Forward tilting hood on a '52-'54 shoebox Ford

Well it's not pretty yet but it works. Engineered by the seat of my pants. I got the hood to tilt forward with '69 Chevelle hinges. Here's the steps I took to do it. KK

 

tilting...

 

tilting more...

 

fully tilted

 

Here's how I did it. First I removed the battery mount and brackets, then welded in a new panel to match the drivers side. A cardboard templte which I forgot to photo was made and taped in so I could align the hinges to swing parallel.

 

Next I made the panel and screwed it into place, prior to welding it up.

 

I welded the plate in place and bolted the bracket I had to play around with the pitch before setting the angle where I welded the nuts to mount the hinge to.

 

I had to cut the radiator support to make travel clearance for when the hinge was in the down postion.

 

This is the foam core template I made to adapt the Ford hood the the Chevelle bracket. I did this by setting the set height of the hood in the closed position, and fitting the template between the hinge and the hood.

 

This is how the brack I made attached to the hood. Well that's it, I wish i took more photos and I know I've left something out here, but that's it in a nut shell. KK

 

Thanks.

 

Very nice.

A buddy of mine forgot to latch his Shoebox hood down and it decided to fly open on him at speed. It shattered the windshield gl***, badly dented the roof, and ruined the hood. Freaked him out so badly he did this same mod just so it would never happen again.

When I had my Shoebox I ran with a pair of strong bungee cords as a 3rd line of defense after the cable and hood latch. Luckily the cable and hood latch never gave out anyway.

Mike

 

Hmm...hoods mysteriously opening sounds like a common recurring theme a**** the shoeboxes. Care to chime in on this one Brxter! he he