1967 'cuda
Well-Known Member
When I installed the fiberglass hood I removed the hood springs to make sure they didn't put any upward pressure on the hood eventually causing it to bow. Of course without the hood springs I needed a hood prop. At first I used a rigid black plastic section of vacuum cleaner hose to keep the hood up. I kept it under the front seat.
But that seemed like a pretty rinky-dink way of supporting the hood. So I bought some 1/2" aluminum rod and made a hinged bracket so it could flip up, - similar to the way you see them done on modern non-sprung hoods.
But because the hood was fiberglass, putting a support only on one side made the hood look lopsided when it was open. So I decided to make a second support (similar to the first) that I'd put on the other side.
Well that created a new problem. When I flipped one side up into place it was easy. But after one support was up it had a tendency to fall back down when I reached for the second one.
To prevent that I had to reach to both sides with my hands at the same time while supporting the hood with my head. - Just not cool.
So to solve that problem I needed to tie both sides together with another section of aluminum rod. And the rod that connected the two side supports had to be formed to clear the engine when in the down position.
What had started out so simple was beginning to get out of control. But I went ahead and fabbed the pieces, welded them together and installed it. It actually works pretty good. The support rods line up with the hood pin holes and you can put it in place just as easily as you can on any of the new cars.
At this point you'd think I'd leave well enough alone. But it bothered me that the hood support assembly seemed so bulky. I didn't think that something designed to hold up a hood should be so big.... - Unless it was designed to do more than just hold up the hood.
This is where some of you will probably feel certain that I've become influenced by exhaust fumes or that someone should pad the walls in my garage. I decided to add LED lighting to the crossbar between the two supports. I thought that instead of viewing the hood support as an overgrown hatchet job, they might think of it as an ingenuous method of eliminating the need for a trouble light. ....Maybe the fumes are starting to get to me.
In these next three photos, the car is in an unlit garage at night. So they give a good indication of how well you could see the engine compartment if stranded at in the dark.
But that seemed like a pretty rinky-dink way of supporting the hood. So I bought some 1/2" aluminum rod and made a hinged bracket so it could flip up, - similar to the way you see them done on modern non-sprung hoods.
But because the hood was fiberglass, putting a support only on one side made the hood look lopsided when it was open. So I decided to make a second support (similar to the first) that I'd put on the other side.
Well that created a new problem. When I flipped one side up into place it was easy. But after one support was up it had a tendency to fall back down when I reached for the second one.
To prevent that I had to reach to both sides with my hands at the same time while supporting the hood with my head. - Just not cool.
So to solve that problem I needed to tie both sides together with another section of aluminum rod. And the rod that connected the two side supports had to be formed to clear the engine when in the down position.
What had started out so simple was beginning to get out of control. But I went ahead and fabbed the pieces, welded them together and installed it. It actually works pretty good. The support rods line up with the hood pin holes and you can put it in place just as easily as you can on any of the new cars.
At this point you'd think I'd leave well enough alone. But it bothered me that the hood support assembly seemed so bulky. I didn't think that something designed to hold up a hood should be so big.... - Unless it was designed to do more than just hold up the hood.
This is where some of you will probably feel certain that I've become influenced by exhaust fumes or that someone should pad the walls in my garage. I decided to add LED lighting to the crossbar between the two supports. I thought that instead of viewing the hood support as an overgrown hatchet job, they might think of it as an ingenuous method of eliminating the need for a trouble light. ....Maybe the fumes are starting to get to me.
In these next three photos, the car is in an unlit garage at night. So they give a good indication of how well you could see the engine compartment if stranded at in the dark.
