Hood alignment problems / bracket fit

[Laredo Matt]

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I'm having a hard time getting my hood to fit properly.

The hood mounting bracket on the driver slide is adjusted so that the bracket is mounted as low as it can go on the firewall. The bolts are at the top of the slotted mounting holes. (yellow marker in first image).

The bottom of the bracket hinge is almost touching the inner fender (blue marking in first picture).

There is no room left to adjust the bracket any lower. Even elongating the mounting holes on the bracket won't help unless I were to make room by hammering down the inner fender.

The hood still has a large gap to the top of the fender near the cowl on the driver side.

Has anyone had a similar issue they were able to resolve? I'm fairly confident they used the same hood hinge brackets for all FSJ so it isn't a mismatch there?

Also, looking for some screw nuts (?) for the front door pulls to mount to. Not sure that is the right name and haven't had much luck finding them online. I added a picture at the end of the thread in case someone happens to know the correct name so I can find some and get em on order.

appreciate any help or suggestions. cheers







passenger side is pretty normal



anyone know the proper name for this part?

[Srdayflyer]

looks to be an armrest nutplate for the screws holding the armrests

[Srdayflyer]

you may have the inner wheelwell panel mis-aligned not allowing enough adjustment of the hinge

[tgreese]

I'd call it a clip nut.

Seems you need to make the hinge travel further to pull the hood down. I'd try moving the top hinge mount further forward on the hood.

[SJTD]

Is hard to see in picher but left side looks like flange of hood is maybe landing on bumper instead of being guided inside by it?

If so raise hinge before dealing with it so hood doesn't drop too far.

[Laredo Matt]

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Thanks for all the feedback! I'll work my way through each and hopefully one or collectively I'll get it aligned right.

It is the nut plate for the armrest or clip nut or screw nut ...dunno. Clip nut and nut plate are getting some closer results on searches so seems like the right path. Ford has some. I'm going to hit a few junk yards as well, perhaps other early 80s vehicles used em.

[dodgerammit]

My hood does the same thing. I've swapped hinges thinking it was a bad hinge. Still there. Nothing looked misaligned as far as wheel well, body to fender, etc. I ended up using a dremel and elongating the holes on the firewall to allow the hinge to sit lower. Pretty sure I also clearanced the hinge at the wheel well so it had room to shift downward. Still isn't perfect, but better. I do notice with both sets of hinges, I can push driver's rear of the hood downward about 1/2" more after lowering the hood. In my case, I'm still not convinced the hinge isn't just worn to the point it causes issues.

[akguy09]

Try letting the front up a little

[Mopar_guy]

Generally, on hood hinges, when you're in a situation like this, you need to raise the hinge so that it can go over it's center point and it will pull the hood down. I know I'm not explaining this very well, but it works. Try it and see.