Is there a way to open the hood higher?

by SonOfTheGrim Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:02 pm

I am so tired of hitting my head on the hood any time I work on my car. It's odd to me that the hood isn't designed to open any more than 3 feet. Back when I had Nissans and Hondas the hoods could open almost vertically! The most frustrating thing about this car is how massive it is yet how little room there is to get things done.

Is there any kind of mod or anything to open the hood higher without unbolting the front of the hinge and using a broomstick?

by Joe73 Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:06 pm

Most foreign cars dont have hood hinges. They just have a pivot bolt on the rear. You can lift them up and lay them on the windshield if you like but I wouldnt do that. Our cars have hinges and they can only open so far. I cant think of any way to get it to open further.

by SonOfTheGrim Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:24 pm

This is by far the biggest complaint I have with this car. I've thought about adapting hinges from something else to get a larger work space.

I notice it with most American cars on all of the garage mod shows. They spend thousands and countless hours on these show cars and pop the hood only to have everyone bend over to actually see the engine bay. You'd think they would design their own hinges to fix it.

by Hs1973 Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:55 am

You could buy a fiberglass hood and make it a lift off thing like on racecars. That Way you can lift it off entirely and put it on the roof when working on it. You will also save some weight as the steel hood is a heavy piece. I actually thought about doing it to my own to save some weight.

by Limey SE Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:20 am

SonOfTheGrim wrote:I am so tired of hitting my head on the hood any time I work on my car. It's odd to me that the hood isn't designed to open any more than 3 feet. Back when I had Nissans and Hondas the hoods could open almost vertically! The most frustrating thing about this car is how massive it is yet how little room there is to get things done.

Is there any kind of mod or anything to open the hood 4higher without unbolting the front of the hinge and using a broomstick?

Reverse the mounting point like what GM did with some front drive bucks .....just an option

by SonOfTheGrim Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:00 am

Can you elaborate on that? I'm not sure what you mean by reverse mounting points. Like mount the hinges backwards or convert to a front hinge like corvettes? Pics?

by fasrnur Thu Jul 27, 2017 7:08 am

Is there a way to open the hood higher? 100_6310

Like this sir.

by Keith Seymore Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:28 am

Hs1973 wrote:You could buy a fiberglass hood and make it a lift off thing like on racecars. That Way you can lift it off entirely and put it on the roof when working on it. You will also save some weight as the steel hood is a heavy piece. I actually thought about doing it to my own to save some weight.

That's basically what I did.

I adapted an aftermarket liftoff hood to the original hinges. 90% of the time the hood opens normally, so that I can check fluids in the staging lanes or do light maintenance.

When the going gets tough I undo four Dzus fasteners (two per side) and lift the hood off and set it aside.

Original steel hood is 80 lbs; bolt on flat fiberglass hood is 40 lbs; lift off cowl glass hood is 20 lbs.

K

by clanceman427 Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:31 am

Keith do you lift it off yourself? Just wondering if it's possible for one guy. I had a fiberglass lift-off hood on my 83 Monte Carlo drag car and that had a snorkel, so I could reach my forearms inside the snorkel opening to lift it off/set it aside. Still was somewhat awkward.

If the original poster is thinking lift off hood, and you are often tinkering under the hood, just keep in mind if you can manage even the lift-off hood by yourself, or if you'll constantly need a 2nd set of hands.

by Hs1973 Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:53 am

If i could afford the shipping to Europe i would buy a lift of Cowl glass hood. The weight savings alone would make the car faster and doing repairs easier. But unfortunatly the shipping is so expensive on a piece so large that it is not happening. But it would be the Way to go.

by Keith Seymore Fri Jul 28, 2017 1:38 pm

clanceman427 wrote:Keith do you lift it off yourself? Just wondering if it's possible for one guy. I had a fiberglass lift-off hood on my 83 Monte Carlo drag car and that had a snorkel, so I could reach my forearms inside the snorkel opening to lift it off/set it aside. Still was somewhat awkward.

If the original poster is thinking lift off hood, and you are often tinkering under the hood, just keep in mind if you can manage even the lift-off hood by yourself, or if you'll constantly need a 2nd set of hands.

No - there's no "handle" in the middle so it's a two man operation.

K

by Keith Seymore Fri Jul 28, 2017 1:40 pm

Hs1973 wrote:If i could afford the shipping to Europe i would buy a lift of Cowl glass hood. The weight savings alone would make the car faster and doing repairs easier. But unfortunatly the shipping is so expensive on a piece so large that it is not happening. But it would be the Way to go.

Is it something you could make there, either yourself or contract it out?

If you have a steel hood then you have the pattern for creating the mold.

There are companies here in the US that, if that don't have what you are looking for, they will make it for you.

K

by SonOfTheGrim Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:19 pm

I was thinking more along the lines of "cut this tab and weld a new stop on". I am always looking out for interesting parts though so maybe I'll find a fiberglass hood.

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