my hood has a 3 part closing sequence. 1. close front, 2. push rear of hood on passenger side down, 3. push rear of hood on drivers side down. still doesn't fit very well. it occurs to me that this is the place to hear from vintage misalignment pros. surely, senor niolon has leapfrogged the issue with his trick tilt front end, but his reputation indicates that he may have fought this battle 5 or 6 times before going to the tipping 'glass. george hasn't gotten that far yet with earl, but i suspect he will build a tool to stamp new hinge fittings from sheet steel then recalc the hinge geometry that ford gave us in '53. kai, too, may offer a sleek engineering solution from far away, where persistance and ingenuity surplant the lack of access to parts. 'fenders, who inspired this post, will, no doubt alarm, amuse or annoy the rest of us with the right answer. i'm willing to park the '54 for a week or two in the summer, but prefer driving it to school... avoiding a tedious 2 mile walk each way. don't mean to limit this to the aforementioned either... pitch in carl or vern or swanny or paul or whomever. thanks. himmelberg

 

I have the same problem with my fiber glass hood, however mine is from the hood hinge screws being on tight because the inside brackets are broken. It could be you are using the incorrect type bolts 53-55 are the same 56 are different, it could also be your hinges are bent outward so the hood doesn't fully collaspe when you close it.
Just my two cents
Jaye
X:-22

 

because
>the inside brackets are broken. ... it could also be your hinges are bent outward so
>the hood doesn't fully collaspe when you close it.
>Just my two cents
>Jaye
>X:-22

makes sense about the brackets. one side of mine was broken at the lower lip of the hood where it was tacked. with that repaired things improved but the worst of it seems to be the wallowed out holes in the brackets. the hood was badged as a '53 and the layers of paint don't match the cab and bed, so it may be a transplant. will look at the hinges again. thanks. himmelberg

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 02-Jan-03 AT 09:06 PM (EST)]this very problem (inherent in all '53-56) is the very reason I did my flip... I saw so many guys doing the hood dance.. like the hokey-pokey without the 'shake it all about'... lower gently, push down here, walk around push down here repeat as necessary for less than adequate fit !!!

I decided that even with bad fit on fiberglass I could do better... hopefully with some major glass repair/remolding.. I'll have other things to deal with than hood hinges...

we tend to swap one set of chains for another don't we ???

john ( with the cool front flip)

 

I don't have an answer for the hood closeing problem, a thought on the matter. I owned or drove several 53 and 54's when I was a pup and don't remember any of the hoods closeing very well. That was in the late 60's and early 70's. One 53 I owned only had 12000 miles on it, it didn't close well either. Must be a poor design. Maybe someone out there has come up with a way to make the hinge wore but it is not me, I'll go with the front tilt.
Ozzie.

 

Everything I have read about the hoods on these trucks pretty much concludes that they were a bad design and prone to either failure or poor alignment. So either restorers just deal with the stock ones, or upgrade them somehow, but I think most everybody else gets aftermarket stuff. I went with a reverse tilt hood setup. It's pretty nice, installed really easy, I get to keep the stock hood, aligns a lot easier, and with the SBF there's enough room that I can sit in the engine bay when the hood is open while wrenching on the engine.

Craig

 

53-56 hood hinges suck pond water. I rebuilt mine with new parts and fine paint. Now they look pretty and suck pond water. They have no strength from side to side. They don't have a prayer of holding the hood in position for proper and lasting sheetmetal alignment.

Worst part is they will wreck your hood eventually when they finally get a weak spot going on the back edge. I can shut my hood in four easy steps. Wish I could help more now but I have bigger fish to fry. I think a reverse open hood is the only way you will ever get a smooth close. I haven't given up yet but I don't have a plan either.

'fenders

 

at the Supernats in Pigeon Forge last year, Obsolete Ford had new hinges available. This is a new product. I don't know if that will cure the problem or not. The hood fitment problem is one reason the flip front hinge kits are so popular.

 

hubby installed new hinges on my 54 last year the hood shuts without the "dance" the fit isnt without probs but i didnt have a new gasket installed either but i can shut it with one hand now!

 

Julie wins!

I do the 'hood hokey-pokey', too.

 

Hi Himmelberg,

... I am not there yet, but still plan to go with original hinges that I have. Unfortunately I have lost most of my memory from Summer 1985 (that's when I drove the truck the last time), but really can't recall that I had a major problem to close the hood nor can I recall that I ran from left to right a couple of times to push here and there.

I have shelfed the idea of the one-piece fiberglas unit even so I have one on the shelf (bought it in 1990 from a company called P&R Parts Unlimited in Maple Grove, MN). Would go with the reverse tilt if I can't find a way to keep in shut the original way.

I was thinking differently about this fiberglas stuff 15 years ago, but today I want solid steel all over the place. Todays cars are made of plastic with some metal here or there. I just plain hate it. Sorry.

As for the reverse tilt. Is the only solution to buy one of these kits or does someone have a plan for a home made system. Have heard they are using BMW hinges. What model, what year ? If that's what it takes I guess I can burry myself with these hinges when sweeping the local junkyards or load a couple of 40ft. containers and ship 'em to you.

 

I had the same hood problem, was going to buy the new hinges but instead I fired up the saws all and cut the nose off, welded it all together, installed a couple of convertible top pistons and now it tilts forward like a DREAM. Just push the switch and up it goes. Cost me less money than the new hinges but took about 4 weeks longer to install, but boy is it COOL, if I do say so myself.

 

Tom,

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


john

 

>I went
>with a reverse tilt hood setup. It's pretty nice, installed
>really easy, I get to keep the stock hood, aligns a lot
>easier, and with the SBF there's enough room that I can sit
>in the engine bay when the hood is open while wrenching on
>the engine.
>
>Craig

Ditto to what Craig said. Had that set up on our 55, and it was hilarious to go out and see Hubby sitting in the engine bay. ( I even threatened to close the hood a few times...."just to see if he would fit"! Going to do the same thing with the panel,,,I'm too short to be doing the run around and close the hood at the corners dance.

Renee'
1955 Ford F-100 Panel
1968 Mustang GT Fastback