fix this hood fender gap......
 

ok...... my drivers fender or hood has an odd bend. they look perfect til i put them near each other. the hood in the pic is not attached to the hood hinges in this pic but u will see the problem is obvious. the front of the hood is flush with the fender....the back is also good but the middle of fender is too high. there is no body work or bondo on either piece. should i bend the hood to match the fender curve? didnt seem to be like this when i took it apart.

Is this a repo?, I have had Bad repo fenders , had them befor ,no way to fix but they make good repare patch panel for the old org.the fender may have the wrong conture at that point also, Is the rubber stop, guide in place on the side?

Possibly an adjustment problem between hood hinges.....

Yep, just bend it. I had a 69 Camaro hood a few years back that had more curve to it than the fender and no amount of bumpers or adjustment will fix that. I made up an elaborate cradle to re-arch (or flatten) the hood curvature and it worked great. I did have to skim coat the hood a bit that was unavoidable.

Its all original. Hood is not hooked to hinges. But that wont fix curvature. True? Cant remember it being that bad before taking apart but if u know ur gonna fix it later u dont care how bad it is. But i owned this same car 16 years ago and the gap was good. All same panels.....no wrecks. Thats whats complexing.

Do you have the inner wheel well in? That will help if not.My fender looked exactly like that, just keep trying to adjust it out.To recurve the hood will not be easy..

I have seen some hoods like that. From what I remember it comes from the hinges not being lubed properly, causing the hood to bend slightly from pulling it down too hard.

I bet if you asked a bodyman, he's say put a 2x4 in there (perpendicular to the fender) at the peak of the high spot in the fender and gently close the hood and lean on it a few times. The rear edge of the 2x4 may need to be at the top of the peak.

You may want to spread the load with a wider peice of say, 1/2" plywood above the 2x4.

Not for the faint of heart and it will probably spring back somewhat after a bit.

Picture what's going to happen and the pressure points if you do this.

A hood coming down on an angle is going to meet the 2x4 at one small pivot point and you could easily fold the hood. Bad. That's why I mentioned a bit of plywood.

The 2x4 is pretty flat on the high crown of the fender.

The hood has 2 say 4-5" apart points touching the plywood and the plywood has one point touching the 2x4. The plywood can bend a bit and spread the load.

I'm no bodyman so...

What he said ^ just bend the hood back to where it needs to be by jamming a piece of wood in there carefully not to damage the fender if you cant do it on the car place it on the floor

Once you have adjustered the hinges are are satisfied they are not doing anything further to correct the problem, move to adjuste the hood lock mechanisim mounted on under the hood / latch.

I had the same probelm where the front corners were poping up on the hood. I adjusted the hood latch / lock and it corrected the problem.

I'm no body man either, but I've worked in a couple shops... and seen this done a few times. That's what I'd be doing. (and have done myself) Just have to be SUPER careful not to buckle anything.