1952-59 Ford Problem with '56 Crown vic hood.

My hood has never sat right over the grill and I don't know if it's the hood or the grill that is the problem. Also, my hood is extremely wobbly. When I open it, it flexes a lot. I have another hood from a custom sedan and I was going to try it, but when I checked it, it too had a lot of flex. I've never had this type of movement on any other old car I've had. It is missing the stuff that goes between the braces and the hood. It doesn't open at all the way my '57 chevy does. Any suggestions? Thanks Joe.

 

Sounds normal to me. Mines the same way. After hitting my head on it a few time I acclimated to it.

 

Looks like the grille is diving down in the center...

 

I’ve got to agree with 50sboy, from the photo the grille looks low and the hood edges especially the one that should align with the fender on the left side is way up.
If it was me I’d remove the spring and plunger and the two stops from under the hood and set it down. The grille attaches to the fender rad support and may be bent.
Mine just barely sits below the edge in the grille upper chrome crosspiece and the lower edge of the grille is parallel with splash pan with the same gap all the way across.

 

Thanks for the info, I kind of suspected the grille was off. I have another and I'm going to replace this on to check what's off. I'm getting ready to start working on this project again and want to align stuff before we start doing body work on it.

 

Looks like the grill is low in the center. maybe the splash pan is sagging or the grill bolts to the center need to be raised. Is the front lower hood latch support straight?

 

Looks like the top of your grille is bent downward.

 

Found the problem with the fitment. The grille was screw up. Got a better one to come back with. Thanks. But I still have the problem with the "flimsy, wobbly hood". It really flexes a lot when it's going up?