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 glass, 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 among the shoeboxes. Care to chime in on this one Brxter! he he