All, my front hood had an unhappy experience, it was raised and something hit it. It mostly glanced off of it, but tweaked it out of alignment. It's now shifted ~1/4" laterally at the rear. How is it adjusted? I've measured the hood frame it seems to be square from the mounting studs in the front to the closure pins in the rear. I've tried loosening up the 6 nuts that hold it to the hinges, but there isn't much adjustment there. I've tried whacking on it with a dead blow like I see done in the plant, but that didn't move it any. The hinges look pretty beefy, I don't think they're bent. I'm left supposing that maybe the channels the hinges pivot in got tweaked. That stuff seems to be pretty difficult to get to. Do I dare hook a come-along to the hood frame and give it a tug? Finally, I note now that the clearance between the front header panel (where the horse badge is) and the hinges is uneven side-to-side; nearly none on the one side and maybe 3/8" on the other. I doubt that's a great reference datum, but can some of you take a look at yours and tell me if they're pretty symmetrical or different?
You can take off the front bumper and try to peek in there and see if the frame where the hinges are mounted got bent. It sounds almost impossible to bend the hod out of alignment without chipping the paint or bending the hood within itself. Are you sure the hood is still straight and not warped now? Helmut
It's easy, but a lot easier if you have a friend or two to help. I bottomed out my car going over a bump I suspect I pushed up the entire front clip. I went to open the hood and couldn't get it open, thankfully I did not chip any paint forcing it open. Anyhow, you just loose the four bolts that fasten the hood to the hinges, move it where you think it should be and re tighten. It may take a few tries to get it right. If you're good (and confident) you can loosen the screw and just snug them back up close the hood and pry with a piece of wood or plastic unti it is where you want it, open the hood then tighten the bolts. You have to be careful and don't blame me if you chip the paint using this method.
I thought there was a little nit of adjustment in the hinge bolts. I think I put mine on with just one or two bolts per side and then just about closed it without latching it and adjusted the gaps. Then open it back up slowly and put the rest of the bolts in and tighten it up.
Thanks for the input, guys. Helmut, I'm reasonably confident that the hood is square based on my measurements and the fact that the hood gap at the front when I try to close it seems consistent with how far off target the pins are to the latches, but I've got no guarantees on any of this! I didn't find much adjustability at the hinges, I'd really expected something. I tried with it, but I'm too far out. Maybe that idea of putting some tape on the edge of the hood and then getting it nearly closed and prying would be worth a shot. If someone is looking at their 308 with the front hood open and could report back if the gap from the hinge to the fascia (the panel with the yellow horse emblem) is equal on both sides or if some variation is to be expected, that might help steer me in the right direction. I may dig into this stuff more this weekend. Ugh.
I'll take a look at mine tonight. Sure seems to me like there were slots in the brackets on mine but I could be wrong??
Not sure what you are asking about the gap with the hood open but mine seems to be consistent in comparison with the nose panel. Of course being curved, it's not really a straight line but the gap does seem to be the same on either side. I also tried to look at the other end of the hinge but that seems to be welded in place. I also didn't see the slots that I thought were there on the hood side of the hinge. I suppose you might have slightly bent the hinge itself or the mounting point?? If all else fails you might try drilling the hinge holes out give you some more adjustment?
Mine also doesn't have any adjustability at the hinges. I would search and measure for potentially bent parts in the hinges area as long as the lid itself is straight. May be if you take off the lid and lay it on a flat surface it would show wether or not it is straight or bent in itself somehow. From my experience I would very much advise against jamming anything in between a gap and trying to bend it that way, the paint will eventually suffer and then you have to repaint and possibly fix dents etc. Patience pays off much more in such cases. Identifying where the problem is and going after it. To me it seems that the first thing that would bend is the hood itself considering the hinges are pretty solid but that's just a guess and doesn't mean much in real life. Helmut
