[Alpines] Hood Adjustment Advice

[Steve Sage]

I had to remove the hood spring piece that fits into the receiver over 
the heater core when you close the hood. In reinstalling it I thought I 
had it close to where it was before. Wrong!! On closing the hood, 
nothing would get it open again and I tried everything short of taking a 
saw and cutting through it. (I wouldn't have really done that, would 
I???). I obviously didn't align things properly. The latch in front of 
the receiver hole worked OK but I think that "Washer" at the end of the 
spring assembly got wedged under the release bar (that moves in there 
when you pull the hood pull).

I finally gave up and had to unbolt the hood from the two hinges in 
front. That was a lot of fun (NOT) as you have to do everything by feel, 
not sight, as you can't see the bolts up there.

Now I want to reattach everything but don't want to go through this 
again. I notice that the spring assembly that fits to the hood, and  the 
eight bolts that bolt the hood to the two hinges in front all have 
"play", especially the slots in the hinges in front. They're adjustable 
every which way. Why did Rootes do that???

Does anyone know exactly how the factory did it? They built thousands of 
Alpines and Tigers and must have had an easy, standard way of installing 
those hoods. I don't think "Lets wrench the bolts in and hope for the 
best" would have worked on the assembly line.

Here's my idea for now, and any advice from those who have been there 
before would be appreciated:

I think I'll reinstall the spring assembly on the hood, place the hood 
in the closed position without attaching any of the bolts to the hinges 
in front, and gently align the hood until I'm sure pulling the release 
handle pops the hood open. Then I'm going to just attach the two easiest 
bolts (of the eight) through the hinges in front into the hood. Then 
open the hood and close it all the way again. This way, if I have the 
alignment wrong, I only have those two easy bolts to take out to start 
over again, instead of all eight at once and taking another two hours to 
get them out again. Then, when the hood opens and closes every time, 
I'll reinstall the additional six bolts for good.

Has anyone else tried this, and does it make sense? If it does and it 
works, maybe we've come up with an easier way to re-install hoods and 
not be afraid we'll mess things up.

Steve Sage
1966 Tiger MK1A




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