how to keep tilt frontend down?

when i built the tilt frontend on my car i put two 1/4 turn{zuse}clips to hold the front end down to the windshield frame.i figured that they would be fine because of all of the weight of the front clip holding it down,NOT!!!!its fine except for at the topend and then the clips sometimes pops or breaks and the front comes up about 6''.does anyone have an idea of how i can make sure it doesnt lift without doing acouple more on it and not being able to to lift the front by myself.PS.i had to cut the bottom of the fenders so they didnt hit the doors so there isnt anything there to help hold it down.

 

does your 'hood' lay flat when it's down? If you have to push it down at all in order to engage the DZUS fasteners, that's the likely problem. While they are called fasteners, they're not designed to actually resist any tendency on the panels to spring back to a natural position. You can try the amazingly simple hood pins or a variant thereof, or a latching mechanism (see the rear of the hood on any real Shelby Cobra). The alternative is to find out why the 'hood' is not lying flat before you turn the DZUS fastener.

dj

 

Find and install a 57/58 Ford hood latch or something like it.

Good luck............. Jack

 

Replace the dzus fasteners with hood pins (the slight angle of the pin to the hood pin plate can be worked out). vic

 

What is wrong with the traditional old hood pins? I always thought that they were a part of the cl***ic race car look. Lots of guys put them on a stock hood just for the compe***ion look. easy and effective.

 

Aside from the above mentioned solutions, it sounds like you've got a lot of air pressure building up under the hood at the top end. Don't know if you want to mess with what looks like a nice paint job, but you need a small reverse scoop or cowl vent similar to NASCAR racers to allow some of that trapped air to escape. Might be good for a couple of tenths as well. Good luck....Don.

 

Damn I like that car! Hood pins look cool and function well all on a small budget.
Did I mention how bad *** that Opel is?

 

X2 on the HOOD latch or HOOD pins

 

The first thing I would do is add either pins or dzus fastners on the lower fenders.

The next as mentioned before is to get some of the air out from under the hood. On our Pro Mod car we had louvers placed above the front wheels to get rid of the air turbulance caused by the front tire.

You could have some aluminum louvers punched out and rivit them in above the front wheels. This way you wouldn't mess with the paint.

 

yes it does lay flat and i dont have to push or lift to engage them.i thought about using more hood pins where the dzus clips are but im afraid that after i drill the post out and install them i wont be able to open and close the front very easy.

 

i know this is a problem.there is a really good seal between the "hood"and windshield.if you look at the pics.whoever made the fibergl*** front molded the front cowl up to the windshield and there is no way i want to cut it up.

 

thanks!!!another reason why i dont want to put pins in is i already have 4 on the hood to hold it to the steel structure.

 

Looking at the first photo in the original post, I believe the problem is the amount of air coming under the front for the car and getting trapped under the windshield inside that huge aluminum engine cover/firewall. Is there any reasonable way to vent that area outside the car (a duct back to the rear wheel arches maybe...)? You need to vent that area to a spot where there is negative pressure like the decklid or rear fascia.

Seems like there is good structure down where the zoomies exit. How about riveting some shear plates inside the fibergl*** and putting brackets for a couple of "self-ejecting" Dzus ****ons near the bottom of each fender. That shouldn't make opening and closing the hood too much of a chore.

 

Its not much of a '70s solution and really not very high tech but the old fashioned solution was a pair of jeep hood hold downs. You could put them inside the fender wells if you didn't want anyone to see them.

 

you are right about the firewall trapping alot of air.im sure it would help buy making some kind of ductwork to go to the back but the only way that i could do that is to make a false floor,and its already a ***** to get in and out so thats not an option.i am thinking about putting something on the bottom of the fenders and as porkn****** said i am thinking about maybe useing some jeep style hood hold downs.

 

do you guys think that if i take some kind of hold downs and just put some fibergl*** and resin it would hold the latch?if possable i would like to not put anymore holes it the front clip.

 

You should be able to gl*** them on.

Please take no offense at this (unless you just want to) and I know its a little late for you in this respect but the real reason to run one in primer for awhile is to get the bugs worked out before you make it nice.

I know that isn't much help to you at this point but maybe it'll help someone else.

Anyway stick a sheet of cloth to the spot you want to put your holddown, then put the hold down on the cloth then lay some more cloth up over the base of the hold down. Several layer over thr top is probably a good idea.

Hope it work out for ya.

 

just a suggestion ,the hood is fibergl***,why not mold a vent into hood that you can manually open when making a p*** and then close and disappears.That seems to be your main issue anyway,just turbulance,that is one radical little car,probably a handfull at topend,goodluck.

 

well after some time i decided to just put some more pins in the lower fenders.i tryed to see if i could take out the dzus clips and replace them with pins but with the angle of the cowl it just wasnt going to work.i kept thinking about how to put the pins in and not have to worry about having to pull the fenders out to lift the hood,so what i came up with was weld a small piece of pipe that the pins would slide through and put a small lightweight spring to pull them back in when i have to open it.so what do you guys think?

 

to lock the pins,all i have to do is push them from the back through the fender and put the clip on.its not the nicest job i have ever done but i think i was able to solve two different problems with one pretty easy fix.i plan on taking it out today and putting some water in it and flushing out the anti-freeze.this takes a while but the smell of cam2 makes it worth it.

 

this is what i have for my tilt hood

http://www.statracing.com/buy/mr-gasket-hood-pins.asp

 

they look great and is a good idea for a street car but one of my big worrys was i wanted it to be easy for the track guys to be able to pop the "hood"incase of a fire or other problem!i wouldnt want to be fumbeling around trying to find the keys while my car was melting{lol}

 

good point.

 

i thought about that but if i cut the hood then i also have to cut the windshield and firewall.the reason for this is if there is a hole i have to fill it with a dual-quad tunnel ram.i almost did it durring the build but decided against it because yes they look good in my experiance one carb is faster than two.actually its pretty smooth at the top end even though the wheelbase is only 92'' and the tires are only 4ft on center,and thanks for the complement on my car.

 

I like it!!

 

thanks jason!its funny how long something so simple and stupid can take to figure out and make.i probably have two days in looking at it and going back and forth with different ideas and then finally saying screw it and just start cutting,welding,and drilling.now all i have to do is remember that they are there,and not try to lift the front-end without pulling the pins!!!

 

Great solution, simple but effective. Have to put that one on my "tips and tricks" list.

 

i thought so too.its funny how something so simple can take so long.