bouncy bouncy hood

[TRX]

On my '80 Malibu, I have the latch and side stops adjusted so my hood sits evenly with the fenders and front fascia when closed. But going down the road, the front corners of the hood bounce about noticeably; on a rough road, maybe 3/4 inch. And on the freeway, the corners will lift a quarter inch or so.

Nothing looks obviously fatigue-cracked underneath. Is this normal with a G-body, or what?

 

[clean8485]

Just being curious-are you talking about a steel hood? I used to have a fiberglass hood on my Monte Carlo, which would act like what you're describing.

 

[lilbowtie]

I would double check your adjustment - with the hood shut you shouldn't get any movement pressing on the corners. If the hood is lifting on the freeway the latch needs to be adjusted tighter.

 

[TRX]

It's the original steel hood, as far as I can tell.

Cranking the latch down until the middle of the hood is below the fascia doesn't help; the corners still bounce up and down.

Everything is adjusted level with the car sitting in the driveway; the corner bumpers support the corners so they don't move down at all. Just up.

 

[pontiacgp]

The technical term for that problem is hood flutter....😎

 

[TRX]

So, does your hood flutter?

Mine is so annoying I'm considering drilling and installing hood pins.

 

[565bbchevy]

I have never seen this issue with a steel hood but hood pins or locks would definitely control the upward movement.

 

[L92 OLDS]

I had the same issue with an aluminum hood on an 83' Cutlass. I ended up adding more preload to the corners by carefully bending it and making the center the high point. The effect of this was more downforce in the corners. As noted above height in the corners can be adjusted.

 

[axisg]

my old cutlass was pretty bad. I think it was the adhesive blobs which bonds the underhood bracing to the hood working loose. That and stiff hood hinges didn't help. I too did the 4x4 in the middle of the hood to try and load more tension in the corners against the adjustors trick. When I swapped the hoods the problem went away

 

[TRX]

Hmm... I looked for stress cracks, but I never thought about glue joints. I'll check that.

Thanks!