The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Before I took the hood off to do a little modification it was pretty well lined up with the fenders. Not perfect but pretty close.

But after putting it back on it seems twisted or something?

What has gone wrong?

I didn't remove the hinges. Just the hood. I have got it correct front to back but it seems twisted in relation to the fenders.

If I adjust the fenders again to match the hood they will not line up with the doors which are fitted to line up with the sills and rear quarters.

Any tips on how to get this right??

Well. I now think I know how to put this right.

If you loosen the bolts holding the hinges to the inner fender you can actually rotate them. So obviously if you rotate one forward and one back it causes the hood to skew one way or the other.

I think one of my hinges has rotated. However I have made matters worse by moving the wrong one first.

Problem now is I have messed about so much I have made matters more complicated to get right again. Getting it right by myself (with occasional help from Diana) is proving difficult. The weight of the hood is terrific and makes it bloody hard to adjust.

I was at it for a few hours this afternoon and packed in for my dinner. I am too knackered to go back to it now so I will have another go tomorrow.

How about suspending it so it can slide on a rope. Tie off one end to a hinge then over a rafter then through the hood safety latch then over another rafter then tied to the other hinge, (Hope that makes sense ) It would hold up the hood and should be able to slide. Use a non-marring rope (cotton?) so you don't hurt the paint.

That sounds very "W. Heath Robinson" to me but I did actually consider that for a short time.

I am getting there. Hinge one side completely down. hinge other side rotated up a bit.

I can get it closed now which is better. But the back edge on the passenger side refuses to sit down flush with the fender. I am going to remove the hinge on that side completely this afternoon and see if I can make it fit higher on the hood edge.

i had mine perfect and it seems after time my hinges did the same thing i might need new hinges and yes that hood is atleast a 3 person job ,it is friggin heavy man,it takes a little at a time and now my hinges are worn out because i might have to slot the holes that bolt it to the inner fender just to get it to lay down you may have to do that too dave

I understand that rotating the hinge down will lower the hood in back. Worn hinges can make this difficult though.

I found the side wedges and even the rear bumpers can also mess with getting everything even back there.

Managed to get it pretty near right. But cannot get the rear hinge to go down low enough. It is hitting the bulkhead now.

It is close enough to get me on the road though. I will come back to it at a later date.

dave-r wrote:I didn't remove the hinges. Just the hood. I have got it correct front to back but it seems twisted in relation to the fenders.

If I adjust the fenders again to match the hood they will not line up with the doors which are fitted to line up with the sills and rear quarters.

An easy fix would be to push left side of the hood a little bit backwards compared to the left hand hinge. The mounting holes on the hinges are, as you know, slotted.

Personally I believe that it is more or less impossible to get every flush- and gap relationship perfect. At least without A LOT of measuring and lot of bodywork and so on. You will have to sacrifice some of the relationships. I remember when my cousine restored his´70 Mach1 Mustang. It was just impossible to get the front edge of the hood aligned with the front edge of the right-hand front fender. I believe that the misalignment was at least 1/4", probably a bit more.

dave-r wrote:But the back edge on the passenger side refuses to sit down flush with the fender.

My first thought is that the hood hinge is worn. I believe that we have discussed this problem earlier.

Yeah they are worn. But I am out of money so they will have to do for now.

I took the Challenger for a drive around the block yesterday.

I seem to have too much torque for the tyres.

Can you have too much torque??

Never!

Good to hear your back on the road.

Well I have to take it to an inspection center to be tested for road worthyness etc. A test and certificate all cars have to get here every year once they are over 3 years old.
Then I have to get a road licence from a main Post Office.

THEN I am back on the road.

dave-r wrote:That sounds very "W. Heath Robinson" to me but I did actually consider that for a short time.

I am getting there. Hinge one side completely down. hinge other side rotated up a bit.

I can get it closed now which is better. But the back edge on the passenger side refuses to sit down flush with the fender. I am going to remove the hinge on that side completely this afternoon and see if I can make it fit higher on the hood edge.

You need to adjust the hood hinges on the inner fender upward, and the snug them just tight. Then lift the hood and loosen the rear bolts and rotate the hinge as viewed from the side, tighten the bolts and check the fit. Repeat until you get the alignment right.

Trust me, it sound wrong, but until I did it, the rear portion of the hood was 2 inches too high. I even slotted the holes in the hinges.

So the secret is to raise the front of the hinge on the inner fender

nick68 wrote:Trust me, it sound wrong, but until I did it, the rear portion of the hood was 2 inches too high. I even slotted the holes in the hinges.

So the secret is to raise the front of the hinge on the inner fender

Yep. I had come to that conclusion myself at long last.

I was going to try doing that last night but ran out of time trying to get the headlights lined up and the front wheel tracking ballpark.

Anyway your comment has given me more confidence that this is the way to get that hood right so I am more enthuisiastic about trying it.

Looking a nice better fit now.

Still not perfect (slightly raised the whole length at one side) but it is not bad and will do for now. Thanks for the help.

Glad I could give a little help to someone who has provided a wealth of knowledge

nick68 wrote:Glad I could give a little help to someone who has provided a wealth of knowledge

Cheers!

Hey this is amazing - i just logged on tonight to ask this exact question, as mine is like Daves - not right and skewed everywhere and huge amounts of stickup at the back. So thanks Nick and Dave for the method - i assumed my hinges were worn, which they are are little, but i assumed that lowering the whole hinge assembly on the 3 inner fender bolts as low as it could go on the slots would solve the height problem. But it made it worse. Now thanks to Nick, i can go at it with the correct method. BTW, what mods did you do on the hood Dave? Looks like the hold down pins?

Goldenblack440 wrote:BTW, what mods did you do on the hood Dave? Looks like the hold down pins?

No the hood pins are factory stock for the R/T.

I needed more clearance for my big air filter. So cut out the under hood brace and replaced it with a steel plate.

Lookin real good Dave.

Hey nice job. I was peering at the last pic for a while trying to see where you'd cut. Very factory looking. I may have been asleep but thats the first full car pic i have seen of your car. Did you put the TA spoiler on? Do you prefer them to the Go-wing? I think both look great actually. The TA one looks better from the side and three quarter front, but a bit untidy straight on from back, the Go wing i think looks better straight from rear. Is that a K and N tall filter? If so, its definitely worth cutting the hood to fit that in.

When I worked out how much air the filter needed to flow I found the stock filter (even with a K&N element) was one inch too low for a 440 at 6500rpm. So I changed it. But still had to make a flat top to clear the underside of the hood.

I am waiting to get the car out to take some shots of the whole finished car. Got to fix the transmission first though and the bits have not turned up yet.

Yes they are cheap 'glass copies of the T/A spoilers. I am not sure if I like the Go-wings or not. Sometimes on some cars they look great but other times they just don't seem to look right to me. Can't make up my mind on them.

I am hoping the T/A spoilers will do something to help remove a little of the aerodynamic drag these cars suffer from.

dave-r wrote:I am hoping the T/A spoilers will do something to help remove a little of the aerodynamic drag these cars suffer from.

Yes, they look good but have the aerodynamics of a polished brick. I think the TA spoiler can only help down-force though. The Go Wings are supposed to increase downforce - hence their adjustability, but i think only a wind tunnel testing could tell you that.. and who has one of those in their back yard?

As for the look of the Go Wing - hey, Ford Australia had no qualms about putting one on their "Family car with stripes" - the GTHO Falcons. It didn't look good to many people except the GT fans. The wing looked OK on the hardtops though (the Mad Max models). But i like the Wing - actually the 70 had the GoWing and the 71 had the droopier Gull Wing, which wasn't quite so fitting. Well that's my opinion anyway.

The back end of the Challenger has a very low pressure zone right behind the taillights that causes a fair bit of drag (lets forget about the grille for now).
A duck tail spoiler (if my understanding of these things is correct) should cause air to spill into that area and reduce the drag pulling the car back.

Downforce at the rear I don't need. The huge lift at the front caused by the grille and overhanging hood takes care of that with terrific weight transfer.

dave-r wrote:The back end of the Challenger has a very low pressure zone right behind the taillights that causes a fair bit of drag (lets forget about the grille for now).
A duck tail spoiler (if my understanding of these things is correct) should cause air to spill into that area and reduce the drag pulling the car back.

Downforce at the rear I don't need. The huge lift at the front caused by the grille and overhanging hood takes care of that with terrific weight transfer.

Great point Dave, seems you once mentioned the front lift is around 250lbs a 100 mph.

I'd maybe opt for a front spoiler or other down pressure in front.

Jon wrote:I'd maybe opt for a front spoiler or other down pressure in front.

yes that sounds correct.

I think it was more like 375lbs lift at 100mph. I will have to check.

OK I checked.

Sports Car Graphic tested a JS23U0B Challenger and published the results in their November 1969 edition.

They claim their test car had at 100mph;

370lbs of front end lift.

75lbs of downforce at the rear (due to weight transfer from the front lifting)

and 340lbs of drag pulling the car back.

So as you can see the last thing you need on a fast moving 1970 Challenger is more downforce at the rear.

Wow, what a drag.

Thanks for clearing that up Dave.