1968 Charger Hood Fit & Gap to the Cowl ?

[james j]

Hi Everyone!
I've tried searching and could not find much, so here goes. Just yesterday, my painter and I installed, aligned and gapped the fenders and lower valence. The gaps between the fenders to doors looks great and even, but after test fitting the hood, it seems as if this gap was intended to grow wider across the width of the hood (~7/16") or so. So I'm just wondering if this is supposed to be like this? I tried a google image search but that too came up with nothing relevant. Any bit of a sanity check or picture of an unmolested car would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

JJ

 

[Lionized]

If your door/fender gaps are good and the leading edge of the hood is good I'm not sure what else you can do.
I'm sure it's better than factory!

 

[jamie]

Do you have a gap between the fender and rocker? If not,maybe the front end is down.I moved my doors back as far as I could,even trimmed them [AMD doors ugh].I think some of these cars had larger gaps as I have an original 1969 superbee here and it has large gaps.Oh and did you replace the cowl?AMD cowls are not quite right.

 

[james j]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. The leading edge of the hood seems to line up well with the fronts of the fenders. We also carried a nice uniform gap between the fenders & doors and fenders and rocker panels. The doors, cowl and fenders are original to the car (AFAIK) and the hood was off another '68 or '69. ...all the other gaps (save for the hood/cowl) look pretty good; fenders/door, fenders/rocker, doors/quarter panels too.

 

[1967coronet]

What is the back edge of the door to qt panel gap ? to me the door , fender, and hood all need to come back some.
But only if you have room at the door to qt gap. if the qt. is ahead to much you just have to make the best if it.
Pretty much most 60s cars had some bad gaps when they left the factory, owners and restorers standards have went up.
nothing wrong with that , but sometimes you just have to do the best you can if the qt is welded solid. and call it good on panel gaps.

 

[james j]

Both quarters were replaced and are fully welded on. Prior to cutting the originals off, we installed the doors and got the door/quarter gaps perfect @ ~1/8 or 3/16" all the way down. Those gaps look great, they are not too slim nor excessive, and very comparable to the fender/door gaps. They are also ok in comparison to the bottom rocker/door gap too.

 

[Mocajava]

I have seen body shops add/weld thin sections onto panels to mitigate the factory gaps. Takes some skills and patience but it does clean up gaps very nicely.