My car has a strange set up, lift off hood with 2 poles in front to hold it oepn and strange brackets to hold up the rear. I would like to convert to a regular hood hinge but both hood and fenders are fiberglass. Any suggestions?
CONVERT FROM LIFT OFF HOOD
- Thread starter DANTANMAN
- Start date
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TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
The part that the OE lift spring assemblies attach to are still steel, and you can get lighter springs for fiberglass hoods.
No personal experience with it, just what I have seen other do with that.
No personal experience with it, just what I have seen other do with that.
Good point, I will run that by our technician, I really like the current hood and don't want to have to replace it!
ScampMike
Despicable Damn Yankee
it can be a challenge to go "backwards" so to speak. The fenders have nothing to do with it (except that they are in the way to reach where the hood hinges mount) - - from the looks of it, to use that hood you would have to reinforce and build up the hood at the back sides where the OEM hinges would attach - it's hard to be sure but it looks like that is a pin on only hood. You MAY have to buy a whole new hood. Obviously you'll need a set of OEM hinges... tough to work on the thing with those two bars in the way huh?
Thanks, yes could be a challenge. I can live with the poles holding up the hood if I have to. It is just a pain to lift off the hood and put those strange brackets in at the back every time I want to leave the hood open at a show. We may look at some sort of piano type hinge for the rear just to keep it simple, it doesn't have to hold the hood on since it already has deutz fasteners.
ScampMike
Despicable Damn Yankee
oh I see - so yeah, you should be able to add some type of reinforcement to the hood and then just get a set of hinges that'll hold it up. Some type of wood covered with fiberglass combo... Heck, from the sound of it, you could do it without the light weight springs - just a set of hinges and be done with it. The "hard" part is going to be getting the attachment points on the hood right.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
Yea it is with that curved area that changes geometry and distance as it opens.
Might have to settle for one center hinge.
Turns out that won't work either with the curve where the hood meets the cowl. The brackets he had fabricated are bolt on, we are going to use another Duetz fastener on the bracket instead of the bolt on system it has now
my suggestion would be to start with OEM hood hinges and remove the tension springs completely so they are just hinges. then see if you can mount those on your fenders and hood with some thick fiberglass or metal strips added to both for additional strength. i would try to add metal strips on both sides of the fender and hood with the fiberglass "sandwiched" between the metal. i would use body panel adheasive and pop rivits. if you can get the hood to function safely with OEM hinges without the springs, you then could probably keep the front of the hood open with just one small metal rod. if the hood locking mechanism is missing, i would suggest reinstalling the OEM hood lock. if you do go with a factory hood lock, remember to install the second "safety" latch arm.
just my thoughts...
just my thoughts...
Good plan , going to have a look at that option. Thanks for the advice @
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