1963 Grand Prix

[64 kiwi boni]

Me too mate !!! Wtf

this is what mine look like 

[64 kiwi boni]

10 minutes ago, Wrongway said:

Nope, I've got 2 bolts in the fender and 2 in the hood like yours but I also have 2 in the firewall bro. Check it out.

ok mate you need to take another picture and we can work out which adjustment to make, the green marker blocks out what we need to see, i bet we can work this way easy..i do not believe your hinges are stuffed. its justA  adjustment issue 

[Wrongway]

Well shit! That figures lol. Thank you though bud. I have tried lowering the hinge at the firewall with those 2 bolts and like I said before, even with the hinges off it still sat up in the back. I don't mind replacing the hinges if I knew that would fix the problem. 

[64 kiwi boni]

and hay WOW big change for 63 to 64 ! i would have expected fitzy 65 to have the major body changes not 63-64 ! 

see we learn all new stuff about our ponti girls every day !!

[Wrongway]

I agree, I knew Fizty should be different but not ours. Our's were like sisters, now there more like kissin cousins 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Wrongway

[64 kiwi boni]

ok. my though is that yours has 2 fire wall mounts, have you loosened them and dropped the hinge down?

 

 

when its light mate, post some better pictures i bet we can adjust them to work correctly....

[Wrongway]

Yes sir I have tried that. I'll snap some in justa bit bro.

[Wrongway]

Ok so I misspoke Kiwi, I have 2 bolts in the hood, 2 in the firewall and 1 in the fender bud. There is not a bolt in the fender behind the spring.

Here's the other pics I just took

 

[Wrongway]

So I'm thinking loosen the 2 on the firewall and 1 one the fender and try to "tilt" it back and retighten. Thought I tried that but I'll try that again and see if that helps. 

[64 kiwi boni]

yes mate that is exactly what i was thinking !!!, when you do that you are moving those pivot points!!!

Edited December 17, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[Wrongway]

Ok, as soon as the rain stops I'll let you know what happens bro.

[Wrongway]

So I caught a break in the rain today and adjusted the hood. I loosened the 2 bolts on the firewall and the 1 to the fender on both sides. Pushed up on the middle of the hood and was able to "rock" the hinge back and down. I did find that on the drivers side the top bolt was gone. I tried to replace it but there's justa hole there. No threads. I tried to look under the dash at the inside of the firewall to see where the bolts came through but couldn't see them. Any idea what the bolts tread into? I can see threads in the other bolt holes but I'm not sure if there's a threaded fitting or like a nut that's welded to the inner firewall? Now the passenger side of the hood by the windshield sits up maybe an 1/8th of an inch but can be pushed flat with very little effort. I think that's because of the drivers side hinge bolt is missing and pulling away from the firewall justa bit. The drivers side corner is still up about a 1/2 inch can also be push down almost flat. I'm thinking it's also due to that bolt. But here's how she looks now. Not perfect by far but it's a lot better!

[64 kiwi boni]

oh mate !!! your getting there!!! that missing thread is going to be a pita !!

best pull the hood off, take the hinges off and with out the springs on them, see how much slop they have. it may be a case of wear... but... i recon we can make up the slack with adjustments.

 but you need that top bolt hole with thread... your going to have to see whats going on there,!!

[Wrongway]

Yes sir I do, I looked under the dash and couldn't see where the bolts come through the wall. Nothing dropped out to the floor either. I'm really hoping that I don't have to pull that dash out again. It's already been painted and I know I'll scratch it all up lol.

[64 kiwi boni]

I am hearing you mate 

nothing worse than doing things 2 times !!! 

[Wrongway]

So, I pulled the dash cap off today and looked for that bolt hole. No luck. Is there any chance that the hinge bolt "nuts" can be accessed by removing the fender and maybe there's an opening in there?

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Wrongway

[64 kiwi boni]

Mate there won’t be any access under the fender ... 

question , I justA googled your hinges and they look to justA have 3 bolts to mount them up 

2 into the fire wall and one at the front bolting into the fender , is that what you see ? 

[Wrongway]

Yes 3 bolts. The problem is that when I put the top bolt in the hole there is nothing to screw into. The retainer or nut or whatever is gone and needs to be replaced. Thats the bolt we decided needed to be replaced in order to get my hood to lay flat, hopefully. 

[64 kiwi boni]

thats super odd mate.. the lower bolt screws into a caged nut? the upper should too !!

AND you should be able to stick you head up under the dash and see the 2 caged nuts.

[Wrongway]

Yeah it's the upper nut that's missing. Is it connected to the fire wall or justa loose nut? I looked under the dash and even pulled the dash cap off and looked down in it. I stuck a glow rod in the hole from the engine compartment and pushed it into the car. It slides in about 4" and stops solid like it's hitting a wall. Never could find the glow rod under the dash or looking down inside of the dash. The first pic is the glow rod and the top arrow seems to be about where the fire wall is. The bottom arrow is where the bolt hole is. There's seems to be a lot of space between them. Thats why I asked about going through the fender.

[64 kiwi boni]

well mate one way or another you need a caged nut inside that fire wall to be able to bolt up that hinge and add or remove spacers to make the adjustments to get the hood sitting correctly... 

are both sides the same ???

as in the top bolt hole has no thread in it? 

if so my first thought is to send a drill bit in and through that inner panel your hitting 4 inches in,,,, then you can go under the dash ... make a hole saw sized hole and fit a nut on a plate.... or

a pocket hole above the hinge and drop a bit of flat plate with a nut welded to in down in and then weld up the pocket 

[Wrongway]

Both good ideas bro. As far as "are both sides the same", If you mean right side hinge and left side hinge then the answer is no. All 3 holes on the passenger side hinge have threads as do the other 2 holes on the driver's side. It's just the top hole on the driver's side that's missing.

[JUSTA6]

5 hours ago, Wrongway said:

Both good ideas bro. As far as "are both sides the same", If you mean right side hinge and left side hinge then the answer is no. All 3 holes on the passenger side hinge have threads as do the other 2 holes on the driver's side. It's just the top hole on the driver's side that's missing.

Last idea to consider is a clip.  Like the fender clips that slide over inner fender and the bolt that goes throught the fender then the clip to secure.  They come in all sizes.  Small square hole to one side to slide the clip in.  Would have to figure out if the nut that WAS welded in place there is in the way.   Small piece of wire with an L hook on the end.  Would let you measure the depth of the hole to see if it would work.  Justa nother shot in the dark.

[Wrongway]

Thats another possibility bro. I'll get out there this afternoon and take another look and report back.

[Wrongway]

Well, the clip won't work. The hole size is maybe 7/16". In order to slide a clip like a fender clip in it would make that a pretty small bolt and I don't know if that would support the weight of the hood. So, I decided to pull the grill thing in front of the windshield off (don't actually know the proper name, pic 1) to see if I could get a look at the other bolt. So it looks like there was a square bolt that was welded on. Pic 2 is my phone stuck down inside and I was able to get a pic of the lower bolt. I also went a head and pulled the fender Justa to see what was behind there. I'm now thinking that maybe I could cut a "window" where that green box is and reach in to have a nut welded back in and then have the "window" welded back up. What do yall think? The good news is that with the fender off I was able to flex and adjust the hinge to get the hood and that grill thingy to lay flush.