hood not lining up with fenders

[ghosthunter242]

i purchased my festiva with a significant amount of body damage.
with liberal use of a slide hammer and a 2x4 i got the body relatively straight. i then replaced the passenger door, fender and bondo'd the rear 1/4 panel.
the car looks good from the side, but from the front not so much.
the hood seems to be wider than the gap between the fenders.
we tried all kinds of stuff and i am coming to the conclusion i am going to have an ill fitting hood and save myself the expense of a replacement ...
UNLESS, i could get the measurements of your straight bodied festivas.
i am assuming three measurements between the fenders. one at the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom would give me a clue to how badly that area is warped. the slide hammer stopped being useful in this area.
i figured out a skyjacker jack could probably be able to accurately be placed to an exact place to move it an exact amount.

if i can get this sorted, then i might replace the uglies up front.
thanks

[ShagFestiva]

My hood didnt line up either. It had 3/4" gap on one side, and touching the fender on the other side. I popped the hood, and just pushed on it to bend the brackets that hold it on. Then, I took off the latching mechanism, oblonged the mounting holes and stuck it back so that it would not pull the hood one direction or the other once it was closed. Then I just loosened up the top fender bolts, and pulled and pushed till the gaps were right and re-tightened. It looks alright I guess, its not perfect but its close.

[ghosthunter242]

we kinda did a lot of that. we bent the hinges and it would look good but as soon as it latched all the good work went away. we tried moving the latch and hook. no good either.
no big deal but a little frustrating

[ShagFestiva]

just keep messing with it...if you oblong the top fender bolt holes the hood will line up better, but then your there will be a bigger gap between the headlights and marker lights.

[ghosthunter242]

ended up just grabbing the hood and bending a bow into the middle-ish until it all fit. it looks like it won't work until the catch locks. then it goes right into place. not great but not too bad either. i could hammer the little bow at the front but it is no worse than the existing damage so it will stay as is.