>welcome to the COOL group... tilt hoods (whether glass or
>steel) are right up there with BBF engines and MII front
>suspensions... you are in good company

...appears that i will forever slog along in ford world uncool. am convinced that i can't afford the down time for tilting the whole front end. a "detroit" haircut is cheaper and faster and my barber knows how to cut one. a sea-land container of BMW hinges is a kind and fulsome offer, Kai... but i'd be better off waiting for your homespun version of hinge improvement. our yuppies wreck their BMW's here too, it is the way of their people. like 'fenders i am willing to wait... perhaps try the mid-fifties solution to keep the hardware from wobbling. i like the idea of closing my hood with one hand and sitting in the cavernous opening tuning those 3 deuces... hey, i'm starting the 'fenders, joe, john and george dream sequence. gonna go drive around the block. himmelberg

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-Jan-03 AT 06:51&nbsp;PM (EST)]<<<hey, i'm starting the 'fenders, joe, john and george dream sequence. gonna go drive around the block. himmelberg>>>

Oh, just going to start it with everybody at once are ya Himmie


One small piece of advice that might be worth something. After you rebuild a hinge with fresh springs, about the last thing you want to do is soak it down with lube. That's exactly what you need to do. A neat little smear of grease don't get it. I just about folded my hood when I first installed it. Fresh springs will bind it up pretty good until you open and close it a couple thousand times.

'fenders

 

Hey Himmelberg! Who the hell asked you, anyway?!? Typical sarcastic teacher. Now I remember why I hated school.

 

I don't remember what hood kit I bought exactly but it sure doesn't look like a BMW setup. Mine's just some well measured and placed steel tubing here and there. The only thing I wouldn't be able to fabricate myself are the roller guides you attach to the inner fender. I bet Kai could build a kit all his own after making that engine lift piece

Craig

 

>
>Oh, just going to start it with everybody at once are ya
>Himmie

...let me amend that line to read, john, paul, george, and 'fenders...hopefully making it all clear again. after wrestling with drivers side spring for hours with the help of the handy mid fifties tool i recognize the wisdom of that heavy lube tip. those are some nasty springs. have one stress crack in the turned down lip of the hood at the cowl end. will tack that before putting 1000 cycles of opening and closing on the item. but then paul drives his truck doesnt he? best. himmelberg

 

I also do the hokey-pokey..

...and i thought I was the only one.

 

>I also do the hokey-pokey..
>
>...and i thought I was the only one.

A little extra effort to close the hood isn't all that bad. As a matter of fact, doing the hokey-pokey hood dance is probably the coolest part of these old trucks. If I remember the song correctly, that's what it's all about!

 

"after wrestling with drivers side spring for hours with the help of the handy mid fifties tool i recognize the wisdom of that heavy lube tip. those are some nasty springs. have one stress crack in the turned down lip of the hood at the cowl end"

Bought the Mid-Fifties tool did you? Do you feel as cheap and violated as I do. What a flimsy piece or garbage for 10 bucks. I have spent thousands at Mid-Fifty, I have a right to gripe when they sell me a 6 inch piece of exhaust pipe and charge me for 8 feet. I should add to my previous post... after your rebuild a hinge, paint it up nice, tighten the rivets and install new springs, you better dip the whole thing in oil becaus it is going to bind. Also, wath that crack close. I have a tiny crack too. I will likely reinforce it eventually. I MIG ed it but she won't hold forever.

'fenders (there's only one, be thankful)

 

>Bought the Mid-Fifties tool did you? Do you feel as cheap
>and violated as I do. What a flimsy piece or garbage for 10
>bucks. >'fenders (there's only one, be thankful)

thankfully, i've spent about 15 bucks with them... violated nontheless. i came across FTE about the time i had gathered another small amount of cash for the truck... and see the wisdom of asking some questions before plopping down my little all. i spend less foolishly thanks to you guys... but foolish nonetheless. you really don't know how much i appreciate you all. best. himmelberg

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-Jan-03 AT 10:01&nbsp;PM (EST)]"john,paul, george and fenders" ????

shouldn't we be getting royalties from yellow submarine...


" I wanna close my hood"" yea, yea, yea... i wanna close my hood


j

 

i want a bmw style flip hood someday but for now new hinges were the affordable way to go! ever do the dance and the hood still trys to bite the windshield? done the driver to passenger dance a few times checked the latch and still hood popped loose! new hinges are cheaper than a couple of windshields just my opinion!

 

I wanna close my hood, yea, yea, yea... i wanna close my hood

I'll hum that tune next time I dance around my truck, closing my hood.

 

55forder...LOVE THE TRUCK! I MISS MINE NOW! (oh well panel will get there soon!


Julie...i agree with the broken windshild theory, rather not deal with it! LOL! Even with the tilt fron, I had an issue once, where the hood "popped" up, kinda just rose, as I hit a bump, and I screamed thinking it was gonna just flip open and rip right off! LOL! Good thing I remembered that it tilted forward or I would have passed out. Can't remember why it did that, but I remember pulling over and making TY get out and fix it!

Great guys...now I'll be singing a song everytime I close the hood!

Do a little dance...push down on both sides...hope the hood closes RIGHT...hope it closes RIGHT! (sorry for the musical liberties KC)

Renee'
1955 Ford F-100 Panel
Click link then go to 1955 Ford Panel for updates on project
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/macs55F100
1968 Mustang GT Fastback

 

I was at Mid 50's open house when they were located in Indiana. Witnessed a guy TRYING to install a hinge spring on his truck. Man must have lost a pint of blood that day. Thing kept coming loose and biting him. Said when he got home he was going to buy a flip hood kit. A retired friend of mine builds flip kits that use late 80's-early 90's Buick hood hinges. It is way cool. Uses stock latch and no prop rods. I will let you guys know when he makes another batch of them.

 

I tought thats how the hoods always closed.The three point system Front ,left, right.I'm going with the front tilt hood kit from mid-fifty,hope it will cure the headache.
Maybe then I will have closure to this on-going problem.