone looked at the glass may be warping due to curing and or heat. My gaps were bad and several shops had tried to adjust it with out any luck. I then tried weights on the corners and heat. This corrected my problems. Does anyone have a drawing for the hood. Maybe one used for checking hood for damage/repair. I would like to check mine.

 

[dave6666]

Has anyone looked at the glass may be warping due to curing and or heat. My gaps were bad and several shops had tried to adjust it with out any luck. I then tried weights on the corners and heat. This corrected my problems. Does anyone have a drawing for the hood. Maybe one used for checking hood for damage/repair. I would like to check mine.

The OEM manual has detailed body gaps and elevations with a "pavement" datum.

A hood drawing would be a curious find.