safulop

Hi all,

OK I'm new, I just bought a 1987 S4, my first 928, yay.

Anyway, it seems that my hood is out of place laterally, and all the previous posts on hood alignment seem to address other issues.

Basically, my hood is too far over to the driver's side, and so is the latch. In fact, it looks like the hood was moved way over on purpose so the latches would line up, but they still don't quite match up, and this causes the closed hood to be slightly twisted (slightly higher on one front edge).

It looks to me like the hood itself needs to be centered between the fenders, and then this will require the latch or latch pin to somehow be moved way over (about 1/2") toward the passenger side.

I'm planning to take it to a body shop for new hood struts, but if anyone has tips about this lateral adjustment I'm sure the shop will appreciate it!

Cheers,

Sean

Imo000

Half inch?? That's a lot, usually it's a few milimeters and not much more. Sounds like the front end of your 928 is tweaked. Has it been in a fron end collision? Can you post pics?

Bertrand Daoust

Hi and welcome to Rennlist.
Both hinges are ajustable and should have some shims (mine does) to center the hood.
The latch part on the hood is ajustable too.

It is doable but it takes time and patience to get it right.
When I did mine, I even had to redo the holes in the driver's side hinge to lower it to be flush with the fender.
Good luck.

Bertrand Daoust

Imre is right 1/2" is a lot.
Maybe the front end is twisted.

safulop

Well I didn't measure, maybe I exaggerated the amount of misalignment. Everything looks perfectly straight, just too far over to one side. The entire hood is, for some reason, almost exactly up against the entire length of the driver's side fender, which leaves what looks like a huge gap on the passenger side of the hood. Maybe it is less than 1/2", but it is the maximum possible misalignment of this kind without the hood actually rubbing on the fender.

I will get my body shop to do the hinge alignment, since they have to put the struts in and I'd probably just mess it all up. For now I can just try moving the latch pin on the hood, which should at least allow the hood to close flush on both sides.

I seriously doubt this car was in a major collision, I am aware of the two previous owners, and so is my mechanic, who just checked the car for me and would have noticed any big issues. He has been servicing this car since it was brand new. This is "the shark" of Fresno, it has been here since day one and so it shall remain. I have the original (now deceased) owner's '162' CA plates that I'm trying to reactivate currently.

Lots of fun guys, thanks for the tips.

Sean

Bertrand Daoust

Good to hear that it was not involve in any serious accident.
It probably needs some shims on the drivers side (if there's any) and some ajustments.

Like I said, it takes some time and patience to get it right.
And it is easier to do it if you're two persons.

Imo000

Changing the hood shocks is one of the simples things one can do on a 928. Do it yourself.... not worth paying a shop to do this and you'll get 10X more satisfation at the end. Aligning the hood is not hard just time consuming..... do that yourself too. You'll like it... trust me.

robot808

It can be pretty frustrating, but as the others had said, there is no reason not to do this yourself. Takes one wrench and some beer. That's all.

safulop

OK, I've reanalyzed the car so I am not working from memory (always a dumb idea when you post).

It looks as if the hood rear, between hinges, is too close to fender on RHS, not LHS as I had stated. But it also looks like, once the hinges are aligned, the latch should line up correctly without adjusting. Hood height seems fine, and front-back stress is good. Hood comes in and out of latch easily.

Dig how the hood opening lever inside car is still the same as the early 944? Funny. Has same wiper arms too, I notice. Plus the frame of center console, with that hilarious cassette holder in the armrest. Just like my 944!

Thanks for tips guys.

Sean