Crank

What do you think?

I am looking at a car, and noticed that the hood has a slight bend in it. At its widest, there's about a 3-4mm gap on the driver's side, between the right side of the hood and its rubber seal --- about a third of the way down from the windshield.

I popped the hood and looked and felt underneath - no obvious buckling, bends, dings, chips, paint flakes, or anything. The owner "thinks" the hood might have been pushed down on something inside the trunk that was too big or was sticking out, but he's not sure...

It's very slight, but it's enough that the hood does not seal completely on that side. There is no visible damage.

The passenger side has a little less gap by comparison.

Do you think this can be straightened? Or does it need a new hood.....???

84 cabriolet

Yeah, that can be fixed by any competent body shop. Basically going to reverse the bend in the right direction. Had something similar a few years back and the body man got creative with some blocks of wood and tweaking...didn't even take the hood off. Don't sweat it.

MUSSBERGER

Are you sure its the hood?

Crank

As sure as I can be. The passenger side fits very nicely. The fender appears to be untouched, unblemished, no marks or nicks or dings, etc.

With the hood closed, I can slide a folded piece of paper into the trunk very easily (where the bend is). It will definitely leak if it was sitting out in the rain.

theiceman

someone dropped the hood on something that sat up to high . I have done it myself .. it can be straightened easily but as mentioned above take it to a competant body shop with lots of experience.

LlBr

Wild guess on my part, not sure about those older cars. But can you elevate (or move inward) the fender a bit to even it up by putting a few shims under the fender's mounting bolts? Just a tiny amount so the eye can't see it as well. FWIW. (2cents?)

Crank

Great to hear.

How is the straightening done, typically?

ked

"...can you elevate (or move inward) the fender a bit to even it up by putting a few shims under the fender's mounting bolts?"

Why?
Why reset a perfectly well-aligned body panel rather than fix the one that's been tweaked?
I'd find a pro, preferably who's worked on Porsches regularly (knows the OEM gap spec & has experience making fine adjustments to their hoods). This happened all the time to 356s (one must lift the hood further up from it's open position in order to close it - if you force it straight down, it kinks at the hinge assembly... these days owners won't allow anyone else to touch it... or the engine lid either, for that matter).

TroyN

Is the original options sticker on the inside of the lid still?

Crank

Very good, thanks!


Yes it is, in all of its faded glory. Original hood, then.

theiceman

i hd a body shop do mine while i waited in tim Hortons .. couldn't bare to watch .. but it looked perfect .. I imagine they use dollies or someting.

Ed Hughes

That's two strikes. You said it fully in the second 1/2 of your first sentence. I know it's a "free" forum, but really, you don't appear to have a 911, and your
"advice" is suspect at best.

The reason I'm harping on you, is that you've chimed in on two threads I've seen started by newer people, and you make some statements that seem to me to be totally off base. People come here for advice. It is the internet, so one should take everything they read with a grain of salt, but when I see total BS, I have to call you on it. I'm certainly not an expert on a lot of things, so I try and not type when I'm not sure or don't know. Reading and learning ain't bad.

Crank

Haha - sounds scary!

Ed Hughes

Like Ked said, MIS-aligning a fender to fix a problem with a bent hood is just dumb. That type of thinking is why good 911's turn into sorry 911's.

LlBr

"Total bull****," my friend, would be someone saying they know what they are talking about and yet they give an exactly wrong misleading answer. Clearly not me.

I announced it was a wild guess on my part and suggested _maybe_ there was a way to add some shims and tweek it a bit to get it to line up acceptably for now. I actually did this on another car (an Acura) and improved a misaligned hood.

Hey Ed, I bet we BOTH would have felt better if you'd have said, "Gee LBr, I kind of get what you are suggesting but I don't see anyway to use shims that might get the result we all want." I would have said, "No problem. You probably know best, I was just trying to help and entertain new ideas as we all have our hobby fun here."

Take care Buddy, No more "strikes" from me. I'll stay out of it unless I reeeeeeally have something important to say that might be helpful. Ya never know. Wishing you well.

Cordially, LBr