Hood problem

[Belgian951]

Stooped Stuph I've learned the harder way--

An important first step in almost any hood alignment process is to clean and lubricate the hinges and latch. For anything serious, the struts get removed, so the effort to align doesn't include fighting the strut pressure. The latch at the front of the hood comes off too, so hood alignment isn't affected by latch misalignment. Align the hood, -then- install and align the latch pin/spring/hook. Leaving the latch unbolted at the front also eliminates the risk of not being able to open the hood as you adjust other things.

I've used NutSerts/RivNuts to repair torn-out strut mounts where the ball fits. They are available in yellow-zinc plating to match the other original fittings on the car, and also in stainless if you are of that persuasion. Else you can add a hardened washer and a locknut.

---- TL;DR ----
The latch mechanism parts and pieces on your hood are identical to what's installed in my 928, as well as on several other more, um, mainstream models. I don't know if the hinges are shared but I wouldn't be at all surprised. There's a bunch of very careful alignment needed to get the latch to work perfectly every time. Thorough lubrication is critical.

Can you align the latch (which I take to mean the thing that comes down and is bolted to the underside of the hood) by loosening the bolts? I cleaned and lubricated the locking mechanism, but to no avail. I'm still working on my exhaust manifold repair and once that is done I'll circle back to my hood issue.

[Belgian951]

Stooped Stuph I've learned the harder way--

An important first step in almost any hood alignment process is to clean and lubricate the hinges and latch. For anything serious, the struts get removed, so the effort to align doesn't include fighting the strut pressure. The latch at the front of the hood comes off too, so hood alignment isn't affected by latch misalignment. Align the hood, -then- install and align the latch pin/spring/hook. Leaving the latch unbolted at the front also eliminates the risk of not being able to open the hood as you adjust other things.

I've used NutSerts/RivNuts to repair torn-out strut mounts where the ball fits. They are available in yellow-zinc plating to match the other original fittings on the car, and also in stainless if you are of that persuasion. Else you can add a hardened washer and a locknut.

---- TL;DR ----
The latch mechanism parts and pieces on your hood are identical to what's installed in my 928, as well as on several other more, um, mainstream models. I don't know if the hinges are shared but I wouldn't be at all surprised. There's a bunch of very careful alignment needed to get the latch to work perfectly every time. Thorough lubrication is critical.

Hey, I want to pick this project up again. I was wondering if you could verify that I could get a NutSert tool in the spot of a 944 turbo? It seems that there is not a lot of space but I don't know how much space is required.

[Belgian951]

Update: thanks to dr. Bob, I could verify that a Nutsert will probably work. However, following his advice, I'll probably use a ball stud + washer and lock nut. To do so, I first need to remove the broken strut mount.

I've also rechecked the air filter box and now I'm 100% sure I can't get it any lower in the three mounting points. I also tried to tighten the mounting points further because I used new rubbers, but that didn't make any noticable difference. I lubricated both parts of the locking mechanism well with grease. I also used a fishing line and checked what part sits against it when holding it fender to fender. It barely touches the high point of the filter box (and more so the snorkel point where it enters the air filter box). It also touches the cap of the powersteering reservoir (but I removed it after, and the hood still doesn't close).

After reading some more, I found someone that mentioned that old shocks could allow the hood to sag a bit in the back, which could explain why it hits the air box.

My thinking is now that the two problems are after all related and that I first need to fix my strut mount, install new struts, and then try the hood again.

Here are some photos:

Air box mounting point driver's side:

WhatsApp Image 2024-02-27 at 12.02.57.jpeg (163.9 KiB) Viewed 758 times

Passenger's side:

WhatsApp Image 2024-02-27 at 12.02.57 (1).jpeg (173.85 KiB) Viewed 758 times

Air filter box measurement from locking mechanism:

WhatsApp Image 2024-02-27 at 12.02.57 (2).jpeg (262.75 KiB) Viewed 758 times

Air filter box measurement from passenger's side mounting point (from bracket, not bolt):

WhatsApp Image 2024-02-27 at 12.02.54.jpeg (234.76 KiB) Viewed 758 times

[Belgian951]

Update: after fixing the strut mount and replacing both struts, the darn hood still won't close properly!
I tried to fiddle with the upper hood latch, but that made it even worse (the cone shaped latch started hitting the female latch part on the front side, closest to the bumper).

At the moment I'm almost out of ideas. The only thing I can envision now is that the PO messed with the big steel hood hinges. On these pictures you can see that the driver's side hinge is mounted differently than the passenger's side. There are two gaps at the screws, which are not there on the other side. The driver's side of the hood also sits a bit higher than the passenger side when the hood is closed (or as far closed as I can get it, so unlatched but closed)

Passenger's side

passengerside.png (430.45 KiB) Viewed 709 times

driver's side

driversside.jpg (152.2 KiB) Viewed 709 times

[Tom]

Re the hinges, usually when painted brackets like that have been moved post-factory, you can see tell-tale signs of broken paint, old crusty lines where it used to be, etc. At least in these pictures, I'm not necessarily seeing that. I have always put the L brackets for the air filter box to the slot points up -- so that the adjustment is up and down rather than side to side. I'm not honestly sure which way the factory oriented those but will look in the factory manual for clues. From those pictures, I doubt it would matter much though. If you remove top of the air filter box, air filter, and snorkel, will the hood close normally? I think you need to start by figuring out if the hood/body is out of alignment somehow, or if the engine parts are just sitting to high, or both. Also, if you can, post more pictures from further back to give us a sense of the big picture -- with hood open, hood closed as far as possible, etc. It's sometimes hard to visualize what's going on based on close-ups of specific components. I'll see if I can get some reference measurements off my car today too.

[Belgian951]

There's some paint chipped around the edges of those bolts. I'm pretty sure someone adjusted the hood after factory. I'm not sure however what you mean with the L brackets. I believe mine are in the correct orientation if I look at the PET.

One thing I noticed is that the pipe going from the throttle body to the intercooler sits rather high. I tried loosening the two big clamps to turn it sideways, but it didn't really do much. There's a flat spot on the pipe that now sits on it's right side. My thinking is that this could hold up the cold air intake pipe of the OEM air filter box, which constraints the amount the hood can press down on this pipe, thus making it impossible to close the hood. Does that sound like a possibility?

WhatsApp Image 2024-03-09 at 16.47.32.jpeg (386.03 KiB) Viewed 686 times

WhatsApp Image 2024-03-09 at 16.47.33.jpeg (354.61 KiB) Viewed 686 times

[Tom]

If you take the top of the air filter box off, and snorkel, does the hood close normally?

[Belgian951]

If you take the top of the air filter box off, and snorkel, does the hood close normally?

It did before the new struts, I haven't tested it again; I'll do so tomorrow.

[Tom]

If you take the top of the air filter box off, and snorkel, does the hood close normally?

It did before the new struts, I haven't tested it again; I'll do so tomorrow.

Yeah, I think you need to start there. If it closes right with those parts removed, at least you have pinpointed the source of the problem. It does look like you could rotate that I/C pipe maybe 10-20 degrees clockwise.... The port for the bypass valve should be around the 3:30 to 4 o'clock position (pointing slightly down, not slightly up). I see what you mean about the PET diagram, but the drawing does not really show the open slot at all, so not sure that's conclusive? I've always put those L brackets with the fork part pointing up, so you can put the screws in loosely and slide the box down into the brackets. I think I have some spare L brackets, so will see if the orientation changes the height -- I kind of doubt it would change it enough to keep the hood from closing either way, but worth checking.
Also, just fyi, the factory bolts that go into the airbox through those brackets are Allen heads, presumably to make it marginally easier to get a tool to it in situ.

[Belgian951]

If you take the top of the air filter box off, and snorkel, does the hood close normally?

It did before the new struts, I haven't tested it again; I'll do so tomorrow.

Yeah, I think you need to start there. If it closes right with those parts removed, at least you have pinpointed the source of the problem. It does look like you could rotate that I/C pipe maybe 10-20 degrees clockwise.... The port for the bypass valve should be around the 3:30 to 4 o'clock position (pointing slightly down, not slightly up). I see what you mean about the PET diagram, but the drawing does not really show the open slot at all, so not sure that's conclusive? I've always put those L brackets with the fork part pointing up, so you can put the screws in loosely and slide the box down into the brackets. I think I have some spare L brackets, so will see if the orientation changes the height -- I kind of doubt it would change it enough to keep the hood from closing either way, but worth checking.
Also, just fyi, the factory bolts that go into the airbox through those brackets are Allen heads, presumably to make it marginally easier to get a tool to it in situ.

I'll check again tomorrow, also for the pipe.
I'm often also double checking on rosepassion, a French Porsche superstore so to speak; they have the PET diagrams and you can click on them to buy individual parts. Kind of annoys me that they list & sold me hexagon bolts where they should've been allen heads... especially knowing the prices they ask for some bolts!

I think reorienting the L brackets differently, with the cut out closer to the air box will make matters worse since the "long" cut out will result in an airbox that sits higher, at least looking at this picture: https://www.rosepassion.com/en/diagrams ... port-40021