Hood not Flush with Bumper

illapino · Post by **illapino** » August 16th, 2006, 2:54 am

i noticed this with my Precidia when i first bought it. there's a rounded gap between the front of the hood and the bumper. at first i thought it was stock to accomodate a hand going underneath to undo the latch, but now i've seen other mx-3's that don't have this: their hood is completely flush with the bumper, straight through and no gap at all. i thought it was 92s, but other 92 precidias are also completely flush unlike mine. should i buy a new hood? and will it be flush unlike mine? (it has chips all over the paint anyway)

lakersfan1 · Post by **lakersfan1** » August 16th, 2006, 8:09 pm

Rubber mallet.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » August 17th, 2006, 3:16 am

You can do two things that don't involve a rubber mallet to try and get it more lined up

1. lower the hood latch so that the hood sits lowr in the front. This might cause a funny seam line with the fenders though so take it eas and check your fender gap before and after so that you know what changed if anything.
2. Take the bumper off and you'll see a metal bracket that holds that top edge of the small mouth up to the hood. It cna get bent easily since it is so thin and thus you can bend it back with your hands (gently and in small increments). Check the bend of the bracket by placing it back on the car and sit the bumper over it to try and line it back up.

It will take some time to get it right or even close. I've wrecked my car a few times and the gap there has never been perfect since. I've played with it a bunch and gotten it closer, but then the darn CF hood threw it all off again. Unfortunatley the hood is not 100% the same as the OEM and thus I cannot have a perfect body seam there anymore. oh well.