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98 Buick Century - Replace hood myself?

I had an accident, and I lost drivers headlamp, bumper cover, grille, and dented in the hood. I ordered all the parts new from

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and they came 2 days ago, and since todaywas so nice here in upstate new york, I replaced the bumper cover andheadlamps and grille and it was sooo easy. The question now is wether I should try replacing the hood myself (with extra hands ofcourse)? I'm going to have it all professionally painted (the bumper cover and hood came primed), so I can always just pay them to put it on. The hood itself is still aligned, not crooked or anything. Even the latch is still in the right spot, just the front corner got dented in, and it dimpled just above that spot. Seems pretty straightforward, I can take bolts off at the hinge and rebolt to the new hood. Only question is the hood lifts where they connect to the little balls on the hood. The new hood has the balls that look like they go into a balljoint, and I can't figure out how to remove the lifts from the old hood. Worse case is I can always just pay $30 and put in new lifts from advance auto, which would be cheaper than the shop installing the hood probably but I'd like to save 'em. Any help would be appreciated.

I'd also like to thank those that helped me a few months ago by confirming that replacing my grandparents alternator in their '96 olds regency didn't require removing the engine mounts, etc, like the mechanic told them.

Reply to
xyzzyman
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Replacing the hood yourself is something you could do, but since you are going to have the car in a shop for the paint, I would let the body shop replace the hood. Aligning the hood can be tricky to an amateur and could lead to scratching the paint on the fenders. Let the pros do it.

Reply to
Dave in Columbus

Dave is right, xyzzyman. You can do it, but the alignment and handling can be more than you bargained for. I have even seen professional body men struggle to align new panels and hoods.

Reply to
<HLS

I did figure out how to disconnect the lifts from the hood, but I think I'm going to take your advice and just let them put it on. All I need to do is disconnect the a bolt on each side, and pop the lifts off each side, but I'm assuming that the bolt at the bottom of the lever can slide back and forth to align? The new hood could be that much different? Anyways though, probably can't add more than an hours labor charge, and probably not even a full hour if it all goes well, especially since I'm having them do whatever it takes to get the whole car looking new. So thanks for stopping me from getting myself into too much trouble. I'm suprised I got the bumper cover replaced in 2 hours and everything aligned. I thought since it was plastic or whatever it's made out of, it would be a pain.

Reply to
xyzzyman

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