Front Clip

[Papa t]

Looking for suggestions on what others have done/doing to stop the front clip from moving forward with the spring actuators installed. Based on FFR design, the front hinges have a slot where the 5/8” bolt passes through the hinge that holds front clip in place. The spring actuator moves it forward to the end of the slot. I had the gap at 3/16” now it’s 5/16”. Not sure why the hinge was designed with a slot. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[Jeff Kleiner]

The slot is so that you can make adjustments fore and aft. Assemble it with the stack up of the spacers and washers but leave the center bolt loose enough that you can move it along the slot to get your fit. Once you have the nose where you want it crank down---hard---on the bolt so that the sides of the hinge bracket are pulled inward and the spacers capture the ball of the big rod end. With the center bolt pulled down tight it won't move through the slot and the nose will pivot on the rod end when it's raised and lowered.

Jeff

[Papa t]

Thanks Jeff. I guess I’ll leave it loose until the car is painted.

[edwardb]

I found getting the alignment pins on the pontoons and underside of the hood was important to getting the alignment set and prevent the shocks from pushing things around. I did them later in the body work. But in hindsight would have done them earlier because they really help to lock things into place. When first installed, I had to push the hood back a bit to engage (overcoming the gas struts) but now that everything has settled, not the case. Something to consider. I made them a little beefier than what came with the kit. Discussed in my build thread here: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?26630-Edwardb%92s-Gen-3-Type-65-Coyote-Coupe-59-Build-5-000-Mile-Report&p=366258&viewfull=1#post366258.

[Namrups]

I believe what the shocks are doing is pushing up on the top of the hood hence pulling the back side away from the body. I used alignment pins just like Paul explained and I also added tie straps to the nose to tie the top of the hood to the hinge area thereby not allowing the shock to deform the hood as much. I think it helped a lot. You can see the tie straps in the lower right corner of the pic.
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=181856&d=1679344399

[Ron J]

Looking for suggestions on what others have done/doing to stop the front clip from moving forward with the spring actuators installed. Based on FFR design, the front hinges have a slot where the 5/8” bolt passes through the hinge that holds front clip in place. The spring actuator moves it forward to the end of the slot. I had the gap at 3/16” now it’s 5/16”. Not sure why the hinge was designed with a slot. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Hello, are you sure the gas struts are not "bottoming out' when the front clip is closed? I didn't have any issues with my hood.

[Papa t]

I found getting the alignment pins on the pontoons and underside of the hood was important to getting the alignment set and prevent the shocks from pushing things around. I did them later in the body work. But in hindsight would have done them earlier because they really help to lock things into place. When first installed, I had to push the hood back a bit to engage (overcoming the gas struts) but now that everything has settled, not the case. Something to consider. I made them a little beefier than what came with the kit. Discussed in my build thread here: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?26630-Edwardb%92s-Gen-3-Type-65-Coyote-Coupe-59-Build-5-000-Mile-Report&p=366258&viewfull=1#post366258.

Thanks Paul. I give it a try.