I just found your hood project. I made this last winter and I am finishing it now. This is the inside frame I made. The hinges were a pita to design. They have to lift straight up enough to not scrape the grill shell or the cowl. The skin was another story. I made dies and put the bead on the lower edge of the hood top. I had a hard time getting the bends and the length right. I was just about to make a third skin and decided to weld the best parts of the 2 skins together. The radius brake I use gets it close but I do a lot by hand like you did over various sizes of pipe. I'm working on the latches now. I'm going to our local you pull it to find some. I'll let you know what I find but I'm leaning towards seat back latches. Jeff
Hey Dyce, your comments and pic's come at a very timely point in my hood project. I have been in awe of your work in past threads and appreciate you taking the time to offer up your ideas. Your comments are well timed, as I felt that I had come to the cross roads in my hood project, whereby I needed to figure out how to support and retain my sheet metal and be able to attach it to hinges and a latch. At this very moment in time I had settled on a modified VW Beetle front hood latch and of course my homemade hinges which are still at prototype stage. The concern in the back of my mind has always been the hood lift and avoiding scratches and scrapes thru its opening motion. The ultimate solution for me was to be hinged at the radiator end as you have done, but my project does not seem to lend itself to this scenario, so I will hinge from the firewall. Thanks again and feel free to add any further thoughts that you may have.
Well, I have my outer sheet metal to a point where I am happy with it. Just minor tweaking required later. I have taken Dyce's lead and am now looking at an inner sheet metal structure. I have made a start but had a mechanical breakdown with my quick release pressure adjuster on my bead roller. No big deal, but it has been a slight distraction for now. Anyway here are some pic's to date.
Looking good!! I don't have any pictures but I ended up using 2015 nissan sentra seat back latches for my hood. I'm working on the linkage now. I'm glad the pictures helped.
Here are the pictures of the latches. I really wish i would have hinged it from the rear. I thought i could get away with one latch but it would have been a rattle trap. The latches worked out because they were the same, just opposite each other. I still have to work out the cable.
I am kinder held up now as I am waiting for a radiator shell wadding or gasket if you like that cushions the hood off the grille shell. I would be wise to wait until it turns up in the mail just to have all my bases covered. I am off tomorrow to see the laser cutting people to get my stainless hinges cut out. It is still quite a high risk action, but I need to bite the bullet and run with my gut feeling that the hinge design will work OK. I've made a slight change to how the back edge of the hood will lift, so it lifts sooner and higher by a whisker or two. I've made cardboard templates for the remaining portion of my hood side inners and will look at making some kind of small sheet metal boxes to attach my hinges to the hood thru, which will act as a levelling device with adjustment. There is a lot going on in the back ground so what I post is a very small part of what I have had to work out and refine. The other good news is that, I have finally found a guy with a large enough (throat sized) press that will accept my hood for pressing and forming the center hole cut out for my twin carb air cleaners to protrude thru when I am ready. He said I can just let him know and he will open his shop any Saturday morning for me to come in and give it a go. What a guy...
While waiting for the laser cutting and the mail man, I decided to make the pair of flanges required to attach my hinge mechanism to the firewall. Not pretty right now but I am expecting it to improve once cleaned up. I plan to use insert nuts into my firewall to attach these brackets.
I'm still waiting for my laser cut hinges, but in the meantime the mail man turned up with my radiator shell lacing kit. I have also managed to work out my card board templates for the remainder of my inner sheet metal which I intend to cut out soon.
I can't believe that I am still waiting for the laser cutter. He was asked to see if while imputing my drawing into his CAD system that he could try and improve the rear lift on the hinge and he did talk to me saying a simple improvement was not working as there was a degree of bind, so he wanted more time to figure out a smooth movement. On my prototype it worked, however my pivot points where not rigid enough to show bind... In the meantime I have taken to my VW Beetle latch and started minimising the junk on it. I have removed a small lever which destabilised the locking device, so added a small spring for stability and the darn thing works better than the OEM design. I also shaved metal off and reduced bracket overhang as I want to reduce the foot print especially in the height department. So this is what I have so far.
Progress remains slow, but any progress is good in my view. So what I have right now is still no laser cut hinges ready. It seems the laser guy is doing the CAD drawings for me free of charge and hence is only getting them done when he has free time. Obviously I will still be paying for the materials and cutting, but it seems like a reasonable deal, if all it is costing me is a little time. I do have other things to work on and so have posted that progress, which is more work on my inner panel. Remember I am a total novice at this and hence no plans to work from, it is all just being put together straight out of my head in the hope that it will work out. So far so good... My method and approach to each step is probably a little unorthodox and there maybe easier ways, but for now I just keep chiselling away at it. Boy, my bead roller has become a very handy piece of equipment in my shop right now. Also, I can now appreciate the need for a variable speed controller, albeit in any form, as long as you have something to mange speed according to the task at hand and its complexity.
OK, I am back again with a little more progress to show off. However, I still do not have my laser cut hinges, but I am told they will be ready late next week for sure. In the meantime, I now have the 3 pieces that will make up my hood inner all bead rolled, but will still require some hammer work. I am keen to weld the 3 pieces together, but I know that I will be better off waiting until I can see how my hinges will attach to the hood inner and that will be more easily worked out with the pieces loose I am guessing...
Well folks, I got my laser cut hinge components back today. I have started assembling them, but first had to drill pivot holes out to size and tap a couple of threads to attach the coupling plates that coordinate the front and rear arms as they lift together. I've spent many a hour on my sheet metal but a pic will not show where all my time has gone. In saying that I have been bending and shaping these panels to tweak them in to a nicer fit and alignment. Time, that I could never afford to pay somebody else to spend for me...
Both hinges are assembled and all is good. Just getting ready to progress to attaching them to the firewall and work out how the hood underside will attach to my hinges. Would have been a much easier job if there was no engine in place. Something I will need to remember for any future projects. I have also finalised the install and mounting of the body side hood latching...
Hinges mounted and seem to have worked out OK for now. I used insert nuts. A added a small arm to my latch for easy operation.
It is always good for the ego to share progress and success during a build as I have been doing during this hood project. However, just when all the components are about to come together for the first time, I have just discovered that even with all my good intentions, that the hinges are letting me down. In other words I have hit a speed bump in my progress. I guess this has come about by trying to use a hinge design that was not actually made specifically for my project. The issue which has come to light, but has been in the back of our minds is the need to achieve enough lift at the tail end or firewall end of the hood as it rises, so it does not bind or drag on the body during its movement. Today, I did a mock up fit to track the movement of the hood as if it was being opened. Unfortunately, the tail is binding as it rises out of the closed position and it will not work as planned. It seems at first look, that I need to speed up the rear lift as well and gain a little more height. I have trialled several improvements and arm positions and lengths to see if I can improve this situation. During the initial CAD design work, we did improve the lift from 9mm to almost 15mm which obviously helped. Tomorrow, I will visit the laser guy and see if we can impose some of my solution ideas into his CAD system and keep moving forward. I am hoping to beat this issue, but do expect to have to lose something in the process, most likely it will be front lift height from what I can tell... It is not only a question of lift, but a related rate of forward movement during the lift. I am still trying to avoid tossing it all into the trash can, fingers crossed...
I've visited the laser guy today and we had a play with the hinge and a sit down chat about how to improve my current situation. He seems to think that my 2 ideas are workable and that the 6mm shortening will definitely help. We have settled on looking at doubling the length of the fish plate, which seems at first look to satisfy the rear/tail end lift/clearance issues. I left him looking for a solution to clawing back a lot of my front hood tilt which appears to have been lost with the other 2 improvements. The hood tilt was at about 43 degrees and we are now down to about 20 degrees which is pretty bad. I am hoping for 30 degrees or better, so fingers crossed again...
Sorry folks, I've been off the air here as I am still waiting for my laser guy and I have also updated to a newer computer. Both results of actions are out of my control and I have spend a good number of hours trying to get my files etc into some sort of order. I expect to get my laser cut parts by weeks end if the Gods are with me... Boy that would be a first. hahhaha!!!
This has been so much fun watching you develop your hinge idea. And thanks for sharing your setbacks. It's all part of learning.
Thanks for your kind words hfh and also to all the other silent folks out there who vote with the LIKE button. I feel like I spend half my life waiting on others these days...
Finally got my hinges back and need to drill and assemble them. It is looking to be not that simple as now as I refine them I am discovering other small adjustments that I feel would be advisable to deal with at this point. The refinements basically will consist of grinding and filing on the bench to ensure full movement and clearance is achieved. Part of my current problem is that I have lost nearly 50% of my hood lift angle and I need to claw some of that back by doing these refinements. More soon.
Well, I am back on track again now, my latest hinge appears to be about right and seems to capable of working as required now. It sure has been a long time coming but worth the wait. Next step now that I have both hinges temporarily attached to the firewall and level etc, I now need to work out how I will attach them to the inner skin of my hood. Tomorrow I plan to start cutting out some small pieces of metal to create the attaching faces and see where it leads me. All that tinkering and filing etc has paid off and the hinges have a nice firm but smooth movement to them which is a great outcome.
I have made some reportable progress although the time was greater than it may look, to have worked out and produced what I have in pic's. I have a plate that attaches to the hinge arm and a sheet metal boxing that will form the contact point to the hinge once welded to the inner hood sheet metal. Good, bad or indifferent this is now the direction I am heading in and I hope it will be the correct choice.
Still battling away with the other hinge pocket, cut it in and getting ready to tack weld the 3 sections into position which make up the hood inner. Once that is done, I will have my first opportunity to attach the hinges and see how the lift motion works. Fingers crossed...
Looking good. Here I was whining about finding nice lunch box latches. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks for your positive comments. Yes, what an adventure, it has been a slow struggle. No pic's to post this time, but I can tell you I am now in 2 minds whether to keep at it or walk away. I attached the inner panel the hinge pockets and then to the hinges and tried lifting it. Well, it just touches my firewall lip at the rear and wants to take paint off. Disappointing to say the least. I know I am real close, so I added a washer spacer between the hinge and the pocket and it kinder clears but not what I was hoping for. I have now removed the hood from the hinges and cut the pockets out in the hope that I can do some tweaking and get the clearance I need. Boy, it is close but no cigar just yet... I am going to persist for now and give it my best shot since it seems so near, but otherwise I am at somewhat of a loss to know what else to do. Obviously my rejig of the hinges was a get success and I almost hit the target with the mods. More to follow when I cool down...
Great work on this projekt. Started to follow this thread when it started but then lost track on it so its nice to see it still progressing. I am sure you will solve the last problems now when you have getting this far.
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