My wife and I just aquired a 68 Firebird with a non matching 68 350 and a muncie 4 speed that was "restored" 12 years ago. The car is in fair condition but I plan on replacing both front fenders, the hood and any other sheet metal that was repaired with bondo. I am sure that I will have lots of questions as I go through this restoration. I have done a couple restorations in my life so I am not unfamiliar with body work and consider myself a fair mechanic. My first question is in regards to hood alignment. On this car when I adjust the hood to get an even gap at the cowl the front point of the hood ends up to the left of the matching point on the bumper by about 2 inches. I can push the hood down and get it to latch but that pulls it back to the right by the same 2 inches. This results in tension being put on the hinges raising the back edge of the hood. Is it possible to get that much movement in the hole front clip to eliminate the tension or could the front end be bent?

It's probably not tension that is raising the hinges at the back of the hood - the hinges are probably worn out at the piviot points. Watch to see the amount of play at the hinge pivot point when you move the hood up and down. It's only a stamped in metal rivet and most of us have seen they are not up to 40 years of use.

For hood alignment, I would start by tweaking the cowl alignment a bit to see it that helps. I put mine back on a couple of weeks ago and it can move around a little.

If that does not help, I would get the '68 Factory Service manual and look up the body/subframe measurements at the front of the manual. Then compare those measurements to your car to see if it's "bent".

2" is way too much. I'd venture a guess that something is bent, or one of the fenders is slid forward too much.

If you could post some pictures, we may be able to tell.

How are the gaps on the doors?

The rear door gap on the passenger side is pretty big. Enough that the striker pin is wearing funny. I guess that was what I was trying to ask. If that gap is large and the passenger fender is pushed forward would that move the whole front clip to the drivers side that much? I will try to get some pics this weekend and post them up.

yes, that's likely whats going on.

its amazing how a quarter inch on one end can translate into a 2" difference at the other end.

Thanks for the help.

Arrrhhh...panel alignment. Especially hood!
Kinda hard to explain, but here goes.
"Guessing everythings close"

From your last comment, if dr hge bushings are good, lightly loosen doors, cowl, fenders, and hood.
I would remove the hood.
Start from the door jambs and work your way forward.
You'll find all kinds of alignment directions.
Be prepared to add/remove shims.
Get the jambs/front door to fenders/fenders to bumper aligned.
Snug everything up(not tight) and check.
Also check core support bushings and alignment.
Then go to the hood-n-hinges.

Shoot, lunch break...

Sounds like you have a set of hinges in need of replacement...best to start with a good set or you may be doing it twice. I had the same issue at the rear of the hood and new hinges solved that.

check the hinges....move the hood up and down slowly while checking the pivot points on the hinges! most likely you`ll see them "slide"...

Lots of good advice. Thanks. I emailed the former owner and he said that the hood hinges are new. Looked at them last night and they look new - no movement at the pins. I am inclined to think that the large gap at the passenger door is the root of the problem. My cj-7 was a lot let complicated! We really like this car and I want to do right by it. Not looking to do a frame up ( been there - done that) but want to make a really nice quality driver. I do want to put a 400 hood and functional ram air on it and at some point replace the 350 with a 400.

Just curious but why do you want to put a functioning RA setup on your car?

<This results in tension being put on the hinges raising the back edge of the hood.>

Tells you how to solve the problem--write in dee book: 11-2 in dee nine-book. Loosen the front bolts on dee hing-to-fender bolts, force dee hood upward, and tighten dee bolts.

Let's see now--how many sets of 'worn out' hinges been chitcanned around here?

That works sometimes for adjustments, but when there is no adjustment left due to worn out hinges it's time for replacement.

Ram Air is strictly cause I like it. I know it will not help performance one little bit but it looks great when you open the hood. Gonna paint it a non original color too!! 2004 GM indigo blue. I'm looking to build a nice driver not a concours d'elegance trailer queen vehicle. I did a full blown frame off every nut and bolt correct restoration on a 1970 Truimph Spitfire back in the 80's. Won a first prize at the national Triumph show that year. Was fun and I am glad I did it once. But I want to drive this car and not flip out if I drive through a water puddle. Hope the purist on here will still talk to me. I want to be build the car to how I would have ordered it new from GM. Make sense?

I have already done the "force dee hood upward" thing. Helped but didn't get it all.

Dang. It's like you know me. Except my anal nut and bolt restoration was a '80 Turbo Trans Am that rewarded me for all my money and effort with turtle-like acceleration.

Besides what you have already mentioned I have added/restomoded:

Hood tach
Rally guages
Console clock
Front disc brakes
Tubular upper and lower control arms
Aftermarket seats recovered to look somewhat factory (head rests, lumbar support)
LH rear (factory) traction bar
Upgrade to a posi 8.2 rear
Upgrade to 11 inch (taxi) rear drums

I laughed when I read your post. My wife doesn't like the way the hood tach looks but I keep telling her that the car NEEDS one to be a good representation. It already has front disks. The interior was done by the previous owner and is in nice condition. I would love to have put a 4 speed console (another thing my wife doesn't like - she says that spot is a good place for her purse!) in but for what they cost it will have to wait for a bit. The previous owner put a 1981 Trans Am rear in it with 2.42 gears. Already found a 8.2 3.42 posi rear that I picked up for $75. It needs to have the perches cut off and rewelded. The biggest repair it needs is a new trunk center and one shock tower. I have all the tools and the ablility but have never tackled anything like this. Was very worried about the car being a unibody and cutting the trunk out but got a DVD about it and it looks pretty straight forward. The close ratio Muncie needs a rebuild too. I did several of these back in the 80's for older corvettes so not worried about that one. Did I mention this is HER car? I built her an 84 Harley FLH shovelhead 2 years ago so she is spoiled rotten. I enjoy the building and I get to have more toys around if some are hers! My last car build was an 83 Jeep CJ-7 that now has a 300hp AMC 360 and a TF-727 tranny and sits on 38's. Fun!!

Makes sense. I was just curious about the RA thing. I'm more of a function over form kind of guy and for that kind of dough I'd probably go for something that does improve performance. That's just my preference though. Mine's built to drive too. Sounds like you know what you want anyway. Half the battle.

Well you know how these thing go. It will probably be tweaked and tuned as we progress through the build. I learned a long time ago that you should at least have a good idea of what you want to end up with before you turn the first bolt.

Here are some pics of the car the day we picked it up last month.






The worst repair I see so far. Anyone done this repair?


One more question. Is there a setting on this board to subscribe to posts so you are notified if someone responds?

Larry

Looks like a pretty nice ride already.