Hood Fit Question 14T

[critterpainter]

The hood on my 14 has never fit right and was a battle to latch. After I had the engine rebuilt and put a new radiator on it, the hood fit did not improve. I did some measuring and adjusted the radiator angle from front to rear which greatly helped the fit. However it is still near impossible to latch the hood.
Looking carefully at the hood, which may well be original, I noticed that the bottom of the hood flares out just above the rolled edge. This flared out edge is where the issue may be. The flared edge pushes against the latch and causes the hood to want to bow in when trying to latch the hood. The flare also raises the bottom edge up a bit which is also an issue.
My question IS that FLARED EDGE correct or not?

[Dollisdad]

Your hood looks correct. It should flare out until it almost makes contact with the hold down. The gap is fine. My guess is you have the repo springs on the hold downs and that is a lot of your problem. They are WAY to stiff. Take them off and take a hold down to the hardware store and ask if they have compression springs. They usually have a box or drawer with assorted sizes that come in packs of 4. Squeeze them till you find one with the right compression. You want it to be supple, not to soft but not so stiff as what you have. You should be able to slide the spring on, then the flat washer and compress till past the hole with one hand and slide in the cotter pin with the other. Hope this helps.

[critterpainter]

Thank you for your reply I know the springs are at least 50 YO. but I don't know if they are original. I will try your suggestion of checking the springs as they are a bit hard to pull up on.

[R.V.Anderson]

I had the same issue when I restored my '14. It turned out that there was an alignment problem with the springs, the hooks, and the holes in the repop hood boards and in the frame. As I recall, two of the hooks, though difficult to lift and turn, were usable and two were not. I don't remember exactly what the problem was or what I did to correct it, but whatever it was, it was preventing the springs from compressing fully, thus not allowing the hood hooks to more up far enough to clear the edge of the hood.