A body hood torsion rods help

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cchrishefish

cchrishefish

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Well, I went to the Central New York Annual Mopar show today, wow it was jaw dropping! I discovered why my 1964 Dart GT hood will not stay open after 3 years of ownership. I looked at another 1964 Dart GT and discovered that my torsion rods are not installed properly by the previous owner.

Here is the problem:

The torsion rods at the 90 degree bend is facing the wrong direction. The rod should face toward the rear of the car at the fender lip, and mine is facing the front of the car.

Is this an easy fix, and if so how should I proceed? Or, should I find a good body shop here is the Syracuse, NY area to do it?
 
confused on what is wrong pictures of 64 barracuda rods
 

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Pull the circled corner of the rod up and then towards the front of the car and they will come right out.
Put the end you are talking about facing forward, and twist them back in there.
There is going to be a LOT more tension on them going back in so be carefull about your fingers.
 

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Nice pics, the 90 deg bend I am talking about is the one that goes under, not the one attached to the hood. A picture would have to be taken from the side of the car to see it well. I had someone from the show mention that they are hard to compress back in. Also, will the hood need to be removed, or just supported with something?
 
At the other end of the rod (other side of the car) from the circle is the 90 that needs to face forward, right?

I was trying to explain how they come off in my picture and didn't think about telling you to pull em out and put them back in with those arms facing forward under that sheetmetal.

Did I make better sence this time? :D

Sorry bout that.

It's not any easier with the hood off, because then you would have the springs fighting you when you try to line the boltholes back up for the hinges.


cchrishefish said:
Nice pics, the 90 deg bend I am talking about is the one that goes under, not the one attached to the hood. A picture would have to be taken from the side of the car to see it well. I had someone from the show mention that they are hard to compress back in. Also, will the hood need to be removed, or just supported with something?
Click to expand...
 
The 90 degree bend need to face forward, correct, with the rod end locking into the fender toward the rear of the car, currently the 90 deg bend is opposite.
 
It sounds simple, so I may give it a try this week, any other tips?
 
I did the job myself today, thank you so much for your help. The torsion rods needed to be switched from the left side to the right, the previous owner installed them opposite and backwards. In other words "A" backwards. I did see one more problem while I was doing this, the nut holding the hood hinge to the body on the passenger side is missing. It would probably take me a long time to guess which size bolt and thread pitch to find. Does anyone have one? This did cause me a problem while doing the job, the hinge popped off the stud and scared the doo out of me. I managed to guide it back on.
 
I had a feeling you would get it done.
Sorry, but I have no idea what the nut dimensions are but I'm sure it's a common size.


cchrishefish said:
I did the job myself today, thank you so much for your help. The torsion rods needed to be switched from the left side to the right, the previous owner installed them opposite and backwards. In other words "A" backwards. I did see one more problem while I was doing this, the nut holding the hood hinge to the body on the passenger side is missing. It would probably take me a long time to guess which size bolt and thread pitch to find. Does anyone have one? This did cause me a problem while doing the job, the hinge popped off the stud and scared the doo out of me. I managed to guide it back on.
Click to expand...
 
The hood stays up on its own, I am really pleased. I think I will take the drivers side nut off the stud and match it up at the store.
 
chryslerfat said:
As I recall it is a clip that pushes on and not a nut unless someone threaded it.
Click to expand...


I looked it over with my led work light about an hour ago, and I swore it did not have threads, I thought it was my old age vision. I am not sure what clip would work.
 
Somebody might be threading it real soon from the looks of it.:D

Nice call on the retainer clip instead of threaded.

cchrishefish said:
I looked it over with my led work light about an hour ago, and I swore it did not have threads, I thought it was my old age vision. I am not sure what clip would work.
Click to expand...
 
I do not see it coming back off the stud. I was being anal retentive and adjusting the hood a little when it popped out. Now that the hood is set in there straight, I will not have to worry about it coming off the stud again. I am sure I will eventually find a clip in the future.
 
If you have the fender off I would drill a hole through the stud and use a washer and a cotter pin.
 
I've been wondering about removing those torsion rods so I can paint them neatly. It seems there is a lot of torque on the rods and I wonder what kind of tool is needed to remove and reinstall the rods.

Jerry
 
I removed the ones in my 66 Cuda by using a piece of parachute cord around the rod then aroud the lower hinge and more or less made a couple of loops to act like a cum-along. worked like a charm
 
No nut needed to hold the hinge on as said before. I brake rotor clip, the kind that goes over the wheel stud would work. OR the washer/cotter pin idea sounds ALOT safer really.
They have a fair amount of pressure on them, but depending on how bigga boy you are, you wont have trouble with them. I'm 6'1" and around 270ish and they listened to what i had to say... if ya know what i mean ;)
 
60jerry said:
I've been wondering about removing those torsion rods so I can paint them neatly. It seems there is a lot of torque on the rods and I wonder what kind of tool is needed to remove and reinstall the rods.

Jerry
Click to expand...


It is easier than it sounds, I had a hood prop, which is really an adjustable metal cane, to support the hood while I pulled them out. One you pull up hard on the corner, as illustrated in the above pics, they pop out. Then you will have to walk them out, and guide them to the opposite side of the car. I had to reposition my hood prop several times to avoid hitting my prop, since I did not have a helper. Put them back in the same way you took them out. After snapping them back into the car body, at the pic picture again, you will have to apply some man handling pressure to notch back under the hood. I found it was easier when the hood is lifted really high when putting the roller under the hood hinge.
 
cchrishefish,
Thanks for the description of your method. I think I can pull that one off. I was considering rigging up some way to put a hook on the garage ceiling and hold the hood up really high that way. Then there will be no prop rod to deal with. Hope I'm strong enough to handle the twist in those rods.

Jerry
 
Just take your time like I did. And, mark them left side and right side to avoid what the previous owner did to my car. Like I said it took me 3 years to figure out why my hood would not stay up without the cane provided by the previous owner. Of course, the car show helped to identify the problem.
 
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