Please Help - I screwed up!
 

Hey Guys -

So here's the deal:

A very good friend of mine loaned me his '84 300SD tonight. It has a bad ignition switch (according to him,) and whenever you turn the car off for an extended period of time, you have to disconnect the negative battery terminal, or the battery will drain.

So tonight, I stopped and put diesel in, and didn't get the hood latched all the way before I took off, and a couple of miles down the road, the hood flew open. It bent the hood up (of course,) broke the hood ornament, and apparently screwed up the hood mounts/hinges. Thankfully, I didn't break the windshield or the grill, but it did hit hard enough to break off the hood ornament and bust loose the 2 middle internal hood supports, and the liner came free in the front.

What I need to know is: What other year/models are compatible with this car. I feel absolutely awful about what happened, having never messed up anyone's car (but my own,) and I really want to make this right. I'm 90% certain the hood itself is ok, and can be pounded back out to its original shape with a bit of paint touch up, but who knows?

Any info you all may have may serve to help me make this right - I'd appreciate your help!!

Thanks!

The 84 SD has an aluminum hood, don`t know what other years will fit, and are aluminum.

Some of the 126`s have a steel hood, but I think the hood latch is different. I believe the gassers have the steel hood.

The SD has the latches on the sides, and the gassers have it in the center.

I may be wrong, one of the big guys will straighten me out.:o

Charlie

Wow, I feel for you man as I did the same thing years ago when I was rushing to get my kid to school. It buckled my hood near the hinges so I found it cheaper to buy a used hood and used hinges and had my local body shop put in the hinges and repaint the hood. Repainting a used hood was cheaper and they couldn't fix the buckled hood. Good luck sourcing.

Yeah, he has a short in the ignition switch...a parasitic drain.

Thanks for your input, guys - hope someone can shed some light on the hood/hinge compatibility thing.

My friend named his car "Margaret," by the way. He's not been able to drive it because of legal issues, but he LOVES this car. Holy crap, I feel awful - and Margaret is severely pissed off at me!

I second the idea of complete hood/hinge replacement as the easiest solution. Maybe you can even find a same color one at a pick and pull.

I agree on replacement. Hoods are very very difficult to straighten and get to fit again because of the complex shape. I would not be surprised if you can find one used for a hundred bucks or so.

Don't these hoods latch on left and right and also don't they have a 1st and 2nd latch position. I've not closed mine a couple of times but it "catched" on the 1st down position latch. Just curious. I guess neither of the latches "catched" for you. Sorry. I usually slam my hood down and check alignment at fender. Sort of 2nd nature. Good luck hope u find a hood. Mine is a 1982 300 SD and it aluminum (light weight).

For the battery drain, check the regulator in the alternator-I had one fail and it drew 4A when sitting

The hood itself can be taken off with ease ,you pull off the clips with a screwdriver and a hammer ,then pull the front most pin on both side and with help pull the others and after you can tackle the hinges but Im pretty sure it will require removal of the bumper and both fenders to get at the last lower bolt of the hinge assembly.I would start buy dismantling the hood hinges with some liquid wrench ,these are usually buggers little rusty treads awaiting your wrenching.Good luck and sorry ,its a lesson learned though.

Relax. Hood either latches on both sides or in the center. My 85SD has the center, the parts car both sides. The hoods are the same size & dimension. You'll have to look at the latching mechanism to see if you can transfet latching parts.

With luck, you can find the same color hood & will only need to paint 1 side. You can remove the hood from the hinges. 4 bolts are obvious.

Hinge removal requires removing the plastic liner in the wheel well. You can also remove the fender if you have a reason. The hinge spring is in 1 of 3 slots. Remember which one.

Yes, some hoods are aluminum. I got more money because I noted the aluminum and took it to the scrap yard ~ $25 and the yard in on route for me. You have to show ID and give a thumb print which I don't like but scrap is so expensive that scumbags are stealing it for a living.

Hood cost ~ $100 including hinges. Any 126 has the hood. You only need to check the fastening issue. Completely strip the old one including washer nozzels. You may need them.

Mark position of old hinge. New ones will be close but subject to adjustment.