i know there is a few camaros rolling around with a tilt front hood. they use hinges from a early 90's buick. but has anyone ever done this mod with a firebird? would the buick hinges work on a firebird? i know the head lights are in the way of where the hinges get put on the camaros. but could they be put just inside of the head lights? my hood flexes like crazy with the stock hinges. so would the hood need to be braced if the hinges where put there?

 

no it wouldnt work unless you cut the hinges in half and shorten them and weld them back together. and if your hood flexes it might be a good idea to brace it,

 

that shouldn't be to hard to do. but would the hood still work rite with the hinges closer together? wouldn't that make the hood flex worse?

 

yea it would, but i dont understand why your hood flexes soo much anyway. mine doesnt flex with the reverse hood and i have a stinger scoop cut in it. but like i say u could always brace it or u can widen the hinges and move them further up?

 

when i do start the rebuild on my bird ill probably brace the hood. wouldn't moving the hinges further up on the fenders cause the hood to rub on the bumper or something?

 

I suspect that the flex your seeing is in the hinges themselves, not in the hood.

 

my hinges dont flex at all but yea moving them up would cause it to hit the bumper. but you could put a stopper on it. the may my hood opens, it raises up parallel to the ground first, then it opens foward

 

Funny in this thread it worked as is.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...erse-hood.html

 

An idea for the latch would be to use one off a hummer H2. you could mount it on the firewall and not worry about it being an inconvenience to get to because it doesnt have a safety latch.

 

thats my post, and i installed hood pins on the back buy the wipers to hold it down. and this guy was asking would the hinges work on a firebird because the spot where i mounted mine wont work for him because of the flip up headlights. that mouting spot location isnt there so he would have to more modifications than i had to

 

lillee64 well said and i borrowed your picture. that bar between the hinges could be cut and shrunk to allow them to fit just inside the headlights.



and to the post from stephen yes part of the flexing probably is the stock hinges cuz the driver side hinge sticks. but was watching the hood when i last opened it and the whole thing does twist. i am sure fixing the hinge would cure some of the problem but not all of it. thanx and ill look at the hummer latch

 

yea thats what i was saying. but if u think about it, the hood is longer on the firebird because the flip ups are where the camaro headlight socket is so that spot may still be there?

 

Actually.....Since the chassis the same between Camaros & Firebirds, the radiator wall is in the same location.

You mounted the hinges right at the radiator wall & behind it, so it should "drop right in" into Firebirds as well as it did the Camaro.

 

You think its longer?

Go measure yours at 2 points......The very center along the ridge & along the sides.

I'll go measure mine right now & we'll compare. I bet they are VERY close to the same.

 

if your headlight cutouts in your hood start before the radiator wall, u well need to modify it, if they start after the radiator then you can mount yours like mine

 

I duplicated the angle of your pic, as best I could. And the headlight doors are fully in front of the radiator wall.

Measurement on my hood are 57 3/8" down the center ridge. 58 7/8" along the side edge, to the front of the headlight door & 51 1/2" to the back of the headlight door.

 

well yea my theory was right, u can mount them just as i did mine! i will take pics to show u what to cut

 

I do see one problem (for Firebirds) though......

If the owner tried to open the hood, with the headlights up? I suspect the hood would hit the headlight door when slid forward to unlatch the rear portion (stock style latch) open or hit the face of the bulb once tilted forward.

 

it shouldnt. the hood raises up a good bit before it even moves forward.

 

i will probably try and move them to just between the head lights so that way there wont be any worries of it hitting anywhere.
has anyone ever done this mod to a firebird?

 

I uploaded pics on my post of what was cut

 

before i scraped my parts car i tested a set of 89 park ave hinges on it and about the previous arguments that camaros and firebirds fronts are to difrent for these to work on firebirds that aint true. the fronts are the same to the radiator core support and these bolt rite where it is. the only thing i had to do diffrent is the stop on the hinges and back of the hinge wouldn't let the hood close all the way. so i trimmed them till it fit and cut out some of the hood like what lillee64 did. i did not try them with the headlights up cuz i already had the lights out of the parts car. they do look like they would hit but i aint totaly sure. in a few weeks i will try them on my good 87 and trim that cars hood and inner fenders. i will see if i can borrow a camera when i do it to take pics.

also i almost forgot the headlight doors might hit the stop on the hinges when they go up which means i might have to trim the stop more will find out when i put them in the good 87.

 

i know these post are old but in case you happen to look at them.

That notchback you have was made from a place called chatanogoo chochoo they are no longer around and only made a very few numbers of those.
I have one i bought off ebay im restoreing bevause some fiberglass is cracked on the edges and have to say you are the first person i have seen that has one like mine