I installed my cobra style hood this morning on my 2000 Lightning, but the thing will not close! It's as though it won't latch. You know how when you close the hood, it has two stages to it. First it catches on the latch, then you can close it completely. Well, it seems as though it just won't close completely, like the latch is too tall or something. Is a smaller hood latch required? Am I missing something obvious? I slam it as hard as I should (don't want to close it too hard since it's fiberglass) yet it sits like I just popped the hood, with about 1-2 inches of space showing and a lot of play in it. The rubber hood stops are screwed in to the correct height, so the obvious has ben checked. Any suggestions??

 

Have a bodyshop make appropriate adjustments on latch assy.
That's what I had to do.

 

I had the same problem when I installed my Cervini's cowl hood. I just adjusted the 2 screws where the hood rests. If you don't know what I mean, open your hood and you should see 2 screws with a rubber piece, one on each side of the plastic fan cover. Screw clockwise if you want it to sit lower and counter clockwise for higher. Hope this helps.

 

First try moving the latch mechanism down by loosening the 2 bolts that hold it.

If that isn't the problem, do you have a phenolic spacer?

I have one aftermarket hood that fits fine with the spacer but I have another aftermarket hood that latched without sitting properly on the passenger side front stop. The hood fit months before I had it painted and after the paint job it didn't fit properly. It took me almost an hour to figure out it was hitting the upper plenum. There was no way of seeing it with the hood closed and it didn't leave a mark. I was trying to figure out what was different and it finally hit me that I put the spacer on between fits.

 

Thanks guys. I think I got it now. It still doesn't feel like the stock hood when it closes, but it's definitely better than it was when I first posted.