Has anyone hinged their front hood?

[67 Car Guy]

My 818 came the day before thanksgiving, and I've been going over my frame and body since then. I really don't like the idea of using 4 big pins/latches to hold the hood down because lifting it off will be a PIA and then where do you put it so it doesn't get dinged up? On my last car I built a front clamshell, and I saw Art's thread on that. I'd be tempted, but I think the resultant clamshell would need a lot of reinforcing, so I'm thinking of leaving the fenders and nose mounting alone, and just hinging either the front or back of the hood. I searched but can't find any references to this sort of mod other than Art's clamshell (which looks great BTW!) Has anyone done this? How did it work out?

[Larry J W]

Check out Mechie's page. He has a nice hinge. Finish it off with some quick latches on top. You are right it is a problem where to put the hood and getting it on and not scratch the paint
Larry

[Ajzride]

http://zerodecibelmotorsports.com/products/hood-hinge/

[AZPete]

Absolutely get the hood hinges from ZBD, they work perfectly and are beautiful. If you don't want any exterior latches, like a production car, see post #19 in this thread:


https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?30380-AZPete-s-818-Build-Finished-I-think

[aquillen]

It is a major project for sure, but that clamshell gives me ACCESS. In addition to that I can have it off of the car in about 20 minutes or less. I'd do it again.

[67 Car Guy]

Thanks for the feedback Art; I've read a good part of your build thread so far, but not all of it. Fantastic stuff! I definitely have to give it some thought. I'll have a number of batteries and maybe a battery charger up front, so I definitely need the access. I was curious though: After handling the superflexible front fenders and the semiflexible hood, I was wondering why you cut off the flanges? Why not leave them as stiffeners? Were there issues getting the surfaces to line up? BTW, my first EV conversion was a 1967 Corvette, and a few years after I cut a "trunk" into the rear deck the factory fiberglass decided to take on a shape of it's own (potato chip effect). Hey, it was the '70's, and a 67 Corvette was just an old car back then...

Thanks for the tip on the electric hood release with "emergency" backup Pete. I'm going to have to look over your build thread as well. Looks like you've done some very nice work! I think having the backup is the only way I would trust an electric hood release. I'm tempted to go with electric door locks too, but I was burned on my last project car when the receiver died on me. Twice. I made a mess of the doors breaking in! I eventually glued magnetic reed switches at the edge of the windshield in a "secret spot" and put magnets in the now useless key fobs. So I would just wave the key fob by the windshield to open the door.

-John

[aquillen]

I'm rather convinced that bonding the parts together with the flanges in between - even with all that bonding surface you would get - is asking for crack lines later. I removed them so I could feather out the edges completely and then glass them together like is done for a good repair between sheet parts. If I was going to leave the flanges, I'd at least still feather down to almost cutting through them, then I could still feather in top layers - that ought to work well and keep them. Overall the complete assembly is pretty stiff as a result of the various curves that flow across the hood. Adding the home brew glass wheel wells also stiffens things. On the highway, the only time the hood moves is just in the back edge, middle (in front of the wiper blade) when an on coming big truck goes by on a two lane and we're all running 60mph plus - it bumps up/down maybe 1/2" tops.

The hood lifts just fine from either side only, and I don't have gas struts or springs doing any counter-balance tricks.