1940 hood problem....need advice

O

onegalonly

Member
my hood sticks out on the side at the cowl a good 3/8" on both sides.. saw a few articles about fixing hood gaps but no articles on how to fix my gap problem... i hear that i might need to cut the bracket on the inside of the hood cause it may be bent.. the car is apart now and these are the only two pics that i have of the problem.. see arrows... has anyone else come across this problem.. any info would be appreciated...
 

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Do you see any evidence of old repairs? That may be why the corners stick out.
 
You have a very nice looking 40.
Chrome trim lines up nicely and the door handles don't droop.
When you check your hood measure the distance between the oversize edges and also between the inner rear hood brace. Use arrows to show exactly you are measuring - point to point.
I will measure mine so you can compare.
Also measure the straight line distance from the edges of the cowl where the hood fits
(using arrows) and I will measure mine also.
 
Is the hood made of two pieces bolted together? I suspect the hood came from a different plant than the body and was made to fit current bodies at that plant. But a fix I suspect lies in that center section. A good metal worker could remove 3/4" at the window edge narrowing down to nothing at the nose. Unfortunately I see no alternate to a $1000 metal working fix.
 
took a good look at the inside of the hood tonight... i think the bracket is bent and pushing the sides out.. take a look at the pics and tell me what ya's think
 

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19FORDY, here's the measurements.. best i can do with limited space in attic.. i tried to send pics in a PM but couldn't upload
 

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Looks like it may be tweaked where the hinges mount. That would definitely push out the sides.
 
Probably got bent when it was off the car. Poor storage and handling causes it. After you got the car apart what was the rest of it like?
 
had sort of same problem with my '41. after years tinkering I removed the hinge springs and it fit perfectly. was good fit until I painted the car.stored the hood as fonegalonly shows with a board holding up the center seam to correct height and it still fit as you described. tried NOS hinges so removing the springs was my fix.
 
I had exactly the same problem with my 1940 hood. Had to take the bracket out , straighten it and weld back, solved the prob quite nice.
 
Place a 2X4 piece of wood lenth ways on the outside of the hood and with a couple of C clamps you can pull it back in place and tack weld it to the hood. I've fixed many of them.Also try using original hinges, never had much luck with the repops that are out there without a lot of work.
 
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