My hood is shaking only on the drivers side....I mean alot, like the wind is going to grap that side and unlatch it.
Is there an adjustment in the front? I've tried a variety of adjustments with the latch and rubber trim....so far it still has a huge gap on the drivers side.
Could the hood be warped?
This is a new used hood, a 79 hood on a 77...that shouldn't matter I assume.

hard to say what is going on here without pictures. Does the edge of the hood follow the fender line or does it bow above it. the hoods are very easy to bend and i've heard they can change by the way they are stored. the bow of the hood can be altered without a lot of issue.

The small bump hood on my 78 with a 79. It fits fine. Here are some pictures of the hinge and the pads. It looks like the pads might be different. The rectangular pads on the hood don't mate with the raised bumps on the body. Does the hood line up with the body all along the side? Is it possible they didn't get the body pulled out right? i know you had a lot of confidence in the body shop but mistakes can be made. If there is still a hump in the body the hood won't lay flat. My 69 coupe was hit in the same area as your car. This was in 1972 and I took it to a Fiat body shop. They didn't get it right and my left fender was about a half inch higher that the right. The insurance company wouldn't have them redo it so I was stuck with it. Good luck with the fix.

Hey Zippy, nice looking car. A lot of hoods, however, have been damaged by inappropriate use of the old-style latch. As you may know, Pinninfarina went with a center-mount hood prop in big-bump years. To close an early hood, you're supposed to lift the prop before pushing on the hood, but a lot of folks don't know this, and the hood gets warped from pushing on the (only) left-side latch. This can also crack the top rad support. Several people with flat or small-bump hoods have changed to dual gas springs. They're more secure at car shows, too, with the hoods left open.

Pics:

azruss wrote:hard to say what is going on here without pictures. Does the edge of the hood follow the fender line or does it bow above it. the hoods are very easy to bend and i've heard they can change by the way they are stored. the bow of the hood can be altered without a lot of issue.

That worries me as there is a significant GAP between the new refurbished fender and the hood on the pass side. I have not address any of this with the body shop...yet!

Zippy wrote:The small bump hood on my 78 with a 79. It fits fine. Here are some pictures of the hinge and the pads. It looks like the pads might be different. The rectangular pads on the hood don't mate with the raised bumps on the body. Does the hood line up with the body all along the side? Is it possible they didn't get the body pulled out right? i know you had a lot of confidence in the body shop but mistakes can be made. If there is still a hump in the body the hood won't lay flat. My 69 coupe was hit in the same area as your car. This was in 1972 and I took it to a Fiat body shop. They didn't get it right and my left fender was about a half inch higher that the right. The insurance company wouldn't have them redo it so I was stuck with it. Good luck with the fix.

Is the hood latched down in the pictures. If so, then you have a latch height problem. Either you have the wrong style latch rod or you need to make a height adjust on the mechanism. the back of the hood should be flush with the cowling at the latch point. it also looks like the hood on the driverside has a dip in the edge at the half way point. this could be the cause of the corner being so high. this can be tweeked by placing a soft piece of wood like a 2x4 with a towel under the hood at the "flat" point and GENTLY push the corner down to un-flatten the drivers side. The placement of the wood is critical to getting the right contour. Looks like you also have some twist. If your corner pads are located correctly and are the right thickness, the twist should go away when the hood is closed. The pix dont show the PS side gap. If the body shop just messed with that, i would take it back and see if they can fix it. Hard to get the gaps right on these hand built cars, especially after they've been thru so much abuse. Nice Paint!!

The hood is latched in the pics. I've adjusted the latch up and down, an it only pulls in the pass side. The severe shaking of the left side of the hood is really distracting and makes me think something else is going on. I don't have the proper pads for the hood (the body shop might still have those from my old hood), or the proper cowl seal, but even with them the hood seems warped.

azruss wrote:Is the hood latched down in the pictures. If so, then you have a latch height problem. Either you have the wrong style latch rod or you need to make a height adjust on the mechanism. the back of the hood should be flush with the cowling at the latch point. it also looks like the hood on the driverside has a dip in the edge at the half way point. this could be the cause of the corner being so high. this can be tweeked by placing a soft piece of wood like a 2x4 with a towel under the hood at the "flat" point and GENTLY push the corner down to un-flatten the drivers side. The placement of the wood is critical to getting the right contour. Looks like you also have some twist. If your corner pads are located correctly and are the right thickness, the twist should go away when the hood is closed. The pix dont show the PS side gap. If the body shop just messed with that, i would take it back and see if they can fix it. Hard to get the gaps right on these hand built cars, especially after they've been thru so much abuse. Nice Paint!!

your solution is getting the latch situation figured out. as i recall the latch arm on the hood is different for different years. you may need to look at modifying that or getting a different one. First thing i would do is get a shim under the PS corner of the hood, so when it is closed, it will line up height wise with the fender and cowling. If you dont have the proper corner pads, go to lowe's and buy some stick-on rubber or felt furniture leg pads and build them up to the proper height. Once that is done, you can see what kind if adjustment needs to be made. your hood will continue to flap until you get the DS corner down on the pad. from what i can see, get the latch point down and all the other issues will go away.

I can't believe they let it leave the body shop like that I does look like the latch is not installed right. I have seen a lot of later model hoods on older Fiats that fit really well. You say it is a refurbished fender, are you sure it wasn't bent before they put it on? Without the latch the hood should just sit flat to the body along the cowl, but if the fender/body is still bent and the hood is correct it will bind against the body somewhere about halfway between the hinge and the latch, depending on where the body is bent. If you remove the latch and the hood won't go down all the way without bending it, and it is binding on the body, then I would think they didn't pull the body out enough or the fender they put on was bent.
Crude drawing but hope you get the idea.