Hood gap after repairs , is this dangerous ?
 

Hi.

Repair shop I took my 2004 Z did a terrible job. The hood seems to be straight but for some bizarre reason there is a gap on driver side and no gap on passenger side . The Gap on driver side is right in front of trh air intake tunnel. Isn't that super dangerous if it rains and the air intake will suck in all this water and ruin the engine ?

Pic attached
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....c3ff2b4f2e.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....79eea33de5.jpg

If I remember correctly there are some rubber bumper things you can screw in and out, try adjusting the drivers down and passenger up

I don't think there are any adjustable "bumpers" under the hood that will allow you to tweak the hood lines. I am dealing with this exact same issue on my 03Z after the hood was vandalized (someone took a knife to it) while it was sitting outside of a shop waiting to be inspected. After getting it back from the repair/paint shop, and them removing the 3m clear bra and painting the hood 3 times to get it right, the hood is now warped--I presume from them working on it, while propped open with the hood prop on the left side (when facign the front of the car). No, they didn't cover the engine bay either and gave me back pounds of sanded paint dust too, scattered all through the engine bay...I removed the entire front bumper to get the dust out, and there was probably 3 or 4 cups of paint dust collected in there bumper cover. I vowed to never use these guys again, not even to paint a tractor.

My hood alignment problem seems to be the reverse of yours... looking at the hood from the front of the car, the right side sits slightly lower, and is sunken in compared to the edge of the front quarterpanel. My only remedy after finding that there was no bumper adjustments, was to build up a few pieces of weather stripping to each other to make my own bumper, to retrain the hood on that side. My car will never be the same after this paint job and the vanadalism that occurred, but this simple fix seems to remedy the lines on the hood and makes the fit of the hood look proper again when closed.

I actually never even noticed these before. For reference, both of mine are turned all the way in. They have never been touched, so I'm sure that's the factory setting.

Also, there is weather stripping under the hood in the front. I don't think much water would get in regardless.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....e417a0d33f.jpg

maybe i was thnking of my vette,, hell i havent had the nissan in 5 years now

I don't know man . I feel like the almost finger thick opening right in front of the air intake tunnel never mind the intake itself is a recipe for hydro locking your engine in any kind of rain . See pic and circle ...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....36b9c5cff4.jpg

Did you look at the adjuster I posted

Where was the damage, if it wa the front end, something may still be off. Why dont you take it back to the shop and address your concerns with them

there are some small rubber bumpers about 4-6 inches from the front lip of the hood, one on each side...somehow I missed these. They might give you 3/16" to maybe 1/4" of adjustment... hopefully thats enough. Screw the one by the intake all the way in....and see what the gap looks like. Mine are screwed all the way in from the factory.

Woo hoo.....I am n6t crazy

I don't have any rubber bumpers at all. The bottom of my hood is completely bare.

I think hydro lock is more likely after you hit a fairly deep puddle at speed or decide to drive through a flooded area. I don’t really think hydro lock is something you need to worry about due to rain but I could be wrong.

Like others have asked, what exactly was the work you were having done in the first place? If they took the front bumper off it may need to be adjusted a bit as well.

You could try adjustment from the hood latch as well, can be moved vertically. The rubber bump stops would be used for slight adjustments and to help with vibrations.

However, it seems that something is misaligned, maybe the bumper? I wouldn't worry about hydro-locking from such a small opening, you would have to almost submerge the entire filter to run into an issue like that.

Shouldn't be. In addition to the hood bump stops, you should also have weather stripping seals at the front of the hood.

Post a pic of the underside of the hood

Attachment 455344

Check the list and see if you have everything.

the seals won't provide any adjustment, thats all they do is seal from water coming in or prevent vibration. The "seals" towards the middle of the hood, sit on the strut bar across the center of the engine bay. The bumpers located towards the hood lip are your only hope of any adjustment, without messing with the hood brackets inside the quarter panels or where the hood attaches to the brackets at each corner of windshield.

Don’t get all the debate on this. Clearly something’s f’d up so just take it back to the shop that “fixed it” and have them “fix it right”. How’s that not the obvious solution?

because that makes entirely too much sense, not to mention he didnt say where the damage is. if you zoom in on the pic, you can see scratches on bumper, so i guess you can assume that the bumper was not replaced

OP was asking if it was dangerous, at higher speeds, seals in the front keeps the hood better seated and planted by directing air over. A vacuum/low pressure area at the frontal cavity, at the bumper cover and front of hood, is created as air goes over the top and drawn into the radiator. You want this area to not catch air hence the two seals at the very front of the hood. Water goes through the radiator easily and where it sits further back. The air that does pass through exits underneath. Its a balance of upper and lower air flow management with body panels and undershrouds to create Nissan's "0 lift" marketing slogan for the z when it first came out.

OP stated his hood was bare. I'd take it back to the shop, missing pieces and parts after a repair isn't a sign of quality work.

I am missing hte seals . Goddamn it. This ****ing sucks

Because when I text the shop they brushed it off and said its not a problem "unless Im going 240mph" Im sick of dealing with those idiots and worry they will make it even worse

OK, then I see the point of the discussion. Document what's missing (as noted here in this post and through research online - but the diagram Mistuh Sparco posted is a good source), go back to them and complain. If that does no good, then BBB or better, California Bureau of Automotive Repair ( https://www.bar.ca.gov/ ) to complain about them. And, if you've had to go that far, also do the Yelp thing on them. Lots of people use Yelp when making a decision on anything. Doesn't mean that Yelp is a good source of recommendations but if it stops one person from getting ripped off, that's $$$ out of that shop's pocket.

I've never had to resort to that thankfully but I will post to Yelp about GOOD service (or food or products or....). The few local automotive shops I use for varying things appreciate the reviews and remember me each time I use 'em.

Thanks man, I just emailed them with detailed pics (attached). I am beyond pissed. Besides the misalighed hood, the diagram Mistuh posted showed me I am missing the rubber seals under the hood. This is beyond sloppy work.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....191f9be322.jpghttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....d05e8641b7.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....454c6fcd8f.jpg

What freakin work did they do in the first place????

In my accident, the bumper, hood, radiator, radiator housing, AC condensor, headlights, and air filter box where totalled.

The mechanic next door to these idiots did a great job: he got me the radiator housing, ac condensor, and purchased and had delivered the radiator, bumber, hood, bumper hinges, and various misc screws, plugs, etc.

After mechanic was done, the idiots next door took it to install the bumber and hood and lights and because i got some money from insurance since they delcared it "salvage", I decided to repaint the entire car since I had a lot of oxidation on the paint before. I paid the mecahnic next door $1600 and the repair shop $2700, (keep in mind aside from the hood latch, I BOUGHT AND HAD DELIVERED ALL THE PARTS NEEDED)

I thought $2700 for bumber/hood repair as well as ENTIRE car repaint was a steal. Now I wish I would have spent $1000 more and not had to deal with this ****

Any reputable shop would fix to OEM quality and standards, if you went to a budget place....you get what you pay for

Well, aside from the minor hood misalignment (should be easy for someone to realign the hood unless the problem is the rad support itself being misaligned when replaced), that price for a decent full re-spray is a good price. My body guys want $5k for a full respray (and I trust them with all of my cars including the classics they've worked on); but at > half the value of my 33, uhh, well, I'll live with the silver "patina" (clearly visible on roof, hatch and door finisher in pic). :icon17:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....6bd1dc3417.jpg

In any event, if the shop won't fix your car, I'd just cut losses - if you could call it that - and do (or learn to) the realignment yourself along with installing the hood sealing gasket for your peace of mind. I wouldn't be overly concerned with hydrolock as it would take a drive INTO water to ingest enough H20 through the popcharger to do any damage. Rain may wet the filter but so little as it's just a bit of moisture coming into the system, not the volume required to hydrolock.

As mentioned earlier, a slightly more worrisome situation is pressure build up under the hood but even that's an unlikely scenario as air flowing through that gap won't "pool"; it will just pass through and under the car.

Thanks for the tips man. Last couple of months I've learned more about fixing my Z that I had in the prior 12 years I've had it.

Also I like your car ...nice color but I may be biased. That oxidation of the roof is what I had on original paint (especially on the spoiler ) that prompted me to do the repaint.

The curse of silver cars. (Especially ones that are parked (or, were parked) outdoors without enough attention to detailing/protecting it.)

Funny that even when I was a kid and we did (or had done) single stage paint, silver was a bear to maintain then. Apparently multi-stage silver does last longer but unless cared for, only incrementally longer. Especially when painted on the different surfaces of the car (plastic trim pieces versus the metal body). But no complaints... 16 years old car and all.

Was it brand new OEM parts from Nissan or aftermarket/replicas? Im guessing aftermarket since it would be much more than the $1,600 paid.

If its not OEM then the majority of the time the parts do not fit perfect. In addition to the accident it rarely comes together as if it was never hit. Did the shop say they would include the seals? That usually has to be ordered separately at an unreasonably high OEM price tag which is probably why it wasn't installed. If the shop was lazy then they didn't salvage the parts from the previous hood or it was destroyed, unlikely.

Its usually the pressure difference along with air turbulence above the hood and within the engine bay that causes the hood to wobble, flex, and shake. I've modded and also bought hoods over the years to notice it happening visibly. Over time the latch gets weakened or deformed and may release unexpectedly. Google search "car hood flies open while driving" and you will find plenty of examples at surface street speeds. Seen enough hoods crack windshields on friends' cars since the 90's to avoid this unnecessary risk to self and others.

For the most part everything is OEM.... Except headlights and the hood hinges .... The latter which could very well be the culprit for the misaligned hood.

But what's driving me crazy is that I don't even know if it's the hood or the number that's misaligned . It's driving me crazy . When I lift he hood up and look at right and left hinges they look exactly the same to me.

Whether its aftermarket or OEM, it looks like you provided a new hood. (the shop didn't even paint the underside completely and I can see the Nissan part number) If that's the case, the hood will not come with any seals or bumpers.
If there weren't any seals and bumpers to begin with, you cannot expect the shop to buy them for you.




Before you go mad, go to Nissan. Get the adjustment bumpers (62840 in the diagram) and front seals. From the looks of your pictures, that will solve your problem. Even if you just get the bumpers.
The gap on the driver side is fine. It is the gap on the passenger side that is too tight. Look at the how the hood sits lower than the fender on the passenger side and doesn't line up with the vertical edge of the bumper by the headlight.
Screw in the adjustment bumpers and adjust the passenger side to open up the gap. Line it up with the top of fender. For the driver side, just screw in the bumper to provide some cushion but not open up the gap anymore.
The seals should fit in snugly between the hood and bumper but not crushed.


Let me know how that goes.

i wonder how long OP is going to ***** about this instead of spending the $4 for the bumpers to resolve the issue

There are only 2 solutions here that I can see....

1. buy the hood bumpers at your local Nissan service center. It will take 2 mins to put them in, and they will cost no more than 10 bucks... screw the left one out slightly further than the right one... and you can adjust the lip clearance enough to correct your problem. DONE.

2. go back to the shop and force them to fix it... those bumpers were on your original hood and its on them if they didn't bother to take them off your old hood and transfer them to the new one. Not having a hood that sits right w proper lines, is their responsibility. Threaten a chargeback on your credit card or contact your insurance company and tell them you aren't happy with the work they did.

I was in a similar situation and gave up on my body shop and jsut fixed it myself. In the process of painting my hood 3x (over a 10 week span), they warped it from working on the hood with the prop rod up, and filled my engine compartment with paint sanding dust. They also put hundreds of tiny surface scratches in my bumper cover from not covering it up and dragging their pneumatic hoses and tooks across the bumper whil ethey were sanding. These guys were total idiots.... the guy's dad used to do great body shop work, but he recently handed the business over to his son, who is lazy and can't paint at all. Lesson learned and if they didn't do all the local township police repairs at a discoutn, they would probably be out of business already. I wet sanded the scratches out of the cover and did my best to fix the warped hood. It looks fine, but I know it will never be the same again...as is the case with most body shop repairs.

I'm surprised you think the passenger side is the problem side.... I am looking at old pics of my car pre-repairs and the hood seemed to have no gaps anywhere and were pretty tight.

I'll order the missing parts you mentioned though. On NissanPartsDeal they come out to about $160... whats $160 more when I already spent $7000 on this cursed project?

Thank you for the help

Its not just the bumpers.... I am missing the much more expensive rubber seals that line the edges of the hood. Total is about $160....

you get what you pay for......

Here is mine for reference. Purchased new and currently at 14k miles.
Or you can Google image 350z and look for gaps on Zs with original parts.
Without a gap, the hood will sit lower than the fenders and the body lines/surface will not flow into the bumper when viewed from the side.

If you were in closer, I'd tell you to stop by the shop with the parts and I can adjust it for you. It takes 2 minutes.



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....a7b6a8f97b.jpg

A 2008 with 14K miles? Would you ever consider selling it? Asking for a friend :)

What a beauty man. I am officially jealous. You wouldnt happen to be in San Diego I suppose....

Ok I am losing my mind:

Found an old pic of my hood open, way before the crash.

Even the original hood did not have those bumpers, and did not have the rubber lining around the rim of the hood. WTF?? So all these years I was driving around with a completely bare hood underneath? Bizzarre.

I think the easiest course of actions like most said is just go to the dealer and get those damn bumpers and put in my self.....hoping not to make the gap even bigger

Pretty much. I got greedy as far as repainting the whole car, but even without the entire repaint, the hood/bumper and their paint was $1500, so only $1000 less than painting whole car.

I only got like $4k from insurance when they declared it salvage, the remaining $3K i paid out of pocket.

Its tough man. I mean I like how the new paint looks for sure, but already less than 2 weeks later I see the paint peeling and cracking off around the base of the rear windshield wiper.

and the bad thing.. they didnt even paint the entire underside of the hood

sorry, not planning on selling.

Ok so just came back from Nissan dealership. Bought the two rubber bumps for the exorbitant cost of $31. Apparently they are made out of human flesh . After installing them , I guess it's better.

Top pic is before bottom is after:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....122e15d023.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....4920fde576.jpg

I just have to decide if I should keep pouring money into this 2004 car. I love it, but st this point I might have to accept it's good enough for what it is.

The rubber stripping that goes in the front under the hood is about $130. Also the entire engine bay is completely uncovered at the bottom . That cover and labor is probably another $300.

I don't know....

get the zspeed undershroud...

and it does look better, i would play with it some more to get it a little more even

Wow thanks for the suggestion! This is much better than OEM

You are getting there.
Bring up the passenger side a little more by extending the bumper.