hey daves66valiant, hood spring pics

[sweatybetty]

heres a couple of pics. theyre not that great of a shot and i didnt take any before putting the fenders on. ill see if i can draw a pic that would help explain it better. they work great and i love not having the t bars in the way. the springs themselves came off a 71 duster hood hinges. them i welded a pivot pin on the 66 hinge and one on the body panel. the one on the body panel is the one you cant see here.
sb

 

[daves66valiant]

I kinda get the picture. Did you use the original pivot pins from the 71 on the body? If not, what did you use instead? It looks like a very clean install/mod and I love the look without the torsion springs. Thanks again.

This would be a cool post for the tech section if you had the pics before the fenders went on. Oh well. I bet a lot of people would be interested in doing this mod

 

[sweatybetty]

http://www.bigblockdart.com/index.php/topic,20461.0.html

heres another way. this looks sweet but i dont trust those shock things with that much weight. i am going to use those on my deck lid though! this guy cut his inner fenders off. i wonder if the shocks would work otherwise?

 

[daves66valiant]

i saw that one. looks cool. i like the way you did it better. no actuators to see or worrying about the weight of a steel hood. Fiberglass no prob.

 

[sweatybetty]

heres a couple of drawings, im not an artist so if it doesnt make sense ill try something else. the bottom pic is the bracket that i welded the pivot pin to and then welded to the body. i did this while the the spring was "open" and the hinge was up in the open posistion. im not exactly sure how i came up with where to posistion the bottom bracket, but it works. if needed i could pull the wheel and splash sheild off and try getting a better pic.

 

[daves66valiant]

I saw this picture and it helped me understood how it worked.

One question. What size was the pivot pin? Looks like 1/2 inch diameter.
Thanks A lot for the diagram. You draw better than I do. The install instructions helped as well. I'll send you my pictures when I get mine finished.
-Dave

 

[GTGrinly]

Excellent! I had just seen a guy use the gas shocks and was thinking going that way, but this looks alot better and I have a set of hinges to use already.

Thanks for posting...Dave

 

[sweatybetty]

I saw this picture and it helped me understood how it worked.

One question. What size was the pivot pin? Looks like 1/2 inch diameter.
Thanks A lot for the diagram. You draw better than I do. The install instructions helped as well. I'll send you my pictures when I get mine finished.
-Dave

if i remember right i took the pins out of the donor car. its been over a year ago but im pretty sure thats what i did. i think i did it that way so i could use those push on retainer washer things that the factory used.

 

[daves66valiant]

yeah I was wondering about the retaining issue. I have a parts car and may use the pins from it or weld the appropriate sized bolt onto the inner fender and hinge.

Here are the springs I'm getting soon. I might be able to swap the whole setup if things match up. Good thing I have the parts car to try it out on first.:cheers:

 

[fstfish66]

very kool i like this way better then the gas mini van door shock looking deal,,,nice idea sweatty,,,no if i can just find a set of hood hinges,,,

 

[daves66valiant]

but i'm not finished yet. Everything is looking good so far. Luckily this is on the beater parts car. Thanks again for the idea sweatybetty.:mrgreen:

I welded a grade 8 bolt to the back of the channel bracket

Excuse the weld again. Still need more practice at this.

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

Here are the donor hinges from a 73 Duster

The fastener pictured next to the button after grinding it off

Should look like this when finished so that this parts still appears stock.

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. Hope this works:toothy9:

Dave

 

[fstfish66]

dave you inspire me,,, i cant wait to get my car out of storage,, if all goes well ill be redoing a lot next spring,,,if you have any pics of this please e mail me i have just found a set,,and waiting on a price from a guy,,,let me know how the theaded bolt works out,,,any binding,,,,good work ,,nice ideas,,,,same to sweatty,,,,, [email protected] thanks man