Getting Rid of the Hood Torsion Springs on the Early A-Body

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daves66valiant

daves66valiant

68 Dart 340/727:66 Signet Vert 340/5spd: 68 D100
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daves66valiant submitted a new Article:

Getting Rid of the Hood Torsion Springs on the Early A-body

I thought I would re-post this in a separate thread for future reference since there is some interest in getting rid of the torsion springs.

I welded a grade 8 bolt to the back of the channel bracket. I'm sure you can use something else but I went this route because I can still remove the retaining nut without having to take off the fender in the future. A shoulder bolt will work better which I bought today. shoulder bolt
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Excuse the weld again. Still need more practice at this.
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I ended up drilling two holes because **(*)I did not realize that the original pinned/pressed bolt was a smaller diameter before I ground it off the donor hinge. The top hole and fastener will be welded to so it looks like original button
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Here are the donor hinges from a 73 Duster
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The fastener pictured next to the button after grinding it off
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Should look like this when finished so that this parts still appears stock.
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Not too bad so far. I hope to finish the other side tomorrow and have the hood on to check clearances and any binding issues. I have other detailed pics if anyone is interested. I got this particular idea from another member (sweattybetty) and really liked the idea of not having torsion hood springs in the engine bay.

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Dave

Well I finished mocking everything up today. This modification works like a dream. There are a couple of things I need to mention to make things smoother for those of you that are going to do this modification. Here goes part II. :toothy1:

Back side of shoulder bolt. I used a 1/2" X 3/8" shoulder bolt which gives just barely enough room for the hinge to pivot on. I would definitely get the 1/2" x 1/2 shoulder bolt (which is what I'm going to do)
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It is very important to have the hinges in the hood up position when calculating where to place the spring mounting bracket. I wanted about a 3/8" gap (finger tip) between the hinge and the cowl. After doing the 1st side I measured the distance from the top of the cowl to the top of the mounting bracket. My measurement was 8 1/8" inches which I used for the opposite side.
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I drilled a hole through the inner fender to access the shoulder bolt with an Allen drive socket. I think not welding this piece is best for future removal of the hood springs or maintenance.
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Attachment of the hood with the springs off the bracket. I also aligned the hood
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You can see where the spring stop bolt hits the mounting bracket in this picture. Important to have the 1/2 x 1/2 shoulder bolt instead, plus a flat washer between the spring assembly and the face of the mounting bracket.
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This is why I am using the original flat fastener from the donor car. It should look like this after it is welded to the backside of the hood hinge. You could massage this part as well to get the needed clearance.
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Everything mounted up perfectly with the hood in the open position.
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Here's the closed position
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Finally no torsion springs
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The moment of truth VIDEO OF THE HOOD OPENING AND CLOSING :fart:
It creaks a little which is in part due to what I stated above about the clearance between the spring hinge and the mounting bracket. One thick washer will do ya. I even though about nylon washers too.

Click here for video

Update on how things turned out on the convertible. Sorry I didnt take better pics. These are from a few years ago. Car is in storage currently.

No torsion springs
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Hood closed
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Hood open. Don't mind the mess or my Dad :)

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Read more about this article here...
 
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Thanks Dave, I going to go searching for it. The post with the other drawing had measurements if I'm not mistaken...maybe these can be linked somehow. I had taken my bars off 2 weeks ago and was working on figuring out what to do to keep them off.

Thanks..Dave
 
dave that looks good. i wish id have thought od bolts instead of using the pins. a locknut would have worked better than those clip things. what is the retainer in this pic?

47b7d724b3127ccebbd5d2543b5200000026100AYs27Ji3ZsmPg.jpg
 
sweatybetty said:
dave that looks good. i wish id have thought od bolts instead of using the pins. a locknut would have worked better than those clip things. what is the retainer in this pic?
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Yep too late know hahaha. I love the idea as you can tell.

That is the retainer from the donor car that attached to the hood hinge. I had to grind it off. Just showing what it looks like after removing it. I plan on using that piece because it is flat and will not hit anything. I think you used the same piece if I remember correct.
 
GTGrinly said:
Thanks Dave, I going to go searching for it. The post with the other drawing had measurements if I'm not mistaken...maybe these can be linked somehow. I had taken my bars off 2 weeks ago and was working on figuring out what to do to keep them off.

Thanks..Dave
Click to expand...

I used a piece of channel steel. 1.5"W x 3"L x .75"Thick
 
Looking real good so far Dave, can't wait to see the end result (no rush).
That'll really clean-up the inside of the engine bay.
 
:thumrigh:Thanks for taking the time to post this great idea and work you are doing
The time you took taking picture's and putting them up.
This thread will be perfect for allot of people all over the world that want to
get rid of the torsion springs.=D>
 
mine still creaks even after packing the spring and coating everything with white grease. its gotta be a mopar thing
 
I wanted to ditch the hood torsion springs and go to later A body hood springs. Thanks to this great site I found this thread. Dave did a great job of writing it up and taking pictures. I copied most of his ideas and changed it up just a little.

Instead of using the channel to mount the pivot bolt on, we put it to a piece of steel and welded it to the inside of the kick panel. It’s just a cleaner look.

We welded a bolt with a thin round head on the inside of where the hinge connects to the spring bracket.

We trimmed off the C on the bottom of the hinge where the torsion bar connected to it.

The last thing is on top of where the fenders bolt, there is a backward C looking piece that the torsion bars go thru, we trimmed those off for a nicer look.

Thanks Dave for doing such a good job documenting this, it gave me the confidence to do it.

Thanks Mr. T.V. Tom for the help!

Hood Torsion Springs 11-1.JPG


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Hood Torsion Springs 11-4.JPG


Hood Torsion Springs 11-5.JPG
 
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It's been a while since I've been on FABO. Glad to see you took the plunge Fig.

At the time, I figured that welding that piece of iron to the front door pillar would keep the kick panel metal from flexing over time. I really like the kickpanel idea. It does clean things up for sure. Did you have to use any spacers/washers on the kick panel bolt?

I have some pictures of everything painted and completed. It turned out nice although i'm not 100% happy with how I mounted the hood bracket that you cut. Welding a thin/flat headed bolt was a good idea. The great thing is I have extra early a brackets I could use if I decide to weld bolts on.

FYI I used a stainless steel T-nut and polished round allen head bolts with lubed nylon washers for the hood brackets. Hood opens and closes pretty darn quiet for mopar standards.
 
66340SEDAN said:
Glad to see you back...was wondering where you have been :glasses7:
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LOL thanks. Well I got married, moved into my wife's house that did not have space for my cars, i kept them stored at my old house, 9 months ago we bought a new house with land enough to build myself a separate 3-car garage with a lift. The architectural review board considers my garage plans next week. :cheers:I'm really hoping the garage can be finished by the end of this year and I can move all my cars HOME.
 
Here is how we got rid of the rods. We made new hinges out of aluminum, but that does not have to be done.

Hood Torsion Springs 17-1.JPG


Hood Torsion Springs 17-2.JPG
 
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Nice to see you back Dave. 3 car garage with a lift? You lucky dog! Great info on the hood spring mod. That really cleans things up on the cowl with the rods gone. tmm
 
Big Oak Garage said:
Here is how we got rid of the rods. We made new hinges out of aluminum, but that does not have to be done.
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Very clean. I commend your awesome skills. :prayer:

What rating did you go with on the hood lift cylinders? Curious to know If I ever change my design. Looks like I could incorporate this into my existing setup? But it looks like the length would be my issue :violent1: Oh well, thanks for the great idea for my next build.

Love your 65 Gt Dart build BIg OAk
 
toolmanmike said:
Nice to see you back Dave. 3 car garage with a lift? You lucky dog! Great info on the hood spring mod. That really cleans things up on the cowl with the rods gone. tmm
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Thanks :tool: Man Mike. The Mopar juices are starting to flow again.:burnout:
 
sweatybetty said:
mine still creaks even after packing the spring and coating everything with white grease. its gotta be a mopar thing
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It is, and they make a boot that they say stops the creaking, but it's not that big of a deal to me so I have not tried one.
 
daves66valiant said:
Very clean. I commend your awesome skills. :prayer:

What rating did you go with on the hood lift cylinders? Curious to know If I ever change my design. Looks like I could incorporate this into my existing setup? But it looks like the length would be my issue :violent1: Oh well, thanks for the great idea for my next build.

Love your 65 Gt Dart build BIg OAk
Click to expand...



Thanks Dave. I will get you the rating on the cylinders on Monday when I get back to the shop.
 
Good to see you back on here, Dave. Your garage sounds like it will be cool. Post some photos as it gets built. In case you haven't seen it, check out http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/. It will be cool to see you get back to your Valiant project someday.
 
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