Adjustments...
Discussion
All, I have noticed that my bonnet is rubbing on my headlight, which isn't desirable and is soon going to result in a hole in my headlamps. The bonnet seems to be held down a little too far and the headlight could be slightly over to one side. I would like to know if its easy to adjust the bonnet catches or am I opening a pandora's box? Any pointers would be appreciated.
Mark
Mark
Here's a bit of info from the VCA site:
VCA said:
HOOD ADJUSTMENT INFO FROM PRIOR THREADS
"OK, this has been bothering me for several weeks, and I have tried to collect some info on hood/headlight/front fascia adjustment. From what I gather, it will be one heck of an ordeal. If you look at the picture, there is hardly any gap between the hood and the front right side of the front fascia (portion in front of the wheel well). The hood is currently touching the side of the fascia, and I don't want the paint to eventually chip! Which part, looking at the gap around the headlight, hood, etc., would you try to adjust first? How do you do it"?
Open up the hood and take a close look at the hood latch. Mark it and raise it a tad. Close the hood and see if the gap is to your liking. If not, repeat. Then raise the rubber hood stop when you are done.
For every incremental change you do on one side, there will be a slightly smaller incremental change in the opposite direction on the other side. Check and see if the other side has been raised too much. Other than that, these facias sometimes do not come out of the factory very symmetrical. Sometimes you might have to egg out the holes in the inside of the wheel well side of the fascia and try to slide that side of the fascia down to get it to not touch the hood. That is an option I would try to avoid and work with the latches.
I wasn't able to correct the slight contact between the fascia and the hood by adjusting the hood alone. I did make progress, but raising the hood enough to prevent contact after hood slam, the front edge of the hood was raised and looked bad. I had some 3m clear tape on the fascia for weeks to prevent scratching until I got up enough nerve to tackle the fascia removal. It wasn't complicated, just daunting. Getting the pushpins out was a treat without removing the hood, but I did it with the help of a long handle X-mas tree fastener removal tool from Pep boys.
After the pushpins, a few easy access bolts in the grille opening, and a few electrical connectors for the fog lights, the fascia came off easily. There is a bracket that supports the side of the fascia right where you are having the contact. I just loosened the bolts to the bracket and angled it down a bit. You can then put the fascia back on with a few bolts to check it before putting all the push pins back.
Getting the pushpins back in wasn't too bad, but there are 2 pins, 1 each right above the headlight assembly that I gave up on. Never got them back in, but no ill effects. You can barely see them, let alone getting a hand or tool in there and apply a downward force.
Looks to me like the fascia needs to be raised up via the slotted holes behind the fiberglass bumper support, but the headlight pods may "sink" if you do that. To address the hood corner gaps, you can slip a 10 or 11mm wrench in beside the outer pods and the fascia corners. Loosen the two bolts slightly and you can play with that hood/fascia gap.
No, I don't believe I had to enlarge any of the fascia holes. What I did was loosen the inner plastic panel (which has the coolant bottle window in it) and adjusted that enough to get a decent alignment of the fascia wheel well screws. You really don't need much to get the fascia and hood alignment correct. Additionally, since the wheel well screws act like self-tapping, a slight mis-alignment of those screws weren't a problem. Honestly, the hardest part was removing the x-mas tree fasteners under the front edge of the hood. I invented all kinds of crazy profane words during that part, and felt incomplete when I couldn't get the two outer ones back in. (make sure you use new ones, as you'll likely break and/or distort the original ones).
The tool has a "V" type head and a long handle. They are common, you can find them at Northern Tool, or Pep boys/Napa. It's called a long handle door trim removal tool. The short handle version is about 6" long. The long handle version that I have is about 12+" long.
Contrary to what most people have suggested (raising the hood) I think the adjustment needs to be at the outer corners of the fascia. On some cars, it is possible to get a 10 or 11-mm open-end wrench between the headlight bucket and the fascia. There are 2 bolts on each side to loosen, and then the corners can be moved slightly to control the gap. You can gain a little more clearance for the wrench by pulling the fascia screws out of the fender well and pulling the fascia clear of the inner splash shield/core support.
The headlight bucket looks to me like it needs to be shimmed up. Getting to the back nut is a real pain with the fascia on.
That gap should be 4 millimeters. +2MM -1MM tolerance I believe. This doesn't mean they actually come with factory spec tolerances from the factory though! I have seen many with large gaps. Usually the hood is just a hair lower than the fascia in the front though. Not a big deal though. This could be adjusted although vipers are a pain to get everything to factory spec gaps.
When I purchased my Viper three weeks ago, I noticed that the hood rattled slightly on the passengers side at slow speeds and a little at idle. If you picked up on that corner closest to the door, you could actually wiggle it slightly and it would make the same noise.
The hood always fit well, but it was a little tight near the headlights.
So... I adjusted the brackets attached to the frame near the doors, and it came out perfect.
I adjusted it by loosening the two 1/2" bolts and moving the whole bracket about 1/8" forward on the passenger's side. Not only did I get the hood to seat properly, but the alignment is now awesome. No more rattle.
It appeared as though the brackets were aligned this way from the factory, since I found no evidence that they had ever been loosened or shifted before. So I guess you could say it even better than factory now!
"OK, this has been bothering me for several weeks, and I have tried to collect some info on hood/headlight/front fascia adjustment. From what I gather, it will be one heck of an ordeal. If you look at the picture, there is hardly any gap between the hood and the front right side of the front fascia (portion in front of the wheel well). The hood is currently touching the side of the fascia, and I don't want the paint to eventually chip! Which part, looking at the gap around the headlight, hood, etc., would you try to adjust first? How do you do it"?
Open up the hood and take a close look at the hood latch. Mark it and raise it a tad. Close the hood and see if the gap is to your liking. If not, repeat. Then raise the rubber hood stop when you are done.
For every incremental change you do on one side, there will be a slightly smaller incremental change in the opposite direction on the other side. Check and see if the other side has been raised too much. Other than that, these facias sometimes do not come out of the factory very symmetrical. Sometimes you might have to egg out the holes in the inside of the wheel well side of the fascia and try to slide that side of the fascia down to get it to not touch the hood. That is an option I would try to avoid and work with the latches.
I wasn't able to correct the slight contact between the fascia and the hood by adjusting the hood alone. I did make progress, but raising the hood enough to prevent contact after hood slam, the front edge of the hood was raised and looked bad. I had some 3m clear tape on the fascia for weeks to prevent scratching until I got up enough nerve to tackle the fascia removal. It wasn't complicated, just daunting. Getting the pushpins out was a treat without removing the hood, but I did it with the help of a long handle X-mas tree fastener removal tool from Pep boys.
After the pushpins, a few easy access bolts in the grille opening, and a few electrical connectors for the fog lights, the fascia came off easily. There is a bracket that supports the side of the fascia right where you are having the contact. I just loosened the bolts to the bracket and angled it down a bit. You can then put the fascia back on with a few bolts to check it before putting all the push pins back.
Getting the pushpins back in wasn't too bad, but there are 2 pins, 1 each right above the headlight assembly that I gave up on. Never got them back in, but no ill effects. You can barely see them, let alone getting a hand or tool in there and apply a downward force.
Looks to me like the fascia needs to be raised up via the slotted holes behind the fiberglass bumper support, but the headlight pods may "sink" if you do that. To address the hood corner gaps, you can slip a 10 or 11mm wrench in beside the outer pods and the fascia corners. Loosen the two bolts slightly and you can play with that hood/fascia gap.
No, I don't believe I had to enlarge any of the fascia holes. What I did was loosen the inner plastic panel (which has the coolant bottle window in it) and adjusted that enough to get a decent alignment of the fascia wheel well screws. You really don't need much to get the fascia and hood alignment correct. Additionally, since the wheel well screws act like self-tapping, a slight mis-alignment of those screws weren't a problem. Honestly, the hardest part was removing the x-mas tree fasteners under the front edge of the hood. I invented all kinds of crazy profane words during that part, and felt incomplete when I couldn't get the two outer ones back in. (make sure you use new ones, as you'll likely break and/or distort the original ones).
The tool has a "V" type head and a long handle. They are common, you can find them at Northern Tool, or Pep boys/Napa. It's called a long handle door trim removal tool. The short handle version is about 6" long. The long handle version that I have is about 12+" long.
Contrary to what most people have suggested (raising the hood) I think the adjustment needs to be at the outer corners of the fascia. On some cars, it is possible to get a 10 or 11-mm open-end wrench between the headlight bucket and the fascia. There are 2 bolts on each side to loosen, and then the corners can be moved slightly to control the gap. You can gain a little more clearance for the wrench by pulling the fascia screws out of the fender well and pulling the fascia clear of the inner splash shield/core support.
The headlight bucket looks to me like it needs to be shimmed up. Getting to the back nut is a real pain with the fascia on.
That gap should be 4 millimeters. +2MM -1MM tolerance I believe. This doesn't mean they actually come with factory spec tolerances from the factory though! I have seen many with large gaps. Usually the hood is just a hair lower than the fascia in the front though. Not a big deal though. This could be adjusted although vipers are a pain to get everything to factory spec gaps.
When I purchased my Viper three weeks ago, I noticed that the hood rattled slightly on the passengers side at slow speeds and a little at idle. If you picked up on that corner closest to the door, you could actually wiggle it slightly and it would make the same noise.
The hood always fit well, but it was a little tight near the headlights.
So... I adjusted the brackets attached to the frame near the doors, and it came out perfect.
I adjusted it by loosening the two 1/2" bolts and moving the whole bracket about 1/8" forward on the passenger's side. Not only did I get the hood to seat properly, but the alignment is now awesome. No more rattle.
It appeared as though the brackets were aligned this way from the factory, since I found no evidence that they had ever been loosened or shifted before. So I guess you could say it even better than factory now!
Here's a bit more:
VCA said:
I just snapped some pics to help.. adjusting the latch & hood bumper.
First, check that the latch loop is fastened ok underside the hood, if it's loose that could be a culprit.
If this is ok, now you need to determine if the latch is catching the loop when the hood is shut, the latch loop should be captured by the latch claws.
I simulated this with a bolt in this picture below, you can see the bolt is captured and the only way I can release it is by the depressing the latch release in the grille opening.
I think this is your problem, the hood loop is not being captured in the latch, next step is to find out why.
The latch assembly may be too low, not allowing the latch locking claws to shut around the hood loop.
First thing to do is lower the hood bumper, spin the hood bumper screw (clockwise) and lower it, count the number of turns, for example 5 full turns. If needed, you can mark the hood bumper rubber with a pencil to keep track of the turns.
Next step is to shut your hood, slowly drop your hood, press the left hood side firmly down until you hear the hood latch catch click, then go to the right side and firmly press the hood down until you hear the latch catch click shut.
Observe the hood gap, does it look ok, or too high or low?
If it is too low you can raise the latch mechanism, open the hood and loosen these 2 bolts below and raise the latch mechanism up 1/8" and retighten.
Shut the hood again, it may be trial and error raising or lowering the latch mechanism to set the closed hood height.
Once the hood shuts with a nice gap you need to adjust the hood bumper, the purpose of the bumper is to keep the hood snug to the car, eliminate any vibrations in the latch mechanism, without a hood bumper you would hear a very annoying rattling of the loop in the catch mechanism driving over bumps etc..
The hood bumper does not adjust hood height, the latch does. Raise the hood bumper less of number turns when it was previously lowered, such as raising 3 full turns (counterclockwise).
Place a strip of grocery bag paper on the bumper.
Shut the hood, if the latch does not click shut, then lower the hood bumper and try again.
If the hood latch does click shut and if you can pull the paper strip out, you need to raise the hood bumper.
Raise the hood bumper up 1 turn at a time trying to pull paper strip out after closing hood, maybe take a few times..
The goal is to raise the hood bumper until you can no longer pull the paper strip out when the hood is shut.
Once you can no longer pull the paper strip out, raise the hood bumper one last time up 1/2 of a turn, and now you should be able to slam your hood shut and have a nice gap.
First, check that the latch loop is fastened ok underside the hood, if it's loose that could be a culprit.
If this is ok, now you need to determine if the latch is catching the loop when the hood is shut, the latch loop should be captured by the latch claws.
I simulated this with a bolt in this picture below, you can see the bolt is captured and the only way I can release it is by the depressing the latch release in the grille opening.
I think this is your problem, the hood loop is not being captured in the latch, next step is to find out why.
The latch assembly may be too low, not allowing the latch locking claws to shut around the hood loop.
First thing to do is lower the hood bumper, spin the hood bumper screw (clockwise) and lower it, count the number of turns, for example 5 full turns. If needed, you can mark the hood bumper rubber with a pencil to keep track of the turns.
Next step is to shut your hood, slowly drop your hood, press the left hood side firmly down until you hear the hood latch catch click, then go to the right side and firmly press the hood down until you hear the latch catch click shut.
Observe the hood gap, does it look ok, or too high or low?
If it is too low you can raise the latch mechanism, open the hood and loosen these 2 bolts below and raise the latch mechanism up 1/8" and retighten.
Shut the hood again, it may be trial and error raising or lowering the latch mechanism to set the closed hood height.
Once the hood shuts with a nice gap you need to adjust the hood bumper, the purpose of the bumper is to keep the hood snug to the car, eliminate any vibrations in the latch mechanism, without a hood bumper you would hear a very annoying rattling of the loop in the catch mechanism driving over bumps etc..
The hood bumper does not adjust hood height, the latch does. Raise the hood bumper less of number turns when it was previously lowered, such as raising 3 full turns (counterclockwise).
Place a strip of grocery bag paper on the bumper.
Shut the hood, if the latch does not click shut, then lower the hood bumper and try again.
If the hood latch does click shut and if you can pull the paper strip out, you need to raise the hood bumper.
Raise the hood bumper up 1 turn at a time trying to pull paper strip out after closing hood, maybe take a few times..
The goal is to raise the hood bumper until you can no longer pull the paper strip out when the hood is shut.
Once you can no longer pull the paper strip out, raise the hood bumper one last time up 1/2 of a turn, and now you should be able to slam your hood shut and have a nice gap.
Thanks Dave,
Sorry I missed you on Sunday, I saw you come in and then leave but not in between...
I like this quote from that lot:
'the purpose of the bumper is to keep the hood snug to the car, eliminate any vibrations in the latch mechanism, without a hood bumper you would hear a very annoying rattling of the loop in the catch mechanism driving over bumps etc.. '
No chance of hearing any rattling in mine and I did lower the bumper because that catch wasn't catching, I didn't realise it needed to be snug - see I should have asked earlier :-)
Mark
Sorry I missed you on Sunday, I saw you come in and then leave but not in between...
I like this quote from that lot:
'the purpose of the bumper is to keep the hood snug to the car, eliminate any vibrations in the latch mechanism, without a hood bumper you would hear a very annoying rattling of the loop in the catch mechanism driving over bumps etc.. '
No chance of hearing any rattling in mine and I did lower the bumper because that catch wasn't catching, I didn't realise it needed to be snug - see I should have asked earlier :-)
Mark
No worries mate,
Yep, saw you as I arrived and left, but not in between unfortunately. The place is so busy, finding people becomes a logistical nightmare... Was saying to Paul today that it was a shame not to have been able to have spent a bit more time with the Viper Group, but sometimes unfortunately that's just the way things work out. Don't take it personally though mate, you can rest easy that if I had seen you I would have made the effort to say hello.
Richard and I were talking to Woolfie (the previous owner of your car) whilst we were there, he said he was parked about two cars away from you. Now has a Morgan Aero8 apparently.
Yep, saw you as I arrived and left, but not in between unfortunately. The place is so busy, finding people becomes a logistical nightmare... Was saying to Paul today that it was a shame not to have been able to have spent a bit more time with the Viper Group, but sometimes unfortunately that's just the way things work out. Don't take it personally though mate, you can rest easy that if I had seen you I would have made the effort to say hello.
Richard and I were talking to Woolfie (the previous owner of your car) whilst we were there, he said he was parked about two cars away from you. Now has a Morgan Aero8 apparently.
Just for future reference I have adjusted the rubber boots and I can no longer remove a piece of paper from between the bottom and the boot. I have also added some electric tape strategically placed on the headlight as an anti rub measure.
I have discovered on the VCA site this is a reasonably common issue and other people have resolved it by accessing the headlight from the wheel arch access point, loosening it and budging it sideways a bit. I haven't tried this yet mostly due to lack of space but if you can get to them in this way it does seem like a logical resolution.
Mark
I have discovered on the VCA site this is a reasonably common issue and other people have resolved it by accessing the headlight from the wheel arch access point, loosening it and budging it sideways a bit. I haven't tried this yet mostly due to lack of space but if you can get to them in this way it does seem like a logical resolution.
Mark
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