Question on hood to cowl alignment

Gentlemen,

As I reassembled the front clip on this truck, something I haven't gotten quite right is the hood apparently. I may have bent the hood...I screwed up a couple things as I was putting it all back together, but my end result now is that the back edge of the hood is sitting lower than the cowl panel, and the hood hits it when opening and closing...you can see the paint chips. I don't know if you can see it in the picture below? The cowl panel is down all the way, so the back edge of the hood is too low in the center. How would I go about correcting this? All other edges are lined up pretty well at this point. Should I put something under the back of the hood to try and bend it up? What would you do?

I'm not a body guy (Dave, are you in the house?) but I think the hood is pretty stiff compared to the cowl.
Have you considered the cowl might need to go down in the center?
Alright, you say it's all the way down....

It doesn't seem easy to bend a hood.

Cory, as Jim mentioned, the cowl appears lifted in the middle. If attempting to mount the wiper blade arms, is there sufficient clearance regarding the two splined shafts? Compare the available splined area with your 1984.

I would look at the cowl again to make sure it is in place.
It is either to high in the center or the center of the hood is to flat as the 2 don't look to flow the same lines?
When the hood was off was it laid flat where someone could of step on it flatting the center?
The other thing it was like that and you did not see it before now?

So if the cowl is down all the way then the hood is flat in the center and should have a little bow to it how to get that bow back?
The safe way would be to remove the hood lay it on the ground with a 2x4 or 4x4 in the center and push down on each side to put the bow back in.
You may need to do this a few times as you don't want to go too much at 1 time.

The other a little more risky is to leave the hood in place and use that adjusting 2x4 between the hood & cowl and close it to put the bow back in.
The risk is it can hurt the cowl panel and / or bend the hinges and not bow the hood.

You could also adjust the hood forward more to clear the cowl, that may be how it was clearing before the work? But the bow would still be off from the cowl.

So its your call how to go about the fix.
Me if the cowl is down all the way, remove the hood to re-bow.
Dave ----

Stupid question but I can’t remember the answer...
Can the cowl panel be removed without removing the hood?

Yes, but it is a pain.  I loosened the hinge bolts to get a bit more room and then supported the front of the hood with a 3' long 2x4 to get the right angle.

You have to do it with the hood (about) half opened.

Much easier to remove the antenna first.

Ok, I'm going to pull the cowl and check to make sure that nothing is stuck under it. I've tried to push it down and even tapped it with a rubber mallet along the edge, and it sure seems like it's bottomed out. The screw holes are all lined up...at least I think they are. I'll check it, and if not, bend the hood. Thanks guys.

Yes, that's why I used a 3' 2x4 to support the front of the hood.  That held it part way open and got the maximum clearance.  Plus it took some load off the hinges, which allowed me to loosen the bolts and slide the hood forward a bit.

I've never had to loosen the hinges, but (I think) the only material difference in our cowls is slots v/ holes.
All the profiles are the same.

Were there shims under the hood-to-hinge attachment point that you are missing?

No shims Reamer, and the hood is even on the left and the right, it’s just that there’s a big difference in the middle. I’ll play around with it this weekend and see if I can get it sorted out.

Looking at the two near the antenna, is the corner of the hood higher there than the cowl?
How does the windshield trim lay in the center? Does it have a good flowing curve to it that matches the glass?

kramttocs wrote

Looking at the two near the antenna, is the corner of the hood higher there than the cowl?
How does the windshield trim lay in the center? Does it have a good flowing curve to it that matches the glass?

I'll check it this weekend and let you guys know.

I think I bent the hood, but I'm not sure I can explain how I did it...lol. It had to do with the shims I was using for the fenders. Not something I can explain in typing. I'll get a better look tomorrow and see if I can sort it out.

Windshield trim attaches to studs in the pinch weld opening.
I'm not sure how this could be effected by the cowl or hood?

Because if the cowl was curved/bent/propped up, then it would reflect in how the trim lays. The trim pushes down on the cowl so it will be visibly noticeable if the cowl was pushed up in the center as the trim wouldn't have the same angle throughout the curve. And if it's just the front of the cowl then it would have a noticeable incline from the trim.

Cory already stated though that he thinks it is the hood.

Hmmm     maybe the polka dot cowl is more different than I thought?

Because mine certainly doesn't fit 'up under' far or hard enough to effect how the trim fits.
Maybe because with slots in the cowl there's more room for the screws to move?

That's intriguing

No, they would be the same. "Pushes down" may be more dependent upon the bent position of the tabs inside the grill slots but I know the two of mine that I've reinstalled the trim on the trim is in close enough contact with the cowl such that if the cowl was propped up the amount shown in the OP, I would expect it to reflect in the trim.
Anyways, was just something to look for.

Well, now that you mention it...the lower windshield trim is a bit loose. I didn't remove it, but I did clean all of the debris behind it...this truck was sitting in the woods for years, so the trim was stuffed full of needles and leaves, etc. I noticed that it didn't snap down into place, but I didn't try all that hard either.

I'll have a good look at it tomorrow. Maybe there's something underneath the cowl (like the 12 pt 11mm socket I'm missing...lol).

I pulled the cowl again and it was fine. It was the hood that was bent. I stuck a 2x4 under it and it very easily bent back up. All good now. I didn’t think it would bend that easy but it did. Thanks guys.