Reverse hood mod

 

 

definitely something I havent seen tried before! Pics of how it latches?

 

It latches like normal, from the nose. u pop the hood and the front comes up then u get out and pull it up towards you

 

ccool... but why? and any other pics........?

 

More pics comming soon

 

MORE , MORE INFO please . thanks .

 

watta u mean why? lol..question is why not?
haha..looks cool tho
Mikey

 

Well i loved the reverse hood look, havent seen on anywhere. So while in the junk yard looking for a 4 barrel intake for the engine, i ran across a old buick with factory reverse hinges. I hurried and grabbed them! checking out they only charged me 3.99 because technically since its all connected, its 1 hinge so it was a steal. took it home i had to figure out how to mount them. i removed the hood and placed the hinges on the car. i saw that the holes lined up with the vender bolts on both sides. i bolted the hinge there. now if the engine was in the car this would be almost impossible. i layed the hood on top and marked the spots that caused a problem while sitting in the engine bay.i took off the hood, did a little cutting, drilled the holes, and mounted it

 

Always cool to see those. I've seen a couple of them here on TGO and I've thought about doing it, but I have other, more pressing wants & needs to do, before I start modding the hinge system on my hood.

You know what year & model you got it from?

 

no i dont remember, its a really easy mod though, you dont even have to take off the fenders, there off in the pic because im about to install sissor door hinges. all together it too about an hour and cost 4 dollors

 

What did you do to hold the rear of the hood down?

My grandmother had a Buick (iirc) like that a few years ago & the rear of the hood had pins that slid into holes, when the hood down down before latching at the front.

 

I'd definitely want some really strong pins running down through the car somewhere right in front of the windshield - a front end collision and that hood would decapitate you quickly

 

I have two hood pins on both sides the car by the windshield.

 

good job and welcome to tgo. do got any more pics and info on how it latches in the back?

 

It latches in the front and the hood pins hold down the back

 

this is interesting... i'd like to see the finished product.

 

thanks, im working on custom camaro logo cut out on the scoop, and i gotta finish molding on the scoop, ill post pics of that tomorrow.

 

Progress pics. Im cutting out a camaro logo on my scoop and placing glass behind it.

[IMG][/IMG]

 

 

Sweet!

Does it clear the front bumper well?

 

i had to remove the spring, and yes i got it to stop before it hits, u can see the scratches from trial and error lol. good thing i aint get it painted yet lol

 

Nice mod. How is the fit when the hood is closed? I always thought that working on a car with the hood opening like that was much nicer than the usual way.
Kory

 

the fit is really nice, you wouldnt kno it was different until i opend it

 

i love the idea completely and have day dreamed of doing the same - although i dont think the TA hood would make it! i figured the firebird and trans am ppl would have to do a front tilt with the front bumper spilt...

keep up the work- inspiring and i really did the logo idea with the plex- hook up some lights and itll really be nice.

also as a thought- depending on the color (paint) tinting the logo may reall set it off for the day look.

 

Your mission now, should you accept it....Is to go back to the junkyard & find out what year, make & model of the car that you got that hinge from.

 

i have another hinge, just incase i mest up those, but i was thinking on the logo window, i could tint the first bar red, the second one white, and the third one blue? or maybe leave them all clear so i can see the engine and put in the red white and blue neons?

 

ohh yea, there off a 89 Buick Park Avenue

 

When does the work on the custom reverse opening hatch start???

 

Honestly! is thought about it!, id how practical it would be though

 

I gave it some thought too hehehe and if it went down far enough, could almost make it like a rumble seat back there, just need some flip up back rest or something, feet down the the storage well, could be useful at the drive-inn movies, ya know kids watching the kids movie behind ya, adults movie is ahead of ya.

But they don't do that much anymore but member when it was like that.
Soon after the got ride of the window hung speaker boxes.

I had to stop it as it was taking forever to load all your pics but did you post the mounting spots pics, and the places you had to cut the hood?

or are they just your hood lights mod pics???

 

Tommorrow imma see about the reverse hatch lol, and i will also post pics of the spots i cut too

 

You mean like the 2-seater 'verts?


The glass on a coupe would make it WAY too heavy for the rear sheeymetal structure to support. Time for a Lexan ear glass?

 

What about with the use of struts?

 

here are more pics of what was cut...

 

No that just pops up, need to slide down some like the hood.



lillee64
But its probably almost as easy as making an quick release top hing, find a way to cross brace the stock struts so it don't twist around with some type of spring like the hood so it has smooth movement, it should come back and down pretty good.

 

maybe i can use the same hinges i used on the hood

 

hey lillee64 do these hinges get in the way of the stock coolant overflow and washer fluid reservoirs?





also where exactly do the Buick hinges bolt to the hood?
thanx

 

yes they do block the fluid tanks and you have to cut the ovals in the fenders. if you look above the area that i cut out on the hood, u can see the holes i was drilling. they mount there

 

thank you you have confirmed my suspicions. now i got to go get a new washer and overflow reservoir.

what kind do you plan to use?

 

my over flow tank is in the nose of the car and i still havent made up my mind if i was keeping the washer tank

 

I was looking at those hinges for a hour at the junk yard.
there was about 6 cars with those ones.
I saw a old bmw with diffrent kind of brakets that might be easyer to use.
Also is your hood fiberglass.
It would be nice to see a video of you opening and closting it. Just to see how smooth it is.
The buicks at the junk yard had very smooth flow to them.

Very nice

 

i saw the bmw hinges and from putting these on, i think they would be harder because these work together as 1 hinge and they are just the right size and shape. no my hood isnt fiberglass and it opens and closes very very smoothly, no strains. they support the hood perfectly. doesnt require much effort to open or close.matter of fact u can let the hood go at just about any stage of the opening process and it will stay in that position

 

Thats good to know.
Did The hood line up well or did you have to adjust it alot?
Also did you use the pins and hooks off of the buick too?

 

nope first time was perfect, i mounted the hinges where i wanted them, layed the hood on top, marked off the area i needed to trim, cut it, then the hood layed flat and it latched like normal, got back under, marked where the hinges touch the hood and marked bolt holes and mounted it. and for the back i have hood pins

 

I'd like to see that done to a bird hood.

 

should be just as easy. nothing different

 

Edit;

Hrmm... don't know why I thought it was going to be so much different. Other than your fenders and such being higher... I bought a buick hinge assembly a few years ago and it never looked like it was going to open the hood far enough without bashing the hood into the bumper. Maybe I'm just crazy.

 

Looks great! I did the same thing to my Camaro 2 winters ago using the stock steel hood. Instead of modifying the wheel wells I modfiied the hinge to clear. Still had to put a small dimple in each well for clearance. I also welded in my own mounting tabs to bolt the hinge to the car.

I am using the washer/coolant tank from a Ford Explorer mounted in the passeger side battery tray so I don't have to worry about the stock reservoirs being in they way.

I'm interested to see how you plan on using hood pins in the rear to hold the hood down. Because the hood slides back when you put it down I wasn't able to figure out a good way to use normal hood pins to hold it down. I reinforced the firewall below the windshield and fabricated an adjustable pin to slide under the lip and hold the hood down.

I also can't wait to see how your hood turns out. I have been thinking about putting the same hood on my Camaro. Just too many other mods I want to do first.

One suggestion to really set off the hood at night: Find some red, white, and blue EL string. Mount on the underside of each cutout to outline the openings and light them up in their respective colors.

Just a couple thoughts on some of the other comments/questions posted above:

I am 99% sure it won't work due to the length of the firebird nose.

I am 100% sure it won't work with stock TPI air intake. The crossbar that connects the sides of the hinge together sits too close to the top of the radiator support. I tried it on my Camaro because I had been considering converting from carb to TPI.

The hinge can be found on 88-92 Buick Park Avenues and Lesabres.

The original hood latch at the front is fine to hold the hood down. Remove the spring and secondary latch though or you will have clearance issues with the nose.

For a video of how the hood opens/closes, search for my screenname on Youtube. I posted a video of mine after it was done.

MUCH easier working on the engine now. Header install/removal is so much easier I almost don't mind doing it now.

 

i just looked at your video and i see we dont have the same hinges, the are close though, mines opens similar to yours though. i also can let it go when it comes up parallel to the ground so it looks like the hood floated up, i have a plan for the hood pins, but i have the hood off right now until i get my motor in it! and im pretty sure you can modify the tpi intake around this and it will work on firebirds too!. even on my camaro i had to put stoppers on the hinge to stop it from hitting the nose but yea i did have to remove the spring. i think the hinges i have are more fluent. they have very strong springs on them for a nice smooth motion. i got 2 sets of these hinges for $3.50 at the auto yard! might sell the other set.