Wow! Those are nice! First I've ever seen.

 

pretty..

Sam

 

Sam, how's the 56 coming? Pics! por favor.

 

not to hijack this thread.. Hot last year, not as much progress as hoped. Over the winter spent too much time on the 69 chevy longbed rod project with my son.
Hurt my knee in late January.. knee surgery end of March.. this last weekend was first in the shop.. some problem with the new master cylinder, no brake fluid out to the wheels.. so, have to pull it and figure it out..

Sam

 

What every show truck should have! Those are some of the nicest parts available in a long time, well worth the money. He says he is also offering them in mill finish and black anodize for less money. My only concern would be if a sudden strong sideways gust of wind at an outdoor show with the hood open would bend them? Does the hood open further than stock?

 

how high does the stock hinges open the hood ? thought mine seemed really low, it only opens about two feet is that about right?

 

yes, correct

Sam

 

Yes that's about right, little less than a 45* angle You can persuade it to open more with a broomstick.

 

wow yup not much room to get my big head in there....was hopping that I was doing something wrong

 

I was with you on that one. I had trashed hinges and thought putting new ones one that it'd work better. Ehhhh...no.

Just by looking at the billet hinges, I have a feeling they don't open the hood any further then stock.

This winter if I put the engine and whatnot, I'm definitely gonna play with hinges and see what i can come up with. Figured I'd use the '67-'72 and '73-'79 hinges I have as possible guides. What do '57 F100 hinges look like and does the hood open adequately on those trucks?

 

seems like maybe you could use the stock ones if you maybe bent them a little here and there maybe grind out te rivets and use some shoulder bolts ? ,and removed the tabb that keeps it from moving two feet, extend it some?..what a ****ty hinge shame on ford!

 

Well the way I see it, the problem is the way it opens. If you look at the later trucks, say like a '69 or later, the hood pops up a bit and the bottom shifts forward as with the rest of the hood allowing the top of the hood to open further. These hoods pop up and shift backwards. The windshield and cowl are right there and limit whatever travel you think you may have.
I think the key here is to get the hood to pop up but shift itself forward as you open it. That should give you more opening room as the back ofthe hood would be out of the way of the cowl and windshield.

 

Don't you think that Ford with all it's engineers and designers wouldn't have done it if the hinges could have been "improved" by bending, grinding and changing rivets to bolts?

Fact is the hinges work just fine IF they are working properly, lubed, installed as designed, the front sheetmetal is installed and aligned without modification or removal/modification of parts, and the hood latch is adjusted correctly. The problems arise when builders decide they know more than the engineers and/or start compensating for poorly functioning or damaged parts by "fixing what ain't broke" to fix what is. You can be assured all these truck hoods opened and closed properly when they left the dealership. How many of your original parts will be working as they did at 10 when you reach 70, especially if they have been neglected and not maintained thru most of those years?

 

I'll have to agree with most of this. I'm finding that the more I play with my hood's adjustment, the better it seems to work. I'm sure the new hinges have helped out tremendously. Still have to push the back corners down a bit, but is way better then it was. However- as far as initial design with the limited hood opening, Ford engineers get an "F". There is no way you can convince me that this was they best they could come up with.

 

Im guessing that theres a WHOLE lot of **** poor designs out there and so does common sense , just because an engineer designed something doesnt mean that it cant be improved or reworked .look at your hood that only opens high enough to get your head in ! do you think they thought that was brilliant ? Im thinking the engineers said ok its good enough just ship it, sell it . even though they probly knewthey were a **** poor design.