Hood issues-Need Help Please!

[HLN A55]

A little over a year ago, the Viper was parked in my parking lot when a neighbor hit it head on (with a slight bias to the driver's side) going about 10-15. The car went in the shop and was "fixed" within a few months. About a month later, I started to have alignment issues with the hood-the passanger side would not close up nice and tight as the driver's side would (before the accident, the gaps were perfect). I also had issues with the bumper-it seemed to sag a bit-creating more of a gap between the top of the bumper and the hood. I was in contact with the body shop immediatley, but was never able to get the car in until today.

The body shop is now leaning towards denying fault for the hood alignment issues. They said that they would look into it, but even the owner (who I just spoke with), is saying that the car left with great gaps and he is not sure that he wants to invest the time in fixing it. The other issue is that I have a crack in the windshield on the passanger's side, which I wanted them to replace, and which I thought was caused by a rock. Upon further investigation, the body shop cannot find any pit from a rock collision and are thinking that all of my issues are coming from twisting the frame. The only time that I can think of that the frame is twisted is when I am getting in and out of my driveway-I have to take the driveway at an angle to avoid scraping and almost always take the passanger wheel first.

With all of that said-could the twisting of the frame cause this?

 

[syldogRT/10]

I am not sure about the gaps, but I find it very hard to beleave you can twist your frame from going in and out of your drive way no matter what the angle. Some of the more knowledgable guys may chime in on this but it sounds like a body shop error to me.

 

[HLN A55]

I am not sure about the gaps, but I find it very hard to beleave you can twist your frame from going in and out of your drive way no matter what the angle. Some of the more knowledgable guys may chime in on this but it sounds like a body shop error to me.

That's what I thought-but wanted to see what y'all had to say.

 

[-FROG-]

True.... it would be hard to "twist a frame" under typical driving, however I do hear my RT/10 top creaking when I pull in and out of steep angles, like in gas stations and drives. If my top is making a creaking/popping sound, then obviously something is tweaking a bit. So maybe my frame is not "bending", I still think there is a little give in it. I have had many mustang 5.0's in the past and those cars are notorious for cracking the windshield and actually cracking on the "A Pillar" on the outside passenger side near the windshield. The reason is, when under high horsepower applications, the unibody's "twist" when the cars are launched at the drag strip on slicks. Mustang guys typically put on "Sub frame connectors" to help prevent body tweaking. If a 5.0 continues to hit the drag strip and never has sub frame connectors installed, the result will be a cracked windshield, A-Pillar and over time the body panels will actually show signs of not lining up properly (the gaps will be off).

Now I don't think this has ever been an issue with Vipers. Like I said, it was the mustang uni-body that may have contributed to the "frame tweaking" of those cars. But I wonder if you minor frame damage on a viper will contribute to a few of the same things?

About your hood.... I actually had one of my "hood strikers" break a few weeks ago. Thats the little "U" shaped bar attached it the underside of the hood (cost friggin $50.00). Mine may have been weak and just broke from use over time and possibly from the minor accidents from the past before I got the car. Or it may have broke because it was never installed correctly to begin with from prior repairs? Whatever the cars, I have found that loosening that striker and "twisting" it a little from the original position made a huge difference from how it was held down. I loosened the bolts and pushed the striker over about 1mm to the left and tried it and then loosened again and pushed it over about 2mm to the right. I also did the "twisting" idea and pushed the top part over one way and the bottom the opposite direction. It seemed like it barely even moved, but it really did make a difference when I closed the hood.

To mess with those strikers, don't open the hoop all the way up, just pop the front part and you can easily access them from there.

After that, I also messed with the actual locks that the strikers go into, located on the top part of the bumper. A few minutes messing with those and my hood seems to close perfect now without much strain on the strikers.

 

[got one]

frog...interesting. I might have to try that on my hood...

 

[HLN A55]

Well, thank god, but the body shop fixed everything under warranty. Thanks for the advice though Frog.