This, or new hinges. We put new hinges on our 69 and it came out fine.
The gaps are a little hard to address after paint. Test fitting is recommended. I've seen tight gaps on the front ends of these trucks many times, and there's no way to shim it without it being unsightly, though we did not think twice about that in the '80s. I've had to use blocks of wood and a Porto Power to open those up a bit. Doesn't take much, but it's a dicey proposition on a done rig.
We also put shims on the front edge of the cowl to raise it up closer with the hood. I think it's going to be a combination of raising the front edge of the cowl and lowering the hood.Looking at your fender to cowl gap it looks like maybe the fender is too high at the front. Can you lower it?
Don
View attachment 18031View attachment 18032
New=Chinese, I have a bit of an allergy to that, so I avoid "new" as much as possible.This, or new hinges. We put new hinges on our 69 and it came out fine.
Original fender to cowl
View attachment 18033
Looks great! What did you do to get the alignment that nice?
Awesome, sounds like it wasn't too much work. That's about the best you can hope for on these trucks considering how loose the tolerances were from the factory.First, I loosened all the hinge to fender bolts. I lifted the hood as high as possible and kept pressure on it while tightening the bolts.
Next, I loosened all the screws where the cowl seal is and the one bolt on the driver's side. Put a small shim under the cowl lip where the bolt was and tightened. This raised the cowl grille slightly and leveled it out. I snugged up the screws but didn't over tighten them.
Once this was done, I made minor adjustments to align the hood and finally reset the latch pin depth so the hood closes and is firmly secured.
Now when you lift up on the release lever the hood pops up enough to reach under and lift it.