Technical Help With My Hood Please

When you're waxing it you'll be really glad you didn't louver it.

 

Yeah, I never gave much thought to polishing a louvered hood, it would be running a buffer on a big cheese grater. Always loved the look though. Oh well, I'll just have to build another car with a louvers.

 

That's a ****** nice hood.

 

Love the hood, hate taking it off an on. The glory of a 1 piece lift off hood was short lived. Enter Dan Fink Grilles and a nice hood hinge idea that hinges the right side and still allows for fast removal via 2 stainless ball catch pins.

They make this kit in many forms, 2 sided opening, tricky latch kits with interior release, etc. I just went for the one side hinge as I am going to secure it with straps. I did add their prop rod, it is welded to a 1 inch brace inside the hood return, held in place by the footman loop hardware. I also made flat plates to go on top of that I inch bar that I will weld my hood braces to reinforce the hood. That is next weekends project.

The hood prop, for those of you interested, employs a spring loaded ball catch to secure it to the car when the hood is open so no accidental closings. Cool idea. The kit also included a clip to secure the rod when not in use, all invisible when the hood is closed.

Here you can see the hinge bar, I bent and welded the firewall bracket and another bracket to attach to the grille. I used the bracket mount on the radiator that the grille hangs on. Very secure. A lot of you don't dig the leather straps but I like em, I will dye them to match the interior later.

On the business side there is no bar to interfere with the view of the engine bay since I designed my kit to be secured with my hood straps when closed and hinged only from the right side. Imagine the view of blown flathead in my avatar in this space, mmmm blower motor. Here you can see the prop rod attached. I cut a bracket to hold the ball stud and welded it up under the firewall flange so it is not obvious. You can also see the chalk outline of the yet to be installed cowl vent I hope to cut in and weld up next weekend.

A close up the spring catch on the prop rod. Excellent idea to secure the hood at car shows. I've seen a gust come up and make a mess in a matter of seconds. Not here.

And here you can see the prop rod stored, the 1 inch support inside the hood return, if you look close on top of the support bar are the steel flanges I made that I will weld the support braces to. All of this secured by the stainless footman loop hardware for the straps so there is not a bunch of holes and hardware visible. I think I will add acorns up there so I don't cut myself wiping out the hood later.

My continuing saga of "Help With My Hood".

Next installment, hood braces.