hood fitment issues type 65 coupe

[TonyG]

Hi, I'm having difficulty fitting the hood/nose on my (550) coupe. Length to the windshield is OK and I have installed the alignment pins. That's all OK. The problems are that the hood at the windshield is too high and too wide. My hood clamps are installed and I can force everything but it will not line up. I feel it might be OK if I cut out the lip on the hood that mates with the 'pontoon' but I am worried about stability. When the hood is parallel and clamped to the pontoons there is no way the hood will align with the body across the top. It is just too high. Suggestions please. Many thanks, Tony Gray

[riebelt]

Tony, I have had to do this on a couple coupes that I have done. I have one in the shop now that needed it done. Basically I used a cutoff wheel and cut just above the lip to remove it. Clean up both surfaces and that has been enough material to remove. Glass it back in and your good to go. Also, the cowl needs support in the middle as it will roll down on you from the weight of the nose. This will create a nightmare for you as you try to fit the nose. You can easily remove too much material before you realize what is going on. I made a support using some flat stock to attach to the center support where you attach the firewall. This support should extend up to contact the fiberglass lip. This will keep the fiberglass from rolling in on you. I would create this support first, then move on to cutting the lip on either side at the pontoon contact area.
Hope this makes sense.

[TonyG]

Hello Riebelt. Thanks for your help with this frustrating issue. This looks like a solution that I can try. Tony