Installing the Hood, Need Help

I am installing the hood. I noticed that then hood is not gapping correctly. The Driver side in higher than the passenger side and the front hangs over (slightly) the front.

Any tips on making then align correctly? Shims and sanding be required?

Sorry, Its also a CMC just incase you need to know.

You can carefully enlarge the mounting holes on the hinge assemblies where the aluminum brackets that are bonded to the hood attach to the aluminum brackets which come from inside the car to give you some wiggle room. They are aluminum and will open up pretty quickly so use caution. Be sure to use washers on both sides of the bolts.

I have been working on my CMC that I purchased partially assembled and have had the same problem. I have done a lot of filing in the hinge mounting holes which helped some. Don't install the latch mechanism until you have the fit as good as you can make it. You just end up fighting with it. I had a slight twist in my hood and the gaps to the fenders were very small. I sanded the edges of the hood to increase the gap (I used a paint stir stick as a guide for gap width). Couldn't get the hood level enough so I ended up sanding the top surface of the fender as much as I dared and built up the corresponding hood surface to match. I did the opposite on the other side. Tried to keep the filler to a minimum. I also used reinforced filler to make it durable. I moved the hood back to minimize the over hange in the front because you can sand the back edge easily to get the gap back. Then had to add some filler to the front of the car to make them even. Same process for the doors and engine cover.

Todd, if you mess up the hinge assemblies beyond repair, let me know. I won't be using mine anymore, and they'll probably work for you since my car used to be a CMC.
I've cut everything I could out from under my hood except for the aluminum arms themselves. I've still got everything.
I'm not sure how much I have left from taking the decklid stuff off, but I might have those pieces, too.

Cory,

SICK! JUST SICK! I've been watching the progress over the last couple of months. So when can we expect a model that we can purchase?

How much for the hinge, hindge bracket that connect to the frame, and the box that goes around it. Mine were fabbed by someone other than CMC, so I am sure that this is part of the issue. I have had to do some grinding to get them to fit.

I am fairly certain that the issue is being caused by on side sitting lower than the other. This causes the other side to lift up higher.

Side Not - I am planning on using leather and buckles for the front of the hood. Is the hood latch necessary? Is it street legal?

Thanks
Todd

Todd,
If you're going to register your car as a street rod, you can probably do what you like about the hood latch. I'd put it in anyway, since your hood will fall below the bumper of the average car. A little extra safety never hurt anyone.
I found the box frame of my car was heavily shimmed on the passenger side. Since it's on jackstands, I shimmed the stands before this re-building business started in order to make every line straight and level in relation to vertical plumb. I'm using a level and a square at every weld, and some of the measurements are still coming out a little squirrely. I don't know that there's anything I can do other than bust welds and re-do "original" angles. I'm not going nuts with that stuff, mostly because Sartwell doesn't have time to undo everything. Instead, the main welds will remain slightly off-kilter, but everything added to the frame is being done with an eye on the magnetic level.
It won't be factory perfect, but it'll race the pylons just fine and cruise on Sunday. You'd probably have to REALLY look to see where it's off now, anyway.
Back to the hood; if you need the latch assembly, holler. I have the leather straps and fittings, the hood latch and all the hood mechanical stuff. I checked yesterday to see what I have from the decklid, and it isn't much. You're welcome to what I do have.
I paid a premium for the straps and mounting bits, and I'd want to recover a decent chunk of that cash so I can buy a pair of six-inch, fluted, amber-lensed Hella foglights. I've never so much as opened the bag of mounting hardware, and now I'm glassing in my hood.
Give me a day or so to take a photo of the whole works, and you can make me an offer.
E-mail me for details, but I'm sure we can work something out.
BTW - Thanks for the compliments on the jalopy. It'll be a one-off car, though. I won't be rushing all this low-tech stuff to market! We couldn't reproduce this without a whole bunch of math, ink and butcher paper.