How’s everyone? Well I have some questions about hood latching options. I spent the whole weekend adjusting the hood on my 54 chevy. After a lot of cursing and some lost hair its straight. My next step is to make a custom grill opening but I am having problems with the stock latch. With out the original grill in place the single piece of sheet metal cannot support the hood properly. I have tried to weld on supports but its pretty hard to align them properly with the hood shut. I am thinking about doing away with the original latch and using hood pins on a bar underneath the hood. I would like to know if anyone else has a similar car and if they have changed the latch and what worked well and what didn’t
My parts car had hood pins from a muscle car kinda goofy. DirtyT had a chain bolted to the hood and to the radiator support (I think). I saw an old race car that had two leather belts bolted to the hood and the grill, that was pretty trick actually.
If I dedcide to use hood pins I wouldnt use them in the normal way were they come through the top of the hood. I would have the pins so they would secure from under the hood with a bar in between the two fenders. I just dont know if this would be the best option. I have heard of using a chain. If anyone has some pics that would be awsome.
How about two latches, under the front sides of the hood. They would 'latch to the insides of the fenders and can be connected in unison with bar linkage or cable. This idea may be overdone if your looking for something quick/simple...sounded good in my head though
You could try installing hood pins but attach the pins to the hood and drill the holes in the support. the grill cover the pins.
keep an eye out wre you let a chain hang also as the thicker it is the laess its gota move to slap your radiator into your fan or somehting similar
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