Is hood replace DIY

[nu2daHood]

My son's hood (93 Camry) flew off on the freeway and bounced off the roof. Since the corners got crumbled, looks like we'll need to hit the salvage yard. I am a DIY'er, but haven't tried anything like this before. Will any Gen 3 hood from any Camry model work? Is it difficult to do the replacement, getting it to line up etc? What should I look for on his car to make sure I get everthing I need?

The roof is now concave, and I wonder if I can pop it back without making new dents in it. Can't leave it as it is, since it will hold rain like a cereal bowl. Any tricks/tips to do it properly.? Or am I kidding myself that we can avoid a body-shop xmas this year? I'm concerned about getting in over my head, and wasting his few funds. Thanks for any/all suggestions.

[tedmich]

wow that had to be pretty scary; were there any mods tried previously? I ask because this is an accident that happens very seldom because there are several mechanisms designed to make sure this never happens, including the front safety latch latch.

I'd just get a junkyard hood, probably <$50, and have it primed and painted to match, and take the latch too and add new gas springs as these fail after this many years, figure $200 depending on paint.

[slavie]

I have a gen4, but the hood mounting mechanisms should be the same.

It's really straightforward to replace the hood: 2 bolts on each side hold it in place, plus the struts if you have them. The latches are not under any kind of pressure, so no worries there, and the mounting bolts allow for some alignment, though I didn't have any issues with that. Two-person job, just because of the size of the thing.

Like tedmich said, get a new hood latch mechanism (held in place by 3 bolts, hood release cable connected to it), and figure out why your old one failed catastrophically to make sure it doesn't happen again.

As far as repairing your current one, you can pretty much forget about it, as it'll never look right. You should be able to bang it out to the point that it doesn't leak for now, but you'll need to replace it. There are quite a few of gen3 Camrys in the junks by now, so you might even be able to find a replacement hood in the same color to avoid having to re-spray.

Can also check http://car-part.com/ to see if there are any hoods locally.

Hope this helps.

[RonR]

You may need to stop by a body shop and chip in a few bucks to see if they can use suction cups to pull up the roof.
Or if you or your son know any Window installers, they use similar suction cups to hold and lift large glass windows.

Removing the headliner or just pushing from the inside is also an option, I doubt you can make it worse, but I have been wrong before

[riva2model64]

You can also get new gas struts on ebay. . I saw some on there for $30 shipped (for the pair) when I was looking for them. Just make sure you get one with a warranty and from a reseller with a good rating.

[Perkins]

just get a hood from the same car from the salvage yard. Would be much easier and less of a risk then trying to fit a different model/year hood on there. as far as the dent goes, as long as there are no creases in the metal, you may get away with simply pushing upward on the headliner in the general area its bent and it might pop out.

[nu2daHood]

Appreciate all the input; normally i try YouTube but this wasn't covered. As far as why the latch "failure" occurred, Toyota is blameless. My son went to get gas and accidentally popped the hood instead tank door. Five minutes after getting on the freeway, he got a horrendous reminder of what he forgot to do after tanking up. He does an imitation of his facial expression at "liftoff" -- wish I could share that but I have my dignity....