Imperial Homepage -> Repair -> Body -> Hood
Question from Clint (1959):
The hood on our 1959 Imperial Crown is buckled on the right side around the hood hinge. Is this common? What can we do about it? I know that there are some after-market support pieces for other makes of cars, is there such a thing for Imperials?
Replies:
From Joe:
Sounds like you have a bad hinge that stuck and caused the hood to buckle.. I would fix that first ,try lubrication on the moving parts...
From Charlie:
I had a bad hood hinge on my '59 and I had to be careful about opening the hood to keep it from catching at the back corner. The defect was obvious in that I could see that the gear teeth were misaligned - actually no longer engaged, but overlapping.
I had to disassemble the parking brake mechanism under the dash to get to the fasteners holding the hinge to the firewall. On the passenger side it looks like you would need to remove part of the air conditioning system and perhaps the glove box to get to the hood hinge bolts.
From Paul:
A common reason for this is that someone tried to open the hood from the side of the car rather than standing in front of it and pulling up on it evenly.
Always stand in front of the car when opening the hood.
Quesiton from Buck (1962):
The hood of my 1962 doesn't sit level. I noticed that there are several slots along either side of the fenders where the hood would rest. Should there be a metal clip with a rubber piece glued onto it in these slots? Does any one have an idea where to get these clips? Would it be possible to have them made? Or am I way off here.
Reply from John:
There are rubber blocks that go into those slots. They are the same on 61-63. I believe Gary Goers has them. There are 2 types used, meaning the ones at the front part of the hood differ from those along the sides of the fenders. You need both types.
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